This page contains information about FEMA's disaster related National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System.
FEMA's National Emergency Family Registry and Locator System (NEFRLS) is activated following a Presidentially declared disaster to reunite families that have become separated as a result of the disaster. Individuals and families can register online at www.fema.gov or by phone at 1-800-588-9822, 24-hours a day, when activated.
Following the 2005 Hurricane Season, Congress passed the Post-Katrina Emergency Management Reform Act (PKEMRA) of 2006, amending the Robert T. Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act, and authorizing the establishment of the NEFRLS.
NEFRLS lets FEMA provide a web-based system where people can voluntarily register and share specific information on their post-disaster well-being or location with specified family members.
- By going online or calling the family registry system call center, people separated from their families and friends can provide information about themselves and those they are traveling with, and where they can be found. At the same time, people looking for a displaced family member or friend are also urged to go online at www.fema.gov or call the toll-free number as they search for them.
- For those who have become separated from children, 21-years of age and under, FEMA works in collaboration with the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children (NCMEC) to activate the National Emergency Child Locator Center to help local and tribal governments, and law enforcement agencies track and locate children separated from their parents or guardians in the disaster.
- People who call the National Family Registry and Locator System to locate children will be automatically directed to the National Emergency Child Locater Center
- The toll-free number for the Emergency Child Locator Center is 1-866-908-9572 and it is staffed 24-hours a day.
- The Center's operations are managed by the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, with support from FEMA.