Frequently asked questions

See what ‘I’m looking for my loved one’ will do for you on our process page.

Usually your call will be returned within three hours, but sometimes it takes longer. This depends on the scale of the disaster or incident and how many people are caught up in it. As soon as your loved one has been found, we will update you as quickly as possible. We understand that waiting in this situation is difficult. We will do our best to call you back within six hours, Ook wanneer er dan nog niets bekend is over de persoon die je zoekt.

If you have been able to contact your family member, friend or acquaintance, please call 088 0908 000 and let us know that you are no longer looking for your loved one.

If you are worried that a loved one – a family member, partner, friend or someone else you know – has been involved in a disaster or major incident and you are unable to make contact with them, ‘Looking for my loved one’ will help you search for this person by comparing your loved one’s details with those of any casualties.   

The Red Cross www.ikbenveilig.nl website provides an overview of the people who have registered themselves as being safe. On this website you can check whether the person you are looking for has reported that they are safe.

‘Ik ben veilig’ and ‘Looking for my loved one’ do not share information with one another.

If other people are also looking for your loved one, we will nominate one contact person. This is often a family member, such as a parent, child, brother or sister. You may be nominated as the contact person yourself. In this case we will inform you where your loved one is once we have found him or her. If we are unable to find your loved one, we will also inform you of this. You can then pass on this information to other family members and friends.  

If you are not the contact person, we will tell you that someone else has been given the information and whether this person is a family member, friend or acquaintance. We will not pass on the name or telephone number of this person. For privacy reasons we are not permitted to share these details.  

If you are worried that a loved one – a family member, partner, friend or someone else you know – has been involved in a disaster or major incident and you are unable to make contact with them, ‘Looking for my loved one’ will help you search for this person by comparing your loved one’s details with those of any casualties.   

If you have general questions about the incident, such as “How long do I need to keep my windows and doors shut?”, “Can I let my dog out?” or “When will the road be open again?”, you can call an information number. This number will be announced through social media. The ‘Looking for my loved one’ team will also know the number you can call.

Once the disaster or incident is over you can contact the local authority responsible for the area in which the disaster or incident occurred with any questions you may have. For example: “I am so scared. Who can I talk to to overcome my fear of loud noises?” or “I hear that there is going to be a silent march for the victims. What time does it start and where?” 

Following your local authority on X (formerly Twitter), Facebook or Instagram is the quickest way to stay up to date. 

We record your details and those of the person you are looking for. This is so that we can pass on any information to you as quickly as possible following our search.

We record your surname, initial(s) and the name you are known by, as well as your sex, date of birth, address and telephone number.

We record your loved one’s surname, initial(s) and the name he or she is known by, his or her sex, date of birth, address and telephone number, and also the relationship between you and your loved one. We will also ask about your loved one’s nationality and whether he or she has any distinctive physical characteristics. You do not have to tell us this information.

Only employees of ‘Looking for my loved one’ and the local authority or safety region that has opened the ‘Looking for my loved one’ service can see your details. Within a safety region the police, fire service, hospitals, local authorities, citizens and businesses work together in the area where a disaster or major incident has occurred.

We will ask you whether the local authority may contact you again once the incident is over. If you agree, the local authority will call you to ask whether you need victim support or need to talk to a social worker or psychologist to help you come to terms with what has happened. We will only share your contact details with your local authority if you give us permission to do so. Your details will not be shared with any other parties.

We will keep your details and those of your loved one for six weeks. They will be used to help us assess how ‘Looking for my loved one’ works and for any research into the disaster that may be carried out by the Dutch Safety Board, for example. After this period all your details will be deleted.

‘Looking for my loved one’ is a service provided by the government. In the event of a disaster or major incident, a local authority or safety region may decide to open the telephone number for people who are looking for a loved one.

The ‘Looking for my loved one’ team gets information from hospitals and the police. We handle this information with great care.