[LINK] SMS - shortcomings in emergency services

[Adrian Chadd]

On Sat, Sep 20, 2008, Ivan Trundle wrote:

> There's a broader, more complex issue here: in times of emergency,  
> power is often the first utility which is cut.

.. holy crap, and thus my cordless phones won't work? Never!

Its a good thing I keep an old-style wired, exchange-powered
handset plugged into an extension. We've actually had some power
outages in my part of Perth recently and being able to -call-
people has been quite a novelty. Of course, when I call family
members to ask if their power is out, their line at home generally
rings out; and their mobile phone is engaged.. :)

(And amusingly, it helps when the family knock out the power to
the cordless handset; that happens more often than it should.)

People are just used to phones "working", and haven't the foggiest
idea that they won't in an emergency. Of course, we're mostly living
a cozy life where the main fear now is terrorism, petrol prices and
credit card debt; woe be if there is an actual emergency and young
sods like me crack out the solar array + car battery + CB radio
for emergency communication (would there be anyone to talk to?)



Adrian

(Who has vague memories of how to build a small evaporative based
water filter, from his primary school "Helix" club science-y days,
and does truely wonder what would happen if the power _and_ water
ever went off..)