Would you have your phone during a disaster?

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This article titled Can we depend on cell networks in disasters? and many like it aren't very reassuring.

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Andrea Mancuso was working just north of the World Trade Center on September 11, 2001, when two planes struck the towers. Soon after, she was the only person around who seemed to have cell phone service.

"I walked from downtown to Lincoln Center (about 4.5 miles) before I was able to hail a cab with four strangers," she said. "Everyone was upset, and no one had a cell phone signal except me. I passed my phone around like a hot potato all the way to Harlem. Everyone including the cab driver graciously and tearfully called their families."

Her story, of course, is not unique. For hours, family members and co-workers frantically tried to contact people they knew in Lower Manhattan.

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Since 9/11, wireless networks have been tested time and again, and their performance has been shaky. A major blackout in the Northeast in 2003, Hurricane Katrina in 2005, and the Minneapolis bridge collapse in 2007 put strains on local networks. Cellular service in New York City even ground to a halt last month because of a minor earthquake centered several hundred miles away.

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If we ever find ourselves in a situation where the best form of communications we have are radios, it is better to learn how to use them now. Plus who says we can't make it fun? Children love to talk on radios.