Communication in a survival scenario is both vital and vulnerable.
That means you have to have other means of communication besides your usual means to give yourself a way to learn and impart knowledge that can be life-saving!
What if the phone lines are jammed?
It is usually easier to call out from a disaster area than to contact someone within a disaster area. However, if things are bad you probably won’t be able to get a single call through. In that case, there are a few other things you can do:
1. Before a disaster, you and your family should agree on a meeting place. Make sure it is near a landmark that will be recognizable even after an earthquake, flood, hurricane, terrorist attack, tornado, etc. You should agree on some local bulletin boards where you can leave messages for each other. You’ll need multiple sites because they might not all survive whatever disaster strikes your area.
2. One-way communication is also critical in an urban survival scenario. I already mentioned the solar powered Etón Charger. But if you’re not interested in that, you might want to consider a good hand crank radio. It’s best if it picks up AM, FM and NOAA weather forecasts. This will be invaluable during a disaster as you will be able to get warnings and/or instructions from the authorities.
3. Buy a two-way radio. The best ones can cost over $200, but if money is tight, I recommend the Motorola MH230R two-way radio. They’re less than $50 and have a range of several miles. They also have 22 channels and over 100 privacy codes. Practice using them while you still can. If the worst happens, you’ll be glad you have them.
During the immediate aftermath of the 9-11 terrorist attacks, almost all cell lines into Washington, DC and New York City were effectively down.
Not only was communications outside of that environment sketchy, inside, it was very difficult to coordinate with anyone, not in your immediate vicinity, which led to a lot of confusion.
Communication in a survival scenario is key – to learn more about communicating during a survival scenario, check out the Urban Survival Site.