Emergency Communications

Family Emergency Communications

In an emergency not all telecommunications services will work, but there are some things we have learned that may work in these times.

Out of Town Contact

It’s important for families to have an out of town/ out of state contact. In some emergencies, local communications will not be possible due to local telephone traffic. However, in many emergencies, people are still able to call out of town. For this reason, your entire family should designate an out of town contact to serve as a relay of messages in case they can’t directly reach each other.

Cell Phone Texting

When the MinneapolisBridge collapsed in 2007, there was so much cell phone traffic that voice communication over cell phones was impossible. However, one thing we did learn that texting, in most cases, still worked from cell phones. Data travels on a different network than voice calls and because of its nature, can be retransmitted by the network until it finally reaches your phone. So, even in the event of a brief data interruption, the network will continually try to send your text messages until they reach your cell phone! This makes this ideal for emergency communication, especially in the initial stages of an emergency when no other way works.

FRS/GMRS Radios

In the event of total cell phone/land line failure such as a long term power failure, I recommend each family has a least a set of FRS to serve as a back-up communications method between family members. Family Radio Service (FRS) is one of the Citizens Band Radio Services. It is used by family, friends and associates to communicate within a neighborhood and while on group outings. It has a communications range of less than one mile. You can not make a telephone call with an FRS unit. You can talk to other family members or friends within its range.FRS radios have a set of channels (1-14) with a subset of interference eliminator codes (1-39) (or more depending on brand and model) which leaves at least 546 privacy possibilities. For example, if you wished to talk to someone, you would need to know in advance what channel and what interference eliminator code they were using. Then, simply tune your FRS radio to that, and FRS communications would be possible.FRS radios do not work well when large groups of people are close together all trying to use the radios to communicate between their respective family members on the same channel. In an emergency, this is a possibility at evacuation centers. This is also true with any two-way radio, including HAM radios, but because of the limited number of channels, and the popularity of FRS radios, it’s certainly more possible with FRS radios.

[Loudmouth_Mormon]

Great info, WordFlood!

One thing we've done in our family's disaster planning, is to assume that communications just won't be available at all. So we've got places to meet figured out. Home if possible, or church if we can't get home, or a place in the city if we can't make it out to where we live, etc. But yeah, we didn't even think about texting if the voice doesn't work, or calling out of state if the instate stuff didn't work.

Thanks!
LM

[PentiumInside]

In case of a disaster, I want to be with my wife and 2 children and everyone else can wait til I email them lol. I have no desire to communicate with anyone honestly

Originally Posted by PentiumInside

In case of a disaster, I want to be with my wife and 2 children and everyone else can wait til I email them lol. I have no desire to communicate with anyone honestly

If you have your cell phone, and a bridge collapses (or something similar) and your cell phone is jammed, wouldnt it be nice to know you can text someone for help? If not, a good loud whistle will work - If not, you can just wait for help ... maybe?

Pentium, more good info from an article from MSNBC -- Also, didnt know if you knew this, but Texting is now the lead in Alert Notification (similar to reverse 911).

MSNBC Cosmic Log (blog) ....

When cell phones fail - Cosmic Log - msnbc.com

Originally Posted by Loudmouth_Mormon

Great info, WordFlood!

One thing we've done in our family's disaster planning, is to assume that communications just won't be available at all. So we've got places to meet figured out. Home if possible, or church if we can't get home, or a place in the city if we can't make it out to where we live, etc. But yeah, we didn't even think about texting if the voice doesn't work, or calling out of state if the instate stuff didn't work.

Thanks!
LM

An evacuation point is fantastic! We have one for our branch. We also encourage families to have thier own as well. One of the hard things we are faced with is what if one member of the family is far away at work and a disaster happens at home? Just knowing that your family member is alive and well can mean a lot in a disaster. If you have cell phones now, I encourage members to learn how to use the texting feature - Further, our branch provides information via texting to all members in our branch who wish to be notified. For example, if there is an inmate in the area on the loose, wouldnt it be nice to know ahead of time? Also, if there is a disaster, we can send a text message to all members who register to let them know that the danger is, and if we are evacuating and where. A family communcations plan also includes all the telephone numbers of important people you know. If you love someone, or they love you, its nice to have the ability to put thier worries at ease so they can concentrate on the emergency at hand.