5 Tips to Stay Connected
How’s your stress level during an emergency? How’s your stress level when you’re completely cut off from your loved ones? Would you like to try both at the same time? Sounds like a literal nightmare!
These five tips will ensure you have the best chance of reaching friends and family when shit hits the fan.
1. Have a landline at home
We know, we know. Very few people still have a phone connected to a wire. A wired phone?! But…
During emergencies, wired devices are more likely to work as network outages are more probable. Keep yourself connected to the outside world by having a landline at your home. Corded phones (rather than cordless) are the most likely to maintain a connection.
2. Keep a USB charging cable in your car
If you are in the middle of an emergency, your car could be a safe space. If you’re safe in your car, you can keep your phone charged by plugging in. All you need to do is keep car charger that works for your phone.
It’s also a good idea to keep a power bank in your car emergency kit. Store it in your console to keep it charged and make sure it’s not leaking while it’s not in use.
3. Buy prepaid phone cards
When cellphone calls don’t work, prepaid phone cards do. It is good to make sure all members of the household have a prepaid phone card handy when they are away from home.
4. Use call forwarding
Did you know that you can enable call forwarding on your cell phone? (Enable call forwarding on iPhone or Android phones.)
Let’s say you are in a meeting and you are not able to pick up your child’s call during an emergency at home. If calls are forwarded to your partner when you’re unable to answer, you’ll double your chances of a quick response.
5. Save Emergency Contacts
If the emergency you’re experiencing makes you unconscious or otherwise indisposed, your phone has your back. The people around you can call your ICE (In Case of Emergency) contact if you have one designated.
Everyone in your household with a phone should have the “In case of emergency, call X” contact feature enabled on their phones. The ICE contact can be dialed from the lock screen without the need to unlock the phone.
You can also enter other details and important medical information to let helpful strangers aid you better.
- Here’s a helpful WikiHow Guide for adding emergency contacts to Android phones.
- Here’s how you can do it for your iPhone.
If you need to call someone’s emergency contact for them, you can access the emergency call screen on an iPhone by holding down a volume button and the side button at the same time, or pressing the home button and choosing “Emergency” in the bottom left corner.
If the person you’re helping has an Android, swipe up on the lock screen and click “Emergency” to dial their ICE contacts. Clicking the side button five times should also begin an emergency alert protocol.
Head over to our guide to emergency communication to become an expert! Stay signed up for government alerts and warnings, keep practicing your plan, and enjoy the time you have left with your landline.
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