Comments on: When disaster strikes: There’s no app for that

By: Susan

Susan — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 22:35:08 +0000

Never under-estimate the value of “traditional” communication tools in emergency. Letter box drops were a big way to target certain residential areas in the Brisbane floods with information such as garbage pick up days, clean up crews etc.

By: Nadine Feldman

Nadine Feldman — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 16:48:17 +0000

After Hurricane Ike, we charged phones in the car. We were without power for two weeks. Fortunately I had spare computer batteries, and after a few days we could walk over to Rice University and charge computers there. We also have a battery-operated TV for emergencies, and that was helpful for getting updates right after the storm. Now we live in earthquake country, and Sandy has reminded me that I’m not nearly as well prepared up here as I was when I had to worry about hurricanes.

By: Jeff John Roberts

Jeff John Roberts — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 15:33:15 +0000

Thanks everyone for your thoughtful comments.. Will, that’s an interesting point that most devices used to come with FM built in.. Wish it was still so.. Fortunately, we came through the storm ok though internet went down (I ended up relying on Twitter on iPhone for news).. But our clean tech and structure reporters will definitely be using this as grounds for more reporting soon.. Stay tuned in coming days..

By: Will Stewart

Will Stewart — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 14:38:22 +0000

Hey, Jeff — I’ve still got an MP3 player (NOT an Apple device, just a good old WMA-MP3 player) that has an FM radio in it that works pretty darn well. Of course … it doesn’t have speakers, so I would have to share the earbuds with one other person, and the two of us could listen. But it’s not something the family could gather round. And once the battery (rechargeable only via USB port) went out, we’d be right back in the dark, information-wise. :)

By: Sachin

Sachin — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 05:19:14 +0000

Jeff, you drive home an important point. Gone are the days of electro-mechanical devices and along with that some of their priceless features…

I have read on this site many articles on clean energy and advancement in hardware. However, it is the call of time now to have some true visionary ventures come up trumps with a self sustaining electrical device instead of relying on battery power.

By: Luigi Cappel

Luigi Cappel — Tue, 30 Oct 2012 00:31:53 +0000

It is an interesting situation. I now only have ADSL and a VOIP landline, so I couldn’t even connect a POTS phone. Assume though in these situations the telco’s do have back up power supplies for their towers and infrastructure. Christchurch did pretty well in their earthquake, although they did ask people to use SMS rather than voice to save on traffic demands. There was also a movement to send POTS phones that people had lying around down to collection centres.