I was listening to the UStream feed from Hawaii on Saturday. While I was generally impressed with the state’s emergency preparedness planning, there was one piece of advice that I think needs revisiting. When asked where people should turn for evacuation details, officials advised checking the routes printed in the phone book.
With more people ditching their landlines and even more of us relying on the Internet and smartphones for information, just assuming people have a phone book seems out of touch.
Do you have a phone book? And where would you turn first for advice in an emergency?
Photo by Ed Kohler (Flickr).
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
Daria,
While I agree that phone books seem outdated for connected people, don’t forget that not everyone is on the smartphone/always connected bandwagon. Furthermore, in an emergency, there may be no power, no cell phone access, no Internet, thus printed materials are still the way to go.
I agree, Deborah, that not everyone is online (or can get online in an emergency). Similarly, though, a lot of people don’t have phone books either, which means perhaps we need a new delivery channel for those printed pages.