[Infowarrior] - DHS's earthquake advice: Don't call

[Richard Forno]

DHS's earthquake advice: Don't call
By: Tony Romm
August 23, 2011 04:17 PM EDT

http://dyn.politico.com/printstory.cfm?uuid=183F6631-EB3C-4DFB-85A6-2C312557C4B4

The Department of Homeland Security had some advice for people trying to contact family members in the wake of Tuesday’s earthquake: “Avoid calls.”

While wireless carriers said their systems weren’t hurt by the 5.9 quake, the resulting call volume did them in.

“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,” Verizon tweeted to followers.

A spokesman for Verizon Wireless later told POLITICO there’s no damage to the wireless network, “which is built for reliability in situations like this.” While the spokesman did note there was “some network congestion,” he added the network has “been returning to normal quickly.”

T-Mobile also noted “higher call volumes,” and urged customers to try email or text message.

Sprint noticed trouble too, alerting customers via Twitter.

“We are currently experiencing an intermittent mass calling event as is expected following an incident of this nature,” a spokesman later told POLITICO. “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.”

AT&T, meanwhile, only said, “We are seeing no reports of network damage but we are seeing heavy call volumes.”

The difficulty in communicating after Tuesday’s earthquake echoed the problems New Yorkers and Washingtonians faced amid the Sept. 11 attacks. It also served as a stark reminder: Nearly 10 years after those attacks, Congress has not yet found common ground on efforts to build a nationwide data network for public safety officials.

It is unclear if public safety communications were affected by Tuesday’s earthquake. But the difficulties with the commercial wireless system led DHS to suggest over Twitter: “tell friends/family you are OK via text, email and social media.”

This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 3:50 p.m. on August 23, 2011.