Bahamas counts 2,500 disappeared after the passage of Dorian | International

About 2,500 people have been reported missing after Hurricane Dorian hit the Bahamas 10 days ago, as confirmed by the Nassau Government on Wednesday. This indicates that the number of deaths, as the authorities have warned, may be significantly higher than the official figure of 50 confirmed to date. The list of missing persons, however, has not yet been collated with that of the evacuated people of Grand Bahama and the Abaco Islands, most affected by the hurricane, who have been welcomed by relatives or are in shelters built in the capital from the country.

It may be, therefore, that some of the missing persons are in the shelters and have not yet been contacted by their loved ones. It is also not clear what requirements are required to register a name in the list of missing persons, and if it includes, for example, people whose whereabouts have simply asked relatives who reside in other countries.

More than 5,500 people have been evacuated to the island of New Providence, where Nasáu is located, and of them just over 2,000 have been registered in the half-dozen shelters scattered throughout the capital. In these centers, evacuees are helped to contact their relatives to let them know that they are safe and where their whereabouts are.

Carl Smith, spokesman for the National Emergency Management Agency of the Bahamas, explained that a database with the names of missing persons, evacuees and those in shelters is being developed, to facilitate information collation . “As we are able to cross the data series, we can inform family members and reunite survivors with their loved ones,” said Smith.

At least another 4,000 evacuees have been transferred to the United States, according to the immigration authorities of that country. But a visa is required to travel to the United States. President Trump himself has warned that "everyone needs to have the proper documentation." "We must be very careful," Trump told reporters at the White House this week. "I don't want to allow people who shouldn't even be in the Bahamas to enter the United States, including very bad people and some members of very, very bad drug gangs and traffickers."