Text first, talk later

Before an emergency happens, turn on Wi-Fi calling on your phone. If the cell towers are jammed but your internet is fine, your phone routes around the problem. 

• iPhone: Settings > Cellular > Wi-Fi Calling. 
• Android: Settings > Network & internet > Wi-Fi Calling (paths vary, so search Settings for “Wi-Fi calling”).

One person, three states away

Local circuits jam first. So the immediate family doesn’t call each other. Everyone checks in with one relative outside the area, who keeps a list and passes it along. Pick that person tonight and tell them the job.

Then write three phone numbers on a card for your wallet. Nobody has memorized a number since 1998, and a dead phone takes the whole address book with it.

Last one: Charge the battery bank in your closet. The most common communication failure in a disaster is not the network. It is a phone at 4%.

Do it tonight, and you won’t think about it again until the day it matters.