The Journal of Civil
Defense has my article in the May 2019 on Family Communication Tools. It is
below.
Useful Emergency
Communication Tools
Ask yourself, “How
would I communicate with my loved ones if something really bad happens?
Most likely, you will
use emergency communication tools, some that you have already, and others you
could benefit from, such as those below.
What are emergency
communication tools? They are hardware and software that connect you to your
family, friends, colleagues and community as well as with first responders,
support systems, and other family members.
Plan for what
emergency communication tools you need BEFORE the event to be able to communicate
and it will make your response faster, better, and more effective. Learning and
using these tools will give you a higher chance of successfully dealing with an
emergency.
Have a Plan
Your circumstances and
emergency communication tool needs are as unique as you and your family, so
think now about how you would communicate with your family in an emergency.
Identify the communications tools you would need to be able to reach them in an
emergency and make a plan for how to set those up.
Part of that plan must
be to learn the communication tools that are the most useful for you and your
family. Many of the ones listed below should be useful to you. If so, set up an
account and begin to learn how to use them. That way you know how to use it,
have exercised it, and are more likely to use it successfully before, during
and after an emergency.
No one tool below is
used by everyone, so use all or most of them to make sure you cover all the
emergency threat matrix.
To Begin — Establish
who you need to contact during an emergency. Make a list of them and distribute
that list to all parties.
List phone number,
social media addresses, email addresses, for everyone on your list. Make sure
one or two contacts are out of state. Also make sure everyone on the list knows
they are on it.
Identify a primary
point of contact with whom you will work. Make sure they know your plan.
Another option is a “call tree.” One person calls two more who call two more
and so on. It lessons the burden on one person being responsible for making all
the calls.
Emergency
Communication with Local Officials — Local emergency management officials
(police, fire fighters, emergency operations centers, public safety offices,
emergency operations centers, and more) use all, some, or a mix of the
emergency communications tools. Investigate those in your area and connect with
them. Here are a few local ones I use.
https://www.facebook.com/MountAiryPD/ Mt. Airy, MD Police Department Facebook
https://twitter.com/MDMEMA Maryland Emergency Management Agency
Twitter
https://twitter.com/MDSP Maryland State Police Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/CarrCoMDPubSafe/ Carroll County DPS Facebook
Cell Phones
Cell phones are
obvious as we use them every day to communicate. Most of us have our loved ones
and their telephone numbers in our cell phones. But cell phones require
additional items in an emergency.
For example, have an
extra power cable in your house and car. Keep a charging adapter in your car
cigarette lighter outlet. If electricity is cut off you may need to use the
battery in your car to charge up your phone. If power is out you may need to
use your car to charge your call phone. A solar phone charger is another option
for a power outage.
Instant Message
WhatsApp, Skype,
ezTalks, Viber, Meebo+, Google Hangout, Kik, WeChat, and Messenger are examples
of instant message apps and services. These and other instant message apps are
available for both Android and iOS. They are useful and a basic tool for
communicating normally and during an emergency.
Social Media
For sending loved
one’s emergency messages and getting updates on their status, social media is
useful. When cell phones do not work or the telecommunications networks are
overwhelmed preventing calling and texting, social media apps offer an
alternative way to communicate. Below are some ways.
Text Message — Text
messaging is a mobile phone service offered by phone companies (Verizon,
T-Mobile, etc.) that usually have a 160 character limit. Android and
Twitter — Twitter
offers instant updates about what is happening during an emergency. This makes
it easier to know what is going on and to monitor developments. It provides
timely information you and your family can act on. As such, it is invaluable.
When you have a Twitter account already in place, it's just a matter of using
the existing media during an actual emergency
To follow your tweets
on your phone, you may want to text "Follow [Twitter handle]"
Twitter's FastFollow has other options, like just getting the most recent tweet
for a given Twitter feed. And you may want to have several emergency Twitter
accounts, maybe one for alerts and one for information.
