Why Every Family Needs an Out-of-Area Emergency Contact

An out-of-area emergency contact is a relative or friend who lives far enough away to be outside a local disaster, and whom everyone in your family checks in with when you can't reach each other. Local networks jam when everyone in an area calls at once, and a call or text to someone far away often goes through when a call across town won't.

What does an out-of-area contact actually do?

They act as the family's message board. When a storm, fire or outage separates your household, each person contacts that one person instead of trying to reach everyone else. The contact keeps track of who has checked in, where they are and what they're doing next, and passes that along to anyone who asks.

Without one, every family member tries to call every other family member, often on a network that's already struggling. With one, each person only needs a single message to get through. A teenager stuck at a friend's house sends one text, and both parents can learn where they are by checking with the same person.

Why does a long-distance call work when a local one doesn't?

After a disaster, nearly everyone in the affected area picks up their phone at the same moment. Local cell towers and lines get overloaded, so calls between two nearby phones fail even when the equipment itself is fine. FEMA's Ready.gov notes that it may be easier to make a long-distance call than to call across town for this reason.

Your out-of-area contact also isn't living through the same event. Their power is on, their phone is charged and they aren't cleaning up damage or evacuating. That leaves them free to answer, keep notes and make calls on your family's behalf.

Texts are still the best way to reach them, since a short text needs much less network capacity than a call and your phone keeps retrying until it gets through.

How do you choose the right person?

The right contact lives far enough away that the same storm, wildfire or regional power failure won't hit them too. Another town nearby usually isn't far enough. A different region of the country is better. Beyond distance, look for a few qualities.

• They're reliable and keep their phone on and charged.
• They'll answer calls from unknown numbers, since your family may be calling from borrowed phones.
• They stay calm and can keep simple notes.
• They've agreed to the role and know what it involves.

Pick a backup as well, in case your first choice is traveling, asleep in another time zone or unreachable for some other reason.

What does your contact need to know?

Your out-of-area contact is only as useful as the information they have. Give them a written copy of the essentials and update it when things change.

• Names and phone numbers for everyone in the household, plus workplace and school numbers.
• Your meeting points and evacuation destinations, so they can tell anyone who checks in where to go.
• Your family's PACE plan and any agreed check-in times.
• What to do if someone hasn't checked in after a set amount of time, and who to call next.
• Any medical needs that would change how urgent a missed check-in is.

Walk them through the plan once on the phone so it isn't the first time they've read it when something happens.

How do you make sure everyone can reach them?

Most people no longer know phone numbers by heart, and a dead phone takes its contact list with it. Write the out-of-area contact's number on paper and keep it in wallets, backpacks and go-bags. Have kids memorize it if they can.

Put the contact into your written plan as well. In the Contingency Planner Complete Kit, the out-of-area contact fits naturally into your PACE plan, and the Phone Numbers section on the Notes and References sheet keeps their number with the rest of your family's key numbers on paper that doesn't need a charger. In ReadyPlan, the same PACE plan is shared to each family member's own account and device, and it stays available without internet or cell service after the first sign-in.

Then test it. Once or twice a year, have everyone send the contact a check-in text on the same day and see how long it takes for the full picture to come together. Our guide to making a family emergency communication plan covers the rest of the plan, and the quick start guide to PACE planning shows where it belongs in your order of options.

Common questions

Can our out-of-area contact live in another country?

It can work, but international calling, texting costs and time zones add friction during an emergency. A contact in a different part of your own country is usually simpler for everyone.

Do we need more than one out-of-area contact?

One primary and one backup is a good setup. Make sure the backup knows the plan as well and that everyone in the family knows the order to try them in.

What if we can't reach the out-of-area contact either?

Move to the next step in your PACE plan, such as a radio check-in, and follow your meeting point plan. The contact is one layer of your communication plan, and the rest of the plan covers what happens when that layer fails too.

Is this the same as an ICE contact on my phone?

Not quite. An ICE (in case of emergency) contact is for first responders who need to reach someone on your behalf. Your out-of-area contact coordinates your family. They can be the same person, and adding them to your phone's emergency or medical contacts is a good idea either way.

If you want to build your family's communication plan with the out-of-area contact built in, ReadyPlan offers a 7-day free trial to get started.