DisastersQuake disrupts East Coast cell service
Tuesday’s 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Virginia and could be felt across the northeast, exposed continuing weaknesses in U.S. emergency communications networks; residents in the northeast experienced difficulty making calls on their cell phones, despite no reported damage to communications infrastructure
High call volume caused breakdown of service // Source: flowtv.org
Tuesday’s 5.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Virginia and could be felt across the northeast, exposed continuing weaknesses in U.S. emergency communications networks. Residents in the northeast experienced difficulty making calls on their cell phones, despite no reported damage to communications infrastructure. DHS officials urged people over Twitter to “tell friends/family you are OK via text, email and social media” and avoid making cell phone calls. Meanwhile, multiple wireless carriers posted messages warning customers about high call volumes that were causing network failures.
Verizon alerted its customers over Twitter, stating, “Very high call volumes post East Coast quake, but no known network damage at Verizon. As you place calls, you may get temp. busy signals.”
Sprint also noticed unusually high volumes on its networks, and alerted customers via Twitter.
In an interview with Politico, a company spokesman said, “We are currently experiencing an intermittent mass calling event as is expected following an incident of this nature. There are no reported physical impacts to our networks and we encourage customers to be patient, and send a text message rather than call at this time if they need to reach family and friends.”
The latest earthquake underscores the continued difficulties with sudden surges in cell phone traffic. During the recent tornado season that devastated much of the mid-west and south, residents also experienced trouble communicating with friends and family as well as emergency dispatchers.
Following the 9/11 attacks, New Yorkers and residents of Washington, D.C. struggled with similar communications problems and emergency officials have yet to develop a nationwide communication network that can successfully handle sudden communication surges.
To help individuals communicate in disasters, several companies have developed smart phone apps that allow users to instantly alert family members as well as emergency responders if they are in trouble.
Chris Hulls, the CEO of Life360, explained, “We have servers literally all over the world that can access long-distance lines, send text messages a thousand times a second — you just can’t do that as a person; but we can, as a technology company.”
In May, Scott Tatum found himself unable to reach anyone on his cellphone after he was stuck on a Mississippi road while a deadly tornado swept toward him.
“I tried to make a phone call, but could not get a signal through. I tried to send a text, but could not get a signal through,” Tatum said. “It was pretty frightening.”
Tatum had Life360 installed on his phone and was able to use the app to successfully contact friends and family.
“It gave everyone a lot of relief,” Tatum said. “My family knew where I was, and felt much better about it when they got the check-in.”
Life360 is available for free and so far has an estimated three million subscribers.
