Accountability system tracks Airmen during disasters Published April 11, 2011 By Nicole Turner Tinker Public Affairs TINKER AIR FORCE BASE, Okla. -- When disaster strikes the Air Force Personnel Accountability and Assessment System is designated to help. AFPAAS is a secure website that allows Air Force personnel and their families directly affected from natural and man-made disasters to request assistance if needed. It also allows Air Force-affiliated personnel to update their current contact information and location, add or remove their family members and update family information and location as well. "It's a fairly new program," said Staff Sgt. Melanie McManus, the assistant non-commissioned officer in charge of Installation Personnel Readiness in the 72nd Force Support Squadron. The Air Force just implemented the program within the past year, she said. "If you are in the geographical area, you can go online and update if you're good to go," said Master Sgt. Michele Thornton, superintendent of IPR. "It's just a full accountability of personnel and family members." The website, https://afpaas.af.mil, also has an option for affected persons to complete a needs assessment for Airman & Family Readiness. The assessment contains several basic questions including, "How are you?," "Where are you?," "How can we contact you?" and "What do you need right now?" Then, according to their needs, they will have case managers assigned to them. If communication lines are down and people are unable to get to a computer or use the Internet, there are several numbers to call as well, like the Air Force Personnel Center/Personnel Readiness Center at 800-435-9941, Air Force Family Readiness Emergency line at 866-299-0596, Federal Emergency Management Agency at 800-621-3362 and American Red Cross at 866-438-4636. "The only time the members need to log on to the system is if they're in the affected area," Sergeant McManus said. "They just need to log in and account for themselves and their dependents and complete the needs assessment." It's an instant way to single out who may be in trouble; it at least puts somebody on the radar, knowing whether we have contacted you or not." The CORs, Commanding Officer Representatives, then confirm the current standings to the IPR by telephone or through e-mail. "If we have communications up, we prefer email so we can keep that source document and we can track it a lot easier," Sergeant McManus said. CORs are required to update standings with IPR each hour. "You should be able to have 100 percent accountability within 48 hours. That's the goal," Sergeant Thornton said. Because the system is moderately new, it hasn't been used at Tinker for any local disasters. However, the Air Force used AFPAAS during the recent crisis in Japan. All bases that are not in the affected area are still required to initiate 100 percent accountability. The COR's update AFPAAS to reflect 100 percent contact for their unit and can add personnel to the geographic area in AFPAAS if it is found during the recall that there is someone there. Sergeant Thornton said the Air Force wants to ensure that nobody is on holiday or on temporary duty there. There will be an Air-Force wide AFPAAS exercise in May. "It's really important to make sure that addresses and phone numbers are up-to-date," Sergeant Thornton said. She also said it is crucial for civilians and military to ensure their family members have the contact information for AFPAAS as well. "We just want to make sure they're OK."