As a child, I remember hunkering down in the basement when a storm would hit. Often, there were power outages and the phone lines were down, too. You would think that the same or worse problems would happen with a hurricane, but the advent of cell phone technology has made communication a possibility during some storms. According to CNET, the four major carriers in the area reported significantly less cell phone coverage outages than were originally anticipated. 

All of the carriers in the region took advantage of the early warning system and prepared for the storm and prepared backup generators specifically for the storm. Part of the reason for the success of the cell phones during Hurricane Irene was that the storm wasn’t quite as catastrophic as many had predicted that it would be. Even FEMA had warned residents in the areas affected by Hurricane Irene that they might experience a loss of cell phone coverage. 

There is also speculation that cell phone users in affected areas took the advice of the cell phone carriers and didn’t use their cell phones minimally in order to keep more lines open in case of emergency. 

While the coverage during Hurricane Irene was excellent, cell phone carriers are warning people not to expect the same amount of coverage during earthquakes, the primary reason being that earthquakes are not predicted in advance as hurricanes are. 

That said, the idea that communication is possible during a natural disaster or other emergency such as 9-11 is absolutely amazing. Those with cell phones but no power would actually be able to receive important emergency and/or evacuation information for their specific location. The difference between being in a natural disaster with cell phone coverage available and no connection to the outside world is huge; it’s literally the difference between having all the information you would ever need at your fingertips and being stuck in the dark with no idea what is happening outside.

It will be interesting to see how cell phones play a role in future natural and manmade disasters. The more communication that those in emergency situations have with the outside world, the better they are able to fend for themselves in trying and even deadly circumstances. Some see the face of technology as an evil thing, but there are definite advantages to technology available in many different kinds of situations.