William wrote:



While I realize that a family planning for disaster doesn't get to be
on a recall roster at the State Police or ARC, they don't get armbands
and it's not glamorous and they don't get awards and citations for it,
EVERY FAMILY IN A DISASTER AREA WHO DOES NOT DRAIN STATE AND FEDERAL
EMERGENCY RESOURCES IS AN ASSET IN THAT EMERGENCY.

Emergencies aren't just about continuity of government for crying out
loud!

Every family should have a disaster kit, the FEMA site list those items
that should be included in the kit. They list a portable,
battery-powered radio or television and extra batteries.
Nowhere do they list a cell phone, though they do state you should have
a list of phone numbers of places you could go to. I would certainly
think one would take their cell phone in an emergency. Families or
individuals will be using the cell phone for their own purposes, the
military and civil emergency authorities will not be relying on the cell
network as their primary, secondary or even third source for emergency
comms as the cell network will, it it is working, be overloaded by those
families and other individuals try to figure out where they should go,
what they should do, calling relatives and friends to see if they are
OK, ect.
If an emergency official can use his cell phone to communicate he will,
but he is not going to count on it as his primary ability to communicate
with other emergency personel.
The cell network may well play an important part for communication for
the AC, but not for military and civil emergency comms. Ham radio can
and will it needed.