21st-century disaster prep tips you won't get from officials at Stephenson blogs on homeland security 2.0 et al.

21st-century disaster prep tips you won’t get from officials

video versions of these tips

Versions of these tips that I prepared for Wireless Foundation

The advent of 21st century personal communications devices and services, particularly camera phones with GPS capability, GPS devices in your car, P2P software such as mesh networking, or social networking services, mean that it’s now feasible to have two-way sharing of real-time, location-based information that could save your life in a crisis.You won’t find these tips about how to capitalize on those devices and applications on Ready.gov, or other federal, state, and/or local preparedness sites.In some cases it’s because the services described below are private sector ones that government agencies can’t endorse.Unfortunately, some government agencies are clueless that these services exist. So here are some 21st century disaster and preparedness tips from Stephenson Strategies that you won’t see on the official lists of things to do to prepare for a disaster or terrorist attack, but that you and your neighbors should implement NOW, so that you’ll be prepared to act intelligently and calmly if you find yourselves on your own:

Get all of your family & friends to sign up for Twitter. In an emergency, you can quickly spread information about what is happening (as in the case of the San Diego wildfires, for example), and the 140-character message limits mean that individual Tweets use so little bandwidth they are much more likely to get through in a situation where bandwidth is extremely limited. Tweet more and use voice less.
Sign up for Qik. In an emergency, you’ll be able to upload streaming video from your cameraphone. Try to include valuable information, such as your location, and note important details about what is happening that might be able to provide critical situational awareness to officials. Make sure and tag the video with specific reference to the location and type of emergency, to increase the chance that others will be able to access it.
now that thumb drives are so cheap, put your family’s medical records (if you can get them from your physician in digital form) and other vital documents on them and attach it to your keychain so you’ll have them with you at all times (encrypt them with TrueCrypt to provide privacy).
buy a pair of family-radio (FRS) walkie-talkies (under $20 at discount stores) for emergency communications. Use them to set up a volunteer, self-organizing community
emergency communications network similar to the DCERN one in Washington DC
add your FRS emergency network to National SOS radio, which links local FRS networkswith ham operators for a comprehensive, low-power emergency communications network.
subscribe to the XML feeds from the National Hurricane Center so you’ll get
real-time information on hurricanes.
buy a solar charger for your laptop so that you’ll have a portable electric supply with you at all times.
download the free CUWin mesh network software and burn it to CDs to share with your neighbors, so you can create a self-organizing, self-healing mesh network with neighbors even if your Internet access is lost in an emergency.
if Sirius (NYC, Ch. 148; Boston/Philly, 149; LA, 150; Chicago/St. Louis, 151; Balt/DC, 152; Atlanta/Miami, 153; Dallas-Ft.Worth/Houston, 154; Detroit,Pittsburgh, 155; SF/Seattle, 156; Orlando/Tampa-St. Pete, 158) provides real-time, location-based weather and traffic channels for your area, subscribe.
Use the structure and information of the hurricane wiki as the starting point to establish a self-help wiki before the hurricane hits, and add to it as the situation evolves.
After a disaster, cobble together a Google mashup using your cameraphone, to alert authorities to where there are elderly/disabled persons who need extra help.
No matter where you live or what the temperature, make sure your emergency supplies include always keeping ice in your cell phone. Oops, I meant ICE, short for In Case of Emergency. Just create a series of ICE (as in ICE-1, ICE-2, etc. listings in the last name field field of your cell directory. Under each, put one of the family or friend’s numbers you want to be contacted in an emergency. Then, if you can’t communicate, a first responder can call the ICE numbers in order until s/he is able to reach one of your contacts to let them know where you are, how you are, and to ask about any medical or other special issues they should be aware of.