Choose an Out-of-Area Emergency Contact

A vintage orange rotary telephone on a wooden surface against a dark background.

Step 2: Choose an Out-of-Area Emergency Contact

What You Need to Know

During local disasters, it's often easier to make long-distance calls than local calls. Phone networks get congested in the affected area, but calls going out of the region may go through.

This is why you need an out-of-area contact, someone who lives at least 100 miles away who can act as a central point of communication for your family.

How to Choose Your Contact

The ideal out-of-area contact:

  • Lives in a different state or at least 100+ miles away

  • Is reliable and will answer their phone

  • Knows your family well

  • Is willing to take on this role

  • Has a landline (if possible, landlines often work when cell networks fail)

Good choices:

  • A parent or sibling in another state

  • A close friend who lives far away

  • An adult child in college in another region

  • Extended family in a different part of the country

Not ideal:

  • Neighbors or local friends (they'll be dealing with the same emergency)

  • Someone in the same metropolitan area

  • Someone you can't reach reliably

What to Tell Them

Once you've chosen your contact, have a conversation with them:

1. Explain their role: "We've chosen you as our emergency contact. If we're ever separated during a disaster, we'll all call you to check in and leave messages about where we are and if we're okay."

2. Share your information:

  • Names and cell numbers of all family members

  • Home address

  • Work/school addresses

  • Any medical conditions they should know about

  • Names and numbers of other close family members

3. Confirm their information:

  • Get their current phone number(s)

  • Make sure everyone in your family has it saved in their phone

  • Ask if they have a landline number as backup

4. Plan when to check in:

  • After any significant emergency (earthquake, hurricane, flood)

  • If you can't reach each other directly

  • If you've evacuated and are in a safe place

Make It Official

Everyone in your family should:

  • Save this contact in their phone as "ICE - [Name]" (ICE = In Case of Emergency)

  • Have it written on their emergency wallet card

  • Know to call this person if separated from family

Set a reminder to update this information once a year (when daylight saving time changes is an easy trigger).

Resources

  • FEMA Family Communication Plan: https://www.ready.gov/make-a-plan

  • Red Cross Emergency Communication: https://www.redcross.org/get-help/how-to-prepare-for-emergencies/make-a-plan.html

Family Emergency Communication Plan