Tips for Communicating During a Power Outage
We may not think about it much in this technological age of information overload, but a significant disaster and the resulting power outage can seriously compromise our ability to communicate. Anyone who endured the power outage a few months ago when both a 5.8 magnitude earthquake and Hurricane Irene hit the east coast may remember how difficult it was to contact family, friends, and even 911 during this time. However, there are practical steps you can take to improve your ability to communicate during, and immediately after, a disaster.
To prepare at home:
- Keep a car-phone charger as a back up for charging your cell phone and have additional charged phone batteries on hand.
- Although many of us have long since gotten rid of our corded phones, the FCC and FEMA both recommend keeping at least one non-cordless phone in your home if you have a traditional land line, as it will work even if you lose power.
- Your cell phone should contain “In Case of Emergency” (ICE) contacts that can be reached by emergency personnel in the event you are injured and unable to use your phone. (Make sure these ICE contacts are aware they are your emergency contacts.)
- Remember battery powered radios? They’re not as ubiquitous as they once were, but battery powered radios are useful for getting information during power outages. You should have a battery powered radio and spare batteries for it.
- Sign up to receive text alerts from state or local governments in the event of a disaster.

During a disaster or power outage:
- The FCC and FEMA recommend text messaging, email or social media for non-emergency communications during a disaster, as data based services are less likely to experience congestion than voice networks.
- To conserve your cell phone battery, reduce the screen brightness and close apps you are not using that draw power.
- If you charge your cell phone in your car, be sure your car is outside and not in the garage.
Lastly, don’t forget to rotate out your spare batteries from time to time to ensure you always have fresh spare batteries. I learned this the hard way when I discovered all our spare batteries were dead during a ten hour power outage last summer. Lesson learned. Now I’m prepared.