Use Twitter’s hashtag
(#) feature to follow information that you may want to monitor (#civildefense,
#emergecymaryland) so Twitter keywords are flagged with a # in the tweet.
NOTE: Twitter’s strength, instant information, can
also be its weakness, incorrect instant information. Always compare what
various people and sources are saying to best determine what is really going
on.
Instagram — Half of
the users of Instagram now use it as a Messaging App. Instagram allows you to
private message other users on the platform using the feature called Direct
Message. This feature lets you send messages to one or multiple people (a
group). It is a good option to communicate using Instagram during an emergency.
Facebook — In addition
to your existing Facebook account and your instant links to family and friends,
Facebook offers a new feature useful to emergency communications. Called Local
Alerts (https://www.facebook.com/help/publisher/572490746512593), it allows you to send a Facebook
notification to page followers who live in your area, whether they have opted
into that notification or not. They are used for urgent or emergency
information.
Currently, Facebook
Live is the only other post type on Facebook that sends out a notification.
Local alerts are a valuable tool in emergency communications, one that should
only be used to relay urgent information.
Emergency
Communications Apps
There are a wide
variety of emergency communication apps available you can download to your cell
phone. Here are a few examples.
Bugle — Helps your
friends and family find you in case you have an emergency.
Life 360 — Establishes
an immediate connection with your friends and family via text, email or voice
call. It notifies them about your current location and comes with a panic alert
feature.
First Aid by American
Red Cross — Offers users basic first aid lessons, help instructions, and a red
button to contact 911, disaster preparedness check-lists, and other American
Red cross resources.
SirenGPS — Creates a collaborative network of emergency
management and responses where the entire community stays connected to first
responders.
Patronus – Shares your
location with mobile 911 service dispatchers who can access your location.
ICE — The In Case of Emergency (ICE) stores
crucial information about you for responders and hospital personnel. Lists your
contact information so responders know who to contact.
Red Panic Button — It sparks off an early warning and
vulnerability alert system, one-to-many communication the moment you push the
red panic button.
Amateur Radio
Amateur Radio (also
known as ham radio) is used to communicate without the Internet or cell phones.
Therefore, it is an excellent way to communicate when other communications
tools are not operating. Also, you can take radio wherever you go! In times of
disaster. Ham radios have reliably assisted communications in emergencies for
over a hundred years. When other communications tools fail, amateur radio is an
excellent option.
Two Way Radio
(Walkie-Talkie)
A two way radio is a
portable, hand-held device that can transmit and receive radio communication.
Even when cell phones are not working or the power grid is down, two way radios
operate and convey critical emergency information. They are an excellent first
use or backup emergency communication tool.
With their
push-to-talk functionality for instant communication, they are much faster than
cell phones. They come with extreme ease of use, just the push of a button can
transmit your message to an entire group of people. And, they can withstand
harsh environmental conditions like heavy rain and dust.
Two-way radios can
send and receive text messages for quick and discreet communication. Lastly,
the fact that two-way radios don’t rely on cell phone networks is a huge
benefit in widespread emergencies, where reception may be congested or even
stop altogether.
Drone with a Camera
This may seem like an
unusual tool to include with the others here, but it has proven invaluable in
emergency events communicating the extent of the damage. For example, when a
tornado hit my own town of Mt. Airy, MD, (https://poetslife.blogspot.com/2018/11/ef-1-tornado-lessons-from-mt-airy-md.html), the video taken by a drone was invaluable
to recording the damage done so homeowners and farmers could quickly file
insurance claims.
Get Started Now
All these suggestions
offer advantages as communication tools. It is important to set them up, use
them, and know them before an emergency. I pray that for the health, safety and
survival of you and your loved ones you take advantage of them. A small
investment of time now will yield large dividends in safety, health and
security when you experience an emergency.
The Journal of Civil
Defense has my article in the May 2019 on Family Communication Tools. It is
below.
Journal of Civil
Defense Archives - The American Civil Defense Association (Journal of Civil
Defense Archives - The American Civil Defense Association)
**Useful Emergency
Communication Tools**
Ask yourself, “How
would I communicate with my loved ones if something really bad happens?
