How Much Can American Travelers Overseas Rely On The U.S. State Department For Help In A Crisis?

According to the U.S. State Department Web site, consular personnel at U.S. embassies and consulates are on call 24 hours a day to provide emergency assistance to Americans traveling abroad. But when Raj and Alyssa Kamruddin recently called for help, they found it in very short supply. The young couple from Illinois were in Mumbai during the November terrorist attacks and were desperate for guidance on what to do. "When I called the consulate, I was told, 'We don't have any information. Stay in your room and keep watching TV,' " recalls Alyssa. Twelve hours later, the couple checked the Web site of the U.S. embassy in Delhi and found nothing related to the attack. Hours after the Western press began reporting on the violence in Mumbai, a photograph of the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade was still the top news item on the embassy's Web site. And although Alyssa had registered her travel plans on the State Department's site (travel registration.state.gov), she never received any e-mails related to the Mumbai attack. click here to read more