Orphaned by the storm

The internet has become a bulletin board for parents searching for missing children and children found wandering alone. Photographs of more than 20 children, separated from their parents in the storm have been posted on a website maintained by the National Centre for Missing and Exploited Children (www.missingkids.com). Clicking on each photograph brings up what information rescue workers have been able to find.

One of the rescued babies is Jordan Barnes, five months old ,whose mother's "whereabouts are unknown".

Another two-year-old who seemed to respond to the names Neiamaya or Jeremiah, had been found on a motorway on the outskirts of New Orleans which had become an open air camp for survivors.

One baby girl who appears to be barely one year old has no recorded information other than the single line: "The child was separated from her caretaker by Hurricane Katrina"

Some of the photographs have the word "resolved" stamped on them, suggesting it is fulfilling its function of reuniting children and parents, despite the fact that few evacuees have access to the internet. The organisations also runs a toll-free telephone number for desperate parents.

Another website is reserved for missing children, and it includes a handful of children not seen since the hurricane hit the region last Monday.

One eight-year-old, Dylan Bethancourt, from Marrero, Louisiana, was last seen with his father, who worked in a nearby hospital. The website said: "There has been no contact with either of them since Hurricane Katrina".