Most likely, you will
use emergency communication tools, some that you have already, and others you
could benefit from, such as those below.
What are emergency
communication tools? They are hardware and software that connect you to your
family, friends, colleagues and community as well as with first responders,
support systems, and other family members.
Plan for what
emergency communication tools you need BEFORE the event to be able to
communicate and it will make your response faster, better, and more effective.
Learning and using these tools will give you a higher chance of successfully
dealing with an emergency.
**Have a Plan**
Your circumstances and
emergency communication tool needs are as unique as you and your family, so
think now about how you would communicate with your family in an emergency.
Identify the communications tools you would need to be able to reach them in an
emergency and make a plan for how to set those up.
Part of that plan must
be to learn the communication tools that are the most useful for you and your
family. Many of the ones listed below should be useful to you. If so, set up an
account and begin to learn how to use them. That way you know how to use it,
have exercised it, and are more likely to use it successfully before, during
and after an emergency.
No one tool below is
used by everyone, so use all or most of them to make sure you cover all the
emergency threat matrix.
**To Begin — Establish
who you need to contact during an emergency. Make a list of them and distribute
that list to all parties.**
Identify a primary
point of contact with whom you will work. Make sure they know your plan.
Another option is a “call tree.” One person calls two more who call two more
and so on. It lessons the burden on one person being responsible for making all
the calls.
**Emergency
Communication with Local Officials — Local emergency management officials
(police, fire fighters, emergency operations centers, public safety offices,
emergency operations centers, and more) use all, some, or a mix of the
emergency communications tools. Investigate those in your area and connect with
them. Here are a few local ones I use.**
https://www.facebook.com/MountAiryPD/ (https://www.facebook.com/MountAiryPD/) Mt. Airy, MD Police Department Facebook
Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MDMEMA)
(@MDMEMA) (Maryland Emergency Management Agency (MDMEMA)
(@MDMEMA)) Maryland Emergency
Management Agency Twitter
MD State Police (@MDSP) (MD State Police
(@MDSP)) Maryland State
Police Twitter
https://www.facebook.com/CarrCoMDPubSafe/ (https://www.facebook.com/CarrCoMDPubSafe/) Carroll County DPS Facebook
**Cell Phones**
Cell phones are
obvious as we use them every day to communicate. Most of us have our loved ones
and their telephone numbers in our cell phones. But cell phones require
additional items in an emergency.
For example, have an
extra power cable in your house and car. Keep a charging adapter in your car
cigarette lighter outlet. If electricity is cut off you may need to use the
battery in your car to charge up your phone. If power is out you may need to
use your car to charge your call phone. A solar phone charger is another option
for a power outage.
**Instant Message**
WhatsApp, Skype,
ezTalks, Viber, Meebo+, Google Hangout, Kik, WeChat, and Messenger are examples
of instant message apps and services. These and other instant message apps are
available for both Android and iOS. They are useful and a basic tool for
communicating normally and during an emergency.
**Social Media**
For sending loved
one’s emergency messages and getting updates on their status, social media is
useful. When cell phones do not work or the telecommunications networks are
overwhelmed preventing calling and texting, social media apps offer an
alternative way to communicate. Below are some ways.
**Text Message — Text
messaging is a mobile phone service offered by phone companies (Verizon,
T-Mobile, etc.) that usually have a 160 character limit. Android and **
**Twitter — Twitter
offers instant updates about what is happening during an emergency. This makes
it easier to know what is going on and to monitor developments. It provides
timely information you and your family can act on. As such, it is invaluable.
When you have a Twitter account already in place, it's just a matter of using
the existing media during an actual emergency**
To follow your tweets
on your phone, you may want to text "Follow [Twitter handle]"
Twitter's FastFollow has other options, like just getting the most recent tweet
for a given Twitter feed. And you may want to have several emergency Twitter
accounts, maybe one for alerts and one for information.
