It’s late summer, which means it’s hurricane season. The earthquake in Virginia should also have rattled some nerves. Oh yeah, there are also fires, tornadoes, and general severe weather for the remainder of the summer season. After that, there’s more storms, snow, and ice. The fun never stops here on Earth, so it’s best to be ready. Jessica Remo of Patch has some tips on how to use your cellular phone during a disaster. First, here are some preparedness tips that seem simple, but are easily overlooked.
1. Maintain a list of emergency numbers in your phone: police and fire, friends, family, close friends, and anyone else who you might need to contact in the case of an emergency.
2. Make sure your friends and family have your number.
3. Download some safety apps, like the ones mentioned in my previous post.
4. Back up your address book to someplace secure, like cloud storage.
Here’s a tip that isn’t listed, but I’ll add it anyway: Make sure your phone is charged up, with as much juice as it will hold. Once it’s charged, make sure you limit your use until after the disaster is over and you’ve got a steady supply of electricity again.
In that spirit, you want to conserve electricity and conserve bandwidth immediately after a natural disaster. Text your safety status updates, rather than make calls. Texting uses less power AND it saves bandwidth for people who need it, like first responders and people making emergency calls. Use apps to check the weather and current safety situation. Also, if you have a home phone? Forward that to your cell if you have to evacuate.