Do AFF'ers register with Smart Traveller?

[timster]

Does anyone have any direct or anecdotal evidence of Smarttraveller registration helping/not helping in the case of a local emergency (eg Nepal, Bali, Middle East, typhoons, tsunami etc) ?

 

[Pablo]

I only know from what one of the the Consuls in Bali told me a few years back that their emergency response plan includes SMS's to be sent to people on the database from Canberra if there is a disaster/attack. It's the easiest way for them to contact you in the first instance.

 

[Ho Really]

...emergency response plan includes SMS's to be sent...

Just a heads up; if you are abroad buying a SIM (or SIMs) you will need to contact DFAT and give them the contact number(s). Don't forget.

 

[ejd711]

I've registered for most of my trips. I didn't register for my trip to Nepal and Tibet in April of this year - not intention, just forgot.

I've got to say I was fairly appalled at the lack of information available to me during the Nepal earthquake.

Earthquake happens on Saturday midday. It took me a couple of hours to get out of Bhaktapor and make it back towards my hotel in Thamel. No landline, no mobile phone reception, no electricity. Randomly, one hotel (not mine) had wireless internet for about 20 mins on Sat night (no idea, their landline must have worked and generator electricity) before it went out. I found out about it in sufficient time to send two facebook messages (one of which was to get a random friend to call my non-internet savvy parents and one to a friend who is a travel agent saying I might need to get out of Nepal). Then no communication.

Sometime on Sunday morning, the hotel (that I didn't sleep in but went back for some food and to collect my essentials) landline was back up. Limited to no mobile, no internet. I called the Australian consulate (in Canberra) on behalf of three Australians. I was at first on hold for 5 mins, then told there was a special number for Australians in Nepal and was put through. 40 (!!!) minutes later it got answered in Australia! I got a lecture for not registering on Smartraveller first. I asked if the embassy in Kathmandu was open as we'd heard it had been damaged, they weren't sure! They did tell me the airport had re-opened (though I knew from someone who lived next to the airport that no commercial planes were in fact flying in or out of Kathmandu - only 2-3 military planes had landed). They asked if we were injured then told us the best thing to do was to try and get out of the country. No offer of assistance to how that was to happen - they weren't selling tickets at the airport, we had no internet to book ourselves, airline offices weren't open.

Then, when my friend rang the consulate 4 hours later they still had not registered me on the list of Australians in Nepal.

I ended up flying out Tuesday morning. On Sunday night, some mobiles (not mine) started working. I used someone random's phone to text my travel agent friend my credit cards details and said find me a flight! I got back a text with China Southern, flight time and confirmation. Late Sunday and Monday, stayed in the hotel lobby overnight but food was becoming more limited. The Australian embassy was about an hour and a half walk away and without knowing what was going on, decided to stay put. Had the food situation got more intense, would have walked to the embassy and apparently they had water, some food and tents in the front yard or something.

Yes - Australia did fly people out was it the Thursday? I tell you what - even Saturday to Tuesday felt like a LONG time when nothing was open or available, and aftershocks were continuing. I'm still not sure how I would have heard about the flight though.

All in all I was thoroughly unsatisfied with the response of my government as an Australian overseas in a disaster. I didn't necessarily expect that I'd be flown out, but being on hold for 40- minutes from overseas was totally unacceptable in my book as was the lack of information about their own consulate and providing information that the airport was open when no flights were coming or going.

India flew in planes and offered free flights to all it's citizens out of the country.
China hired commerical planes to fly it's citizens out.
It was very general knowledge that the Brits were providing services to their citizens at their consultate.
The Dutch booked flights for it's citizens to leave the country on commerical planes once the airport opened (business class no less! but no food or drinks as none were available at KTM to reservice the plane).

All I wanted was the consulate to answer their phone and provide some limited information. Thank god I wasn't hurt is all I could say.

Unfortunately I couldn't get through to my travel insurance so that didn't help. No banks or ATMs open so couldn't get cash. We did find that the best way to get out was to get someone overseas to book a ticket but there were still hundreds of people at the airport trying to get tickets there.

I'll register for Smartraveller in the future despite the complications. But I did expect better.

 

[Ho Really]

...Thank god I wasn't hurt is all I could say...

Not trying to be sarcastic, but if you were hurt you would've probably got better treatment.

 

[ejd711]

Not trying to be sarcastic, but if you were hurt you would've probably got better treatment.

Probably - I would have expected better if I'd been hurt, but then I probably wouldn't have been able to call so don't think they would have known about me anyway to be honest. Definitely couldn't have spent 40 minutes on hold anyway!

 

[lastrow]

Firstly this first hand account of an experience during the aftermath of the Nepal earthquake illustrates what can happen to a traveller caught up in a dangerous situation and how the Embassy can help even if it takes a while to answer the phone.
Now to DFAT. I have tried on numerous occasions to get the DFAT registration form to include the name and contact details of the travel agent.
True, a lot of people don't use travel agents, however many travellers use the services of a travel agent to set up their trip, and at any one time a travel agent can be expected to know the whereabouts of their client. They will also know of last minute changes which might supersede the information given earlier on the registration form.

 

[esseeeayeenn]

On two occasions I have needed consular assistance.
Once when I was assaulted in Madrid and needed help negotiating police reports and medical treatment.
And again in Abu Dhabi when an Emirati decided I hadn't moved out of the overtaking lane quickly enough and demanded the police take action.
The consular officials were brilliant in each case. I wasn't registered in either.