Use Twitter’s hashtag
(#) feature to follow information that you may want to monitor (#civildefense,
#emergecymaryland) so Twitter keywords are flagged with a # in the tweet.
**NOTE**: Twitter’s
strength, instant information, can also be its weakness, incorrect instant
information. Always compare what various people and sources are saying to best
determine what is really going on.
**Instagram — Half of
the users of Instagram now use it as a Messaging App. Instagram allows you to
private message other users on the platform using the feature called Direct
Message. This feature lets you send messages to one or multiple people (a group).
It is a good option to communicate using Instagram during an emergency.**
**Facebook — In
addition to your existing Facebook account and your instant links to family and
friends, Facebook offers a new feature useful to emergency communications.
Called Local Alerts (****https://www.facebook.com/help/publisher/572490746512593** (https://www.facebook.com/help/publisher/572490746512593)**), it allows you to send a Facebook
notification to page followers who live in your area, whether they have opted
into that notification or not. They are used for urgent or emergency
information. **
**Emergency
Communications Apps**
**There are a wide
variety of emergency communication apps available you can download to your cell
phone. Here are a few examples**
**Bugle — Helps your
friends and family find you in case you have an emergency.**
**Life 360 —
Establishes an immediate connection with your friends and family via text,
email or voice call. It notifies them about your
current location and comes with a panic alert feature.**
current location and comes with a panic alert feature.**
**First Aid by
American Red Cross — Offers users basic first aid lessons, help instructions,
and a red button to contact 911, disaster preparedness check-lists, and other
American Red cross resources.**
**SirenGPS** — Creates
a collaborative network of emergency management and responses where the entire
community stays connected to first responders.
Patronus – Shares your
location with mobile 911 service dispatchers who can access your location.
**ICE **— The In Case
of Emergency (ICE) stores crucial information about you for responders and
hospital personnel. Lists your contact information so responders know who to
contact.
**Red Panic Button** —
It sparks off an early warning and vulnerability alert system, one-to-many
communication the moment you push the red panic button.
**Amateur Radio**
Amateur Radio (also
known as ham radio) is used to communicate without the Internet or cell phones.
Therefore, it is an excellent way to communicate when other communications
tools are not operating. Also, you can take radio wherever you go! In times of
disaster. Ham radios have reliably assisted communications in emergencies for
over a hundred years. When other communications tools fail, amateur radio is an
excellent option.
**Two Way Radio
(Walkie-Talkie)**
A two way radio is a
portable, hand-held device that can transmit and receive radio communication.
Even when cell phones are not working or the power grid is down, two way radios
operate and convey critical emergency information. They are an excellent first
use or backup emergency communication tool.
With their
push-to-talk functionality for instant communication, they are much faster than
cell phones. They come with extreme ease of use, just the push of a button can
transmit your message to an entire group of people. And, they can withstand
harsh environmental conditions like heavy rain and dust.
**Drone with a
Camera**
This may seem like an unusual tool to include with the others here, but it has proven invaluable in emergency events communicating the extent of the damage. For example, when a tornado hit my own town of Mt. Airy, MD, (EF-1 Tornado Lessons from Mt Airy MD (EF-1 Tornado Lessons from Mt Airy MD)), the video taken by a drone was invaluable to recording the damage done so homeowners and farmers could quickly file insurance claims.
This may seem like an unusual tool to include with the others here, but it has proven invaluable in emergency events communicating the extent of the damage. For example, when a tornado hit my own town of Mt. Airy, MD, (EF-1 Tornado Lessons from Mt Airy MD (EF-1 Tornado Lessons from Mt Airy MD)), the video taken by a drone was invaluable to recording the damage done so homeowners and farmers could quickly file insurance claims.
**Get Started Now**
All these suggestions
offer advantages as communication tools. It is important to set them up, use
them, and know them before an emergency. I pray that for the health, safety and
survival of you and your loved ones you take advantage of them. A small
investment of time now will yield large dividends in safety, health and
security when you experience an emergency.
