In the fall of 1989, the interactive world of communications technology that we take for granted todaythe internet, social media, digital phone networks, mobile photography, Wi-Fidid not yet exist. “Text” wasn’t a verb. “Twitter” wasn’t a noun. “App” wasn’t even short for appetizer.
Still, when the Loma Prieta Earthquake struck, the first commodity to be in high demand by just about everyone affected was information, and that came only by way of television, radio and newsprint.
For those in the Bay Area hit by the widespread power outages that followed the quake, it created one of the disaster’s most indelible images, a scenario that’s nearly unimaginable in today’s hyper-connected world: people camped out in their front yards on that warm evening, too frightened to be inside in the wake of aftershocks, huddled around car radios, asking neighbors and passersby for any updated information on what was happening.
If a similar earthquake struck in 2019, many of the elements of the immediate aftermath would look much the same: the effects on transportation, emergency response, medical attention, availability of food and water, electricity, etc. But what would the communications realm look like? How would the smartphone revolution hold up?
Romney Dunbar was at the white-hot center of the information flow during the ’89 quake and its aftermath. He was a TV news anchor and field reporter for KION covering Santa Cruz at the time. With no phone or camera in his pocket, his first instinct was to follow the smoke and dust he saw rising from downtown Santa Cruz. His station had no power, but he and his colleagues were able to edit their footage at KSCO, a nearby AM station affiliated with the Emergency Broadcast System. An hour or two later, Dunbar had his first report on the air.
His job as a reporter was to talk to people in the field and somehow get himself to a command post for frequent press conferences with state and local officials. Reliable information, he said, was hard to come by.
“We’d show up for an interview with someone to see how they were doing,” Dunbar says, “and they were asking us, ‘Hey, what’s going on out there? What can you tell me?'”
Today, he continues, the dynamic would be radically different. Reporters who otherwise might go out into the world to find information would likely be diving into their devices, texting and checking social media. “I’d probably be broadcasting immediately now, through FaceTime or Skype, describing everything in real life. And we wouldn’t necessarily be the premium [source of information], either. Regular citizens or people in dire straits would be doing their own broadcasting. We wouldn’t be the gatekeepers anymore.”
In the event of a major earthquake, a smartphone would obviously be invaluable in chronicling unfolding events, and communicating with friends and family outside the area. But wireless technology is subject to connectivity, which is itself dependent on hardwarecell phone towers, servers, modems, coaxial lines and fiber optic cable.
Bob Arnold is the president of the Disaster Recovery Journal, a publication dedicated to helping businesses plan for continuity in the face of a catastrophic event. Arnold says that in the event of disaster, technology may never have an answer for an immutable law of physics: systems get easily overwhelmed when everyone wants to use them at the same time, whether it’s the highway system or a cellular network.
“If a substation or a tower goes down,” he says, telecoms “can reroute it through the nearest available tower. There’s so much backup and redundancy in that infrastructure, that’s rarely the problem. Most of the time, it’s just too much volume. Volume is always going to be an issue, no matter what.”
There are satellite-based services as well that don’t rely on cell towers or other problems that can come with the use of cable or DSL internet service. Companies like ComSat offer satellite services for government, military and commercial use, giving businesses options they didn’t have 30 years ago. “They’ll just roll the satellite [antenna] in your parking lot,” Arnold says, “and hook it into your own system, allowing you to maintain your customer support.” (Satellite internet service is available to consumers, too, but it tends to be much slower than terrestrial service, which is why it is primarily used in rural areas when no other service is available).
Smartphone users can learn to be economical in a time of crisis. Texts and SMS messages use a lot less data than a phone call. After Loma Prieta, it was common for people in Northern California to be out of touch with friends and family outside the area for hours, even days.
Bob Arnold’s father Richard L. Arnold founded the Disaster Recovery Journal. In fact, the elder Arnold flew from his home in Missouri to San Jose the day after Loma Prieta to see the damage firsthand. “He really wanted to get some photos and scope out the disaster on his own,” Bob Arnold says. His family didn’t hear from him for more than 24 hours afterward. “Now, of course, you’d just get on Twitter and be updated within 30 seconds.”
Even without connectivity, smartphones can prove useful. Location apps that use GPS technology such as Life360 or Snap Map can give families peace of mind, and can even assist in search and rescue. Businesses and organizations can turn to services like Everbridge and OnSolve that provide sophisticated emergency communications within a system.
In the end, though, many people might opt to go old school in their crisis communicationsshortwave or “ham” radio. Peter Hertan, a leader in the Los Gatos/Monte Sereno Radio Amateurs club, leads classes in ham radio operation. Ham operators must be licensed by the FCC, and Hertan is one of many instructors across the country who offer an eight-hour class in the protocols and process of communicating with the network of ham operators.
Ham operators in Santa Clara County often work closely with local Community Emergency Response Teams (CERT) in rehearsals and preparations for disasters like earthquakes and wildfires, learning how to communicate to the outside world about what’s happening in their communities and vice versa.
Last week’s widespread power outages in the Bay Area may have prompted many people to learn more about shortwave radio. Hertan said that his periodic ham classes usually have between 25 and 35 people. The next sessionNov. 23 at El Camino Hospital in Los Gatosmay have to accommodate up to 75.
“It was a dress rehearsal,” Hertan says of the PG&E outages. “It’s woken up a lot of people to being prepared for next time.”
