On radio and TV, on social networking sites and, as a last resort, in Valencia’s makeshift morgues: with no news from their own people, many are scrambling to find some information about their fate after the devastating floods that hit southeastern Spain.

The tally is still provisional, 205 dead and an unknown number of missing.

“His name is Ramon Garcia Hisbert. He lives in Albal. He is his brother. His phone has been switched off since Tuesday. Please share this message so we can find him again».

The message is accompanied by a photo and is one of dozens posted on the @dana.desaparecidos Instagram account. The word dana comes from the name of the weather phenomenon that swept Valencia, desapararecidos means “missing” in Spanish. The page is managed from Ibiza by 38-year-old Vanessa Molina.

“The idea was to try to help as much as I could,” Molina explained to AFP. The 38-year-old has studied marketing and tries with her posts on social networks “to reach the largest number of people”».

Families send her photos, the exact description of what the missing were wearing, a phone number and, usually, a license plate number, as so many people were trapped in their cars that were swept away by the waters.

In Paiporta, in the suburbs of Valencia, in addition to the 62 dead, dozens of residents are still missing.

For two days, Chaima Bouchafra’s uncle “was missing,” she told Platform X. There was no way to contact him, the phone network and the Internet were partially down.

So she turned to social networking sites for help. Her message was seen by 216,000 people and, within 24 hours, it paid off as Uncle Aziz Bouchafra was “located”.

On Cadena Ser, one of the country’s largest radio stations, and on public television TVE, the program includes announcements about locating missing persons.

But three days after the tragedy, the chances of them being found alive are vanishing.

In Valencia, authorities have cordoned off the two temporary morgues and are asking relatives of the missing not to go there because they “will not be able to receive the necessary attention and information” they seek from coroners.

Because of the lack of communication, online solidarity takes on a new meaning. Volunteers go to flooded communities and provide information to page administrators.

“Nurses who went to Benetucher (in the province of Valencia) informed me directly,” said Vanessa Molina, who updates her Instagram page as soon as someone is found. “We had dozens of good news“, he added.

Hundreds of people also share photos of their animals and, sometimes, the ending is happy: a bull terrier, a dog, slightly injured in the muzzle, was found tonight in Benetucher, according to the account @danadesaparecidos Valencia where the phone number of the person who saved him.