Communicating With Your Family & Friends During a Disaster

Don’t lose touch with your family during a disaster!

Emergencies can happen at any time. You will want to send and receive information from your family and friends.  

“What if something happens and I’m not with my family?” “How will I know they are safe?” “How can I let them know I’m OK?”  

A communication plan will help!  Follow the steps in the diagram above to make a plan with your family so you don’t lose touch during a disaster.

Remember to Text First, Talk Second when communicating during an emergency event.  While the desire to call and talk to your loved one during these incidents may be great, mobile phone calls can quickly overwhelm provider capacity.  During an emergency and its immediate aftermath, communicating via SMS text messaging should be your first choice.

Text messages get through even when voice networks are congested.  So in an emergency:

  • Let your friends and loved ones know you are okay with  a text message, not a call
  • Keep your text message short:  R  U  OK?  and  I M  OK.
  • Do not use your phone unless you absolutely need to.