To request American Red Cross international tracing and messaging services, please
call (417) 832-9500.

The reach of your local American Red Cross extends around the world. We provide International Social Services, Tracing and Messaging to assist families in contacting or locating loved ones in areas of war and disaster around the world. The American Red Cross also supports international relief efforts to relieve human suffering.


INTERNATIONAL SOCIAL SERVICES INCLUDE:

• Locating missing loved ones. The American Red Cross works with other national societies to trace family members in the midst of war, civil unrest, or disaster in other countries. Requests are accepted from any individual at local Red Cross chapters or offices on U.S. military installations worldwide. Depending on circumstances, searches may continue for months or years and may end with the confirmed death of a relative. Yet many who grieve also express relief at learning the fate of a loved one. And sometimes, searches end with joyous reunions.
  
  
• Exchanging family messages. When regular channels of communication are severed during war, the Red Cross provides a conduit for separated family members to exchange messages. Your local chapter or station provides the link to families caught in conflict around the world. Red Cross Messages may originate with someone in the community - often a recent immigrant or refugee - who requests assistance. Or a chapter may deliver messages from almost anywhere in the world. Thanks to this global network, civilians, prisoners of war, detainees, and their loved ones are less alone.
  
  
• Making international disaster relief inquiries. When earthquakes, severe storms, and other natural disasters strike, normal lines of communication may be disrupted for some time. Families in the U.S. who are anxious about the welfare of relatives in a disaster - stricken area can call on the Red Cross. When the national society of the country where the disaster occurred is able to accept inquiries, information will be channeled back through local Red Cross chapters.
  
  
• Making health and welfare inquiries. In peacetime as well as in the midst of conflict, whenever normal communication is disrupted, the American Red Cross makes every effort to obtain information about loved ones. Whenever possible, concerned families will be kept abreast of the whereabouts and well-being of relatives until normal communication resumes. 
  

The role of the American Red Cross in providing international relief and development continues to widen in scope and complexity. The American Red Cross has established projects in response to humanitarian needs in Rwanda, the former Yugoslavia, Cambodia, and throughout the former Soviet Union. Victims of numerous other less visible - but no less urgent - crises also benefit from American Red Cross assistance. 

In response to each, the American Red Cross continues to work with the International Committee of the Red Cross, the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, individual national Red Cross or Red Crescent societies, and the Magen David Adom in Israel to alleviate suffering caused by conflict and natural disasters.