January: Communications Plan

When a disaster strikes, the normal modes of staying connected get disrupted. Cell phone service goes down. The Internet goes down. Phone lines go down. But there are other ways to communicate if you and your family or you and your colleagues establish protocols in advance.

Activity

Make a communications plan with your household.

  1. Everyone should have the number for your chosen out-of-state contact. That’s the person everyone calls in a disaster to say how they are, where they are, and what their plan is.

  2. Create a list of additional emergency contacts and give a copy to everyone (the list can be kept digitally on a phone).

  3. Subscribe everyone with a phone to NIXLE (text 98110 to 888777). Nixle is what the City of Bainbridge Island uses to send out emergency alerts.

  4. Make sure children have backpack cards with emergency contact info.

  5. Subscribe in the footer to the BP Newsletter.

Documentation

Submit the required photos.

Prize

Your submission will be entered in a drawing to win the January prize: An emergency solar/hand-crank/battery radio with NOAA weather alerts, flashlight, USB charging port, SOS alarm.

Emergency radio

You may submit your documentation at any time up until the end of the first Friday of the following month. You may submit early for ensuing months. Remember to stamp your passport for each completed month.