Using text messaging for communications after earthquakes and other disasters

With the swarm of earthquakes that have hit the northwest Reno area since February there has been heightened awareness of procedures to take to prepare for earthquakes.

After a major quake cell phone and land-line communications may be unavailable due to damage to cell sites, power failures and/or overloaded communication channels due to too many people trying to use their phones at the same time.

After a quake phones should be for emergency calls or brief calls to check the status of family and close friends. If you are unable to place calls, you may be able to communicate via text messaging as was common during the 9/11 attacks. An interesting National Communication System tech bulletin describes the use of SMS in times of disaster and otherwise.