Texting

I just read a really good book, Survival: How a Culture of Preparedness Can Save You and Your Family From Disasters by Lt. General Russel L. Honore' (U.S. Army, retired). He was the commander of Joint Task Force- Katrina, the officer on the ground in charge of all active-duty military forces sent to Louisiana and Mississippi.

At the end of every chapter he gave ten- to- twenty "Lessons Learned for Building a Culture of Preparedness."

One of the tips that I got from the book was to teach myself to send and receive text messages on my cell phone.

"Text messages were still working for many people even though the cell towers were down. There were a few cell towers out there somewhere with just a hint of life in them. They had enough power to enable people to send text messages.

Anyone who has a cell phone needs to know how to send text messages in the event of an emergency. A text message is a burst transmission and uses only a fraction of a signal whereas a voice call will eat up a lot of bandwidth.

It is especially important for the elderly or the disabled who live in areas prone to hurricane, floods, earthquakes, or wildfires to have a cell phone and be able to send text messages. Learning that simple skill could mean the difference between life and death. " page 117

"Shortly after our arrival in New Orleans, my headquarters in Atlanta began receiving text messages from people trapped in their homes...These people would send a text message to a friend who would forward it to the Times-Picayune, which would then send the message on to First Army headquarters. The message would be sent from there to the Coast Guard search-and-rescue officials with information about where these people were... " page 116.

(Not from the book) I was also thinking about communicating in a disaster where there are no cell towers left. I am really proud of my friend Patti, who just got her Ham Radio license. I am definitely planning to take that training someday and get my license too.