Calls bombarded a casualty bureau today from people worried about loved ones caught up in the earthquake. Forty specially trained volunteers took 249 calls in a few hours after the bureau was set up at the Metropolitan Police training centre Peel Centre in Hendon, north London, at 2.30pm. Commander Ronald McPherson, who is in charge of the operation, said the volume of calls was among the highest levels they had yet experienced for a mass casualty incident, including the September 11 terror attacks in the United States. He said: "Tragically the Met does have lots of experience dealing with massive casualties. I was involved in 9/11. "Call volume is amongst the highest level that we have ever experienced for a mass casualty incident. "Since we opened the lines have been permanently at capacity. We are now at 249 calls. Initially calls were dealt with by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and then they were transferred to us from 2.30pm. We will stay open until we are satisfied we have done everything we can." Mr McPherson said staff were taking calls from people from anywhere in the world concerned about relatives or loved ones who are UK nationals. He said: "We take their details and details of the loved one and put them on a database and as and when we have got information of their safety or otherwise we contact them." Mr McPherson said he was unable to give details of how many people were on the database, adding: "We know there are a number of casualties. What we don't know is how many are UK nationals." The centre has been receiving calls about UK nationals in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India, Bangladesh, Myanmar, Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia. Mr McPherson issued a plea to relatives who have already rung in but have since made contact with their loved one to let staff know so they could be taken off the database. He also urged people to be patient, adding: "We understand how concerned they will be about their relatives. Please only use the number. Do not use the 999 system. We have had people use the 999 system and that's not helpful." He said there was a willingness to help among the Met volunteers, some of whom have come into the Casualty Bureau on their day off. It is the first time the Casualty Bureau Appeal Centre has been used since it was opened in October last year. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office inquiry line that relatives and loved ones should use is 020 7008 0000. Meanwhile, Foreign Secretary Jack Straw is to be questioned in Parliament about the "inadequate arrangements" made to keep people informed about their relatives and friends caught up in the earthquake. Gerald Howarth, Conservative Member for Aldershot, said today he had received complaints from constituents that they were unable to get through to the telephone hotline number given out by the Foreign Office. "I discovered also that even MPs could not get through to get information on behalf of their constituents. There must be thousands of people throughout the country in this plight. "For a Government that spends its entire time managing the news with an army of spin doctors, not to have an adequate system in place for dealing with natural disasters does smack of incompetence. "I think the Foreign Office should have been far better prepared for this sort of thing. The system in place is plainly inadequate. People have been trying to get through to this number for hours on end without success." Mr Howarth is tabling Commons questions to Mr Straw to find out "what went wrong". | 
