You are away on a trip to the East Coast and your family is on the West Coast. Breaking news advises that an earthquake just struck Southern California. No matter where you happen to be, immediately you call home. Your cell is working but you can’t get through to Los Angeles. You try another number. The same thing happens. Busy circuits. Or the cell system is out. Frantically you try to reach your office, your home, and your family. You can’t get through. You don't even have to be across the country. What if you or your wife is just across town? The telephones are still out. No service. How important is communication at that very instant?

If you live in California, the question is not, "If the earthquake is going to happen...?" The question is, "When is it going to hit, what is the magnitude, and how will it affect our family, our city, our society?" And of course, most recently, the disaster wasn't an earthquake; it was fire.

My wife and I have a plan for a situation like this. What do we do?

My wife goes to her car and takes out her emergency satellite telephone. She dials my satellite telephone. She will get me right away. (Satellite telephones have some issues: you must be outdoors; you must be away from a heavy covering of trees. You learn to get to a position where you have service.) If I don't answer, my satellite voice mail answers. She leaves me a message that she’s okay, the house is okay, or not okay, the house is in shambles, whatever. We have communication. It works as well the other way; I leave her a message on her cell. The message is probably that I’ll call at exactly a certain time. This time she will be outside expecting my call. She checks for a signal and waits for the ring of the phone.