Horace Algier wrote
Rod Speed wrote

Do you create an EMERGENCY folder on your mobile device

Nope, iOS has a much better system for that that
allows that stuff to be displayed by anyone.

That's interesting that iOS has a "system"
which includes fire/police scanning.

I didn’t mean that. I was talking about a quite different emergency,
when someone finds you unconscious or incapable and needs to
contact someone you have specified to tell them that you have
been found unconscious or incapable to tell them you have been
taken to a particular hospital etc. I meant to go back and restate
that when I had finished the rest of the post but managed to
forget to do that until after I had sent the post.

How does that iOS method you allude to figure
out which fire/police scanner to broadcast in
the USA and countries that allow it?

It doesn’t.

(and what do you put inside)?

I don¢t bother myself.

Emergencies happen,

Yes, but I don’t need any particular way to deal with
those except to put the local number for the cops
that works a lot better than our equivalent of the
911 number at the top of the contacts where I
need to use it to call the cops if I need to do that.

so, it's not a bad idea to be prepared for them, ahead of time.

And I do, but not in the way you do that.

For example, if you see a fire threatening your only access out,
you might not want to waste time *looking* for a frequency
to tell you which evacuation route they're using.

We don’t do it that way, like I said, our system uses
SMS-CB to tell you that and that requires no specific
action on your part at all except to have your phone
turned on so you can receive that.

And in our case the Live Traffic app does a much better
job of showing you which evacuation routes are viable
with floods, bushfires etc than any frequency does.

Sure, if you're lucky, the police will come by ahead of time broadcasting
it, and signs will be up, and everyone you ask will be informed ... but
that's not always how well organized it's gonna be.

That's why we use SMS-CB. Not perfect, because there are
still a few people who don’t have cellphones and there will
always be some in an emergency whose phones have got
flat batterys, but a lot better than telling people by knocking
on their doors. At least those who do have working phones
can tell others who don’t what the SMS-CB has told them.

I just created an "Emergency" folder on my phone.
http://i.cubeupload.com/QBxJ7i.png

What would you suggest goes inside your emergency folder?

I don't put anything in mine.

The local cops do have their own number and that is much
more useful than our equivalent of your 911 number. I just
have it as a normal phone number but with AAA in front
of it so it shows up right at the top of the contacts list.

That's useful to put AAA on top, as it will
save precious seconds when needed.

Yes, that's why I do it like that.

Of course, 911 also works, when needed (but
in my case, that dispatcher is 75 miles away).

The problem with mine is that they don’t connect
you directly to the local police station, they connect
you to the cops 100 miles away for some reason.

It will be interesting to see how other people
prepare their mobile devices for emergencies.

Surprisingly few have commented yet.

a. 911
b. Police/fire scanner

Illegal here.

Wow. You can't even *listen* to radio broadcasts?

You can't listen to the communication between those crews.
Those arent broadcasts.

And I thought *we* were oppressed!

Nothing to do with oppression.

You arent allowed to listen in to other people's cellphone
conversations either, although that isnt even possible now
the entire system is GSM/LTE. It was possible with the original
AMPS system.

c. What else?

We do have a live traffic app provided by the govt that does
allow you to see traffic congestion, but google maps does a
much better job of traffic. The app is good for roads closed
by flooding and fire etc.

Actually, that's a great point in that we should add a link
to Google Maps for traffic congestion around our home.

It should be as simple as the Google Map link (which is huge) saved
as a desktop shortcut. I'll add it to mine. Thanks for that idea.

How to add a Google Maps shortcut to your desktop
https://support.google.com/maps/answ...form%3DAndroid

How to create instant map shortcuts on your home screen
http://lifehacker.com/5426824/create...ds-home-screen

Nothing. Our system does allow the authorities to send SMSs
to those in areas affected by large scale emergencies, but that is
entirely driven by them, it gets sent to cellphones that are logged
on to particular bases etc and requires no action by individuals.

As you noted, the authorities used a reverse-911 to notify every cellphone
within the towers receiving area, to let people know about the evacuation.

Its not a reverse 911, its SMS-CB, a variant of SMS.

But you can't always rely on the authorities, and, if you have cats,
dogs, chickens, etc., you may need to instantly call for help -

You wont get it here with those except when you call your neighbours etc.

which should all be on a quick-dial mechanism in the emergency
folder, IMHO, in order of 1 2 3, left to right, top to bottom.

The iOS contacts system does allow an emergency category in the contacts.

It also allows you to list those you want to be called if say you are found
unconscious or incapable and that is visible on the lock screen of your
idevice so anyone can get those details from there as long as your
phone is still working.