[registrars] Disaster help - Request for Afilias to extend its deadlines

["Antony Van Couvering" <avc@nameengine.com>]

Dear ICANN people,

I need to write to you to help convince Afilias to extend their deadline
for Round One of their Landrush for at least a week.  To be honest, it's
not the first thing on my mind, given the horrific destruction that
everyone here witnessed from close quarters on Tuesday.  But for our
staff, and for our customers, many of whom have offices in lower
Manhattan, I must ask for your support in this matter.  I believe that
my request would be echoed by at least one other registrar from New
York.

NameEngine has been severely affected by the World Trade Center
disaster.  Our offices are below Canal Street in New York and so we are
prevented from entering our building until rescue efforts have
progressed further.  Today I was able to convince the police to let me
past their cordon in order to examine the state of our facilities.  Our
power is up, and luckily we have some backup connectivity that allows us
(slowly) to communicate via the Internet.  Phones work intermittently.

So, just before the Afilias deadline for Round 1 of the Landrush, none
of our staff have been able to get to work, not that anyone here is able
to concentrate very well, since several of us have friends who have been
injured or are missing.  

NameEngine will have great difficulty in meeting the current Afilias
deadline, even if we are allowed into our offices over the weekend.
Baseball, football, even the stock markets have closed out of respect
for those injured and killed and because of the tremendous logistical
challenges -- such as not being allowed in our office -- that the World
Trade Center bombing has caused.

We have petitioned Afilias directly to extend their deadline past
Tuesday, and although they have been sympathetic, to date they have not
directly responded to our request.   

I ask the Registrars Constituency and ICANN please to lend your voice to
our request to Afilias to extend the Round One deadline.  What harm can
this cause?

With thanks,

Antony Van Couvering
CEO, NameEngine