Verizon Wireless offers the following tips to help wireless customers prepare an emergency communications plan and stay connected in the event of an emergency:
- Charge wireless phone batteries as soon as disaster warnings are issued.
- Have additional charged batteries and car-charger adapters readily accessible.
- Keep phones, laptops, PDAs, batteries, chargers and other equipment in a dry, accessible location. It is a good idea to keep them in a sealable, plastic bag.
- Maintain a list of emergency phone numbers – police, fire, and rescue agencies; power companies; insurance providers; family, friends and co-workers; etc. – and program them into your phone.
- Know how to forward your home phone so calls can be directed to your wireless number and you are reachable in case of evacuation.
- Develop a systematic evacuation and communications plan with family and friends that includes what to do, who calls who, where to go and what supplies and items you will take with you.
Verizon Wireless also offers this advice if you find yourself in a bad storm or hurricane:
- Limit non-emergency calls to conserve battery power and free-up wireless networks for emergency agencies and operations.
- Send brief text messages rather than voice calls —often text messages get through when wireless networks are overtaxed during a crisis.
- Download to your phone any available applications that can help you stay connected remotely. Weather applications and apps from local news stations can help you learn about weather warnings, outages, evacuations and other pertinent disaster information.
- Connect to Facebook®, Twitter and other social networking sites via your phone. Status updates and tweets are a good way to let a large group of people, including family, friends and co-workers, know that you’re safe and how to contact you.
- Use the map features and location-based services on your devices to navigate to safety or share turn-by-turn directions to safe areas.
Other general preparedness tips:
- Take photos or videos of all personal possessions for insurance purposes.
- Have at least $200 in cash in the house for emergencies.
- Store several gallons of water.
- Make sure a trusted neighbor or friend has a spare key to your home, cars, boats, recreational vehicles and safe deposit boxes.
- Have an emergency plan for pets.
- Place emergency items in car trunk.
- Purchase enough food to last at least seven days in your home.
- Have two flashlights with extra batteries strategically located in your home.
- Purchase plywood to cover windows now.
Source: Verizon Wireless
June 2010
