Telephone Tips To Support Your Emergency Communications Plan

During natural disasters, such as earthquakes, hurricanes or flooding, telephone services can be interrupted for extended periods of time because of high winds, flooding or cell tower damage.  As a result, in order to support your family’s communication plan, you need to consider various telephone equipment options.

Keep in mind that, during an emergency, a great many people are trying to use their phones at the same time compared to normal call volume.  When more people try to call at the same time, the increased call volume may create network congestion leading to “fast busy” signals or slow dial tone.  You may also receive a message that says, “Your call cannot be completed at this time.”

It is recommended that you have at least one corded telephone that is not dependent on electricity in case of an electrical power outage.  Remember most cordless telephones usually have receivers that are electrically charged and will not work during a power outage.  Many phones now have batteries inside to allow them to work for some time should a power outage occur.  These batteries need to be refreshed regularly similar to your smoke detectors.  Another good reason to maintain a “landline” telephone is to facilitate communication between emergency planners and your home via reverse 911 systems where implemented.  Using such a system, emergency planners can record an evacuation or shelter-in-place message to be delivered to thousands of homes per minute.  Many such systems are capable of geographically targeting homes via a city or county GIS (Geographical Information System).

You can also use your landline home phone to communicate with family and friends by using the voice mail feature (generally available at an additional cost).  With this you can leave and retrieve message remotely through a cell phone.  It is critical however, to know how to access your home voice mail remotely via your cell phone.  During an emergency is no time to try and figure this process out, especially considering you won’t have access to your owner’s manual.

Additionally, it is a good idea to have a wireless (cell) phone to enable communication when you are away from your home.  Tips for using your cell phone include:

• Make sure you program all of your emergency contact numbers into your cell phone (e.g., local police department, fire station, power company(s), insurance providers, local hospital(s), all family members and your emergency contact)
• Ensure your friends, neighbors and family know your cell phone number as well
• Keep your wireless phone batteries charged at all times
• Have an alternate plan to recharge your battery in case of power outages (i.e. charging via your DC car charger, extra cell phone battery, hand crank generator, or solar device with appropriate adapters)
• Keep your phone dry and out of environments with excessive humidity
• Forward your home phone to your wireless number in the event of an evacuation (call forwarding is based out of the telephone central office, so you will get incoming calls from your landline phone, even if your local telephone service is disrupted at your home)
• Use your wireless phone to access local weather information via a phone service or the Internet (if your phone is so configured).
• If you have a camera phone, you can take, store and send photos of damaged property to your insurance company from your phone (make sure your phone service plan covers this and practice before you need to send photos)
• Make sure your service plan covers text messaging (text messages will often go through quicker than voice calls and again now how to send a text message before you need to).  More importantly, text messaging frees up voice lines for emergency personnel.
• When redialing with your cell phone, wait 10 seconds between redial attempts so the data sent from your phone to the cell sites has enough time to clear before you resend the same data

In general, fight the urge to contact everyone you know to see what’s going on.  Every additional phone call puts a strain on the local Phone System.  So make only critical calls and keep them short.  This will help keep the system accessible to emergency personnel and first responders.

Jim Serre has over 30 years of engineering, safety and corporate training experience.  He is an Office of Emergency Services qualified Search & Rescue Unit member in two northern California counties.  He has provided Emergency Training to thousands of citizens in neighborhoods, businesses and faith-based groups and is a certified instructor for FEMA’s Community Emergency Response Team training.  His knowledge of survival and preparedness skills make him uniquely qualified to design emergency kits that can save your life.  For more emergency preparedness information see his website at www.getreadygear.com.

About the Author

Home survival kits and survival products for emergencies including hurricanes and earthquakes. Get Ready Gear provides supplies for families and businesses for a variety of unexpected natural or man-made events.

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