Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
When a disaster strikes, people tend to think that they can always rely upon their cell
phones, but with the exception of satellite phones, the landlines tend to be more robust and less
prone to failure than the cellular systems. Telephone systems have their own battery backup
power supplies, and backup generators, so they are often operable even when there is a wide-
spread power blackout. It is a good idea to have at least one old-fashioned hardwired corded
handset (not wireless) that does not plug into an AC outlet, so it will still operate even when the
power is out (provided that the landlines are still operating in your area). With many people
now relying completely on their cell phones, having dropped their use of landlines, when the
cell phones go out in a catastrophe, it can be quite frustrating!
It is a good idea to have multiple levels of redundancy, both for receiving information such
as news updates, weather forecasts, and emergency broadcasts, as well as being able to send
outgoing communications locally to coordinate with emergency services and friends, and to
reach people outside of the disaster area. This chapter covers the basics of communicating in a
disaster, including both what to expect as well as the pros and cons of various communications
equipment, such as radios, transceivers, shortwave radios, police scanners, CB radios, and tele-
phones. There is no single piece of communications equipment that is guaranteed to provide re-
liable communication under all potential circumstances, so it is a wise idea to pick up a few of
the different options that are discussed in this chapter. Having an out-of-town contact that your
family members have all agreed to communicate with in the event of a disaster can be quite im-
portant for relaying information, since local communications may be totally tied up, and in-
coming calls may not get through, but you may well be able to place calls to someone outside
of your area.
When Hurricane Katrina struck, local phone systems were not just degraded, they were ac-
tually destroyed, and for a very long period of time. Since the fuel and power distribution infra-
structures were also critically wounded, whatever services managed to survive initially on bat-
tery and generator backup-power supplies, went down when those supplies were depleted,
roughly between four and seventy-two hours later. The White House Katrina Report described
those results saying, “The complete devastation of the communications infrastructure left re-
sponders without a reliable network to use for coordinating emergency response operations.”
Radios
At the absolute minimum, you should have a battery-operated portable radio on hand. All of
the emergency-preparedness vendors (see sources in
appendix 2
)
stock a variety of radios,
