Finding your Family, Friends and Children When Separated in a National Disaster

American Red Cross Safe and Well

The American Red Cross maintains Safe and Well, a web-based system that helps reunite friends and family displaced by a disaster.  The Safe and Well site is always available and can be used by the public for any disaster, large or small. To speak with someone at the American Red Cross concerning a missing friend or relative, please contact the local American Red Cross chapter where you live or are staying Click here to find a local chapter.   

Should you need to apply for disaster assistance, please call FEMA's Hotline at 1-800-621-3362 (FEMA).

National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System

FEMA’s National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (NEFRLS) helps reunite families separated during a disaster. It allows displaced individuals to register and provide information about their current location and situation. The system provides a secure web-based environment where survivors and up to seven individuals (their loved ones and/or others) specifically identified can communicate their location as well as provide a personalized message.

NEFRLS is intended to allow:
ADULTS (over 21 years of age) to register as a displaced person and Friends and family to search for them.
To make a report of or search for a CHILD missing as a result of an emergency or major disaster you will be re-directed to the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC).

Affected individuals, or those seeking information about friends or family, can visit the NEFRLS website or call the NEFRLS hotline at 1-800-588-9822 to register themselves or inquire about another person. The system is only activated at the request of a State to support Presidentially-declared disasters.

Report/Search for a Missing Child
The National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (NEFRLS) National Emergency Child Locator Center

FEMA also works in collaboration with the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children (NCMEC) to support the reunification of children under 21 years of age with their parent or legal guardian.  Individuals reporting or searching for a child missing as a result of a disaster should call the NCMEC National Emergency Child Locator Center (NECLC) at 1-866-908-9570 or 1-877-908-9570. NECLC is only activated at the request of a State to support Presidentially-declared disasters.

Unaccompanied Minors Registry

NCMEC maintains the Unaccompanied Minors Registry (UMR), the nation’s first national repository created to collect, store, report, and act on information related to children separated from their parent or legal guardian as a result of disaster. Reports to the UMR are received directly by the NCMEC’s 24/7 call center staff. The registry is available for utilization 24 hours a day/7 days a week.