Friday, August 8, 2014

Be Prepared For Any Disaster With An Emergency Radio

By Eric Holm


In the time of crises we often lose control over our thought process and become nervous. Such traumatic emergency situations or conditions need to be handled with proper care and intelligence. Your safety should always be the top priority in any case because unless you are safe you cannot provide help to others. Safety is always the top priority and emergency communications is the basic element to this safety. It requires a lot of courage on the part of the victim to wake up and take charge after the devastating damage that comes with a natural or man-made disaster.

It has also been witnessed that after a massive earthquake, a devastating flood or a harrowing tsunami, that the existing communications system may not be available. The cause may be either due to physical damage or system overload. Consequently, the entire communication suddenly stalls with the damage of telephone wires, damage of cellular phone towers and antennas losing power. Even the government system fails in meeting the large scale damage control and the demands of the civilians affected. This is the time for any voluntary or non voluntary organization to respond quickly in the event of an emergency. There are many organizations that have developed emergency communication plans to carry out the communications and operations offering rapid response during a crisis. The communication devices that can be used during a crisis:

An amateur radio setup has limited power but can be an important form of communication when the professional systems fail. When cell phones and wired phones are knocked out of commission, the amateur radio will still be able to send and receive signals. It does not depend on vast land based facilities that are vulnerable to damage. Amateur operators are often able to power their radios with an ordinary car battery.

A solar radio or solar radio flashlight is a powerful tool when power is unavailable. This device will convert sunlight to energy that will run the batteries and allow the light to work. A traditional AM/FM transistor radio will be able to pick up any warnings that are being released over the airwaves. It is important to keep track of the news stations so you will know immediately if there are evacuation orders for your area. These handy devices may be the only form of communication available when the power fails and your survival depends on you being able to stay informed about what is going on around you. These items are often equipped with a strap and headphones.

A simple brass whistle attached to a lanyard may be used to attract attention if you become trapped. The person in need of assistance should use three sharp blasts to get the attention of rescue workers. The rescue workers will answer back with two blasts. There are other devices that can be used to communicate, including a crank radio, a combined crank radio and flashlight, a bull horn or a megaphone.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment