Faced with the growing number of people who don't know where relatives are or what has happened to them, the worldwide Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement has decided to strengthen its ability to respond to their needs.

''Large-scale emergencies today are more complex than they once were," says Renée Zellweger Monin, deputy head of the Central Tracing Agency of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). "So many people have no idea whether parents, sisters or brothers have fled, are being held in prison, or are lying dead under the rubble." The Red Cross / Red Crescent was determined, she said, to do more to trace and restore contact with people who are still alive, and throw light on the fate of those who are not.

How best to do more is the subject of four upcoming regional Red Cross / Red Crescent conferences. They will be chaired by the ICRC with the aim of devising a 10-year strategy to be implemented from 2008 to 2018. The first meeting will take place from 1 to 3 November in Nairobi and will be attended by a wide range of African National Societies and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The other three regional conferences will be held before the end of the year in:

• Kiev (15 to 17 November) for Europe and the Caucasus
• Buenos Aires (27 to 29 November) for the Americas
• Bangkok (11 to 13 December) for Asia and the Middle East.