How to let your family know you are safe after a disaster

Text first, and call only if you are in danger

Ready.gov's printable family communication plan carries a short rule: text, don't talk. Unless you are in danger, send a text. Texts may have an easier time getting through than phone calls, and you do not want to tie up phone lines needed by emergency workers. Ready.gov's Ready Kids page repeats it: in an emergency, phone lines may be tied up, and texting leaves them open for emergency workers.

The American Red Cross gives the same advice from the other side, for people trying to reach someone: send a text message, which may go through when phone calls cannot.

If you or someone with you is hurt or trapped, that is the exception. Call 911 or your local emergency number and follow official instructions. Checking in with family comes after you are safe.

Send one message to the right people

Most family plans name a single out-of-town contact for this moment. Ready.gov suggests picking the same person for every family member and choosing someone out of town, because they may be easier to reach in a disaster. The Red Cross explains that long-distance calls and texts may get through when local lines are overloaded or out of service.

So the first message goes to that person and to your household group: where you are, whether you are okay, and what you plan to do next. Keep it short enough to read at a glance. "Safe at the high school shelter with Mom. Phone at 20 percent. Will text again at 8" answers the questions everyone is about to call you with.

Social media can carry the same news to a wider circle. The Red Cross tells people searching for loved ones to check their social media pages, since they may already have posted, and FEMA's family plan card includes a line for each person's other number or social media account. One post can save a dozen calls from relatives you did not have time to text.

Keep your phone able to send it

A message cannot go out from a dead phone. FEMA's Know Your Alerts and Warnings fact sheet recommends keeping extra batteries for your mobile phone or radio in a safe place, or buying backup power such as a car, solar-powered or hand-crank charger.

Keep emergency alerts switched on, too. Ready.gov explains that Wireless Emergency Alerts are free, need no subscription, and are not affected by network congestion. Some phone models require you to enable them, and some carriers call them Government Alerts or Emergency Alert Messages, so check the settings on every phone in the family before you need them.

Finally, do not rely on memory for numbers. The Red Cross asks everyone to carry emergency contact information in writing as well as saved on their phones. If your phone is lost or broken, a borrowed phone and a paper card still get your message out.

When someone does not answer

Silence after a disaster is frightening. For people trying to reach someone, the Red Cross recommends being creative and persistent: if one way does not work, try another. Its list includes calling during off-peak hours, sending a text, checking the person's social media, calling friends and relatives who may have heard from them, calling places where they are well known such as neighbors, an employer, a school, a place of worship or a senior center, and even sending a letter, since mail may be forwarded to where they are staying.

For some situations the Red Cross can help directly. If your missing loved one is elderly, has a functional or access need, has a medical or mental health condition made worse by the disaster, or has difficulty with English, you can contact your local Red Cross chapter and ask for help with an Emergency Welfare Inquiry. If you lived in the same home and were separated during an evacuation, ask about a Family Reunification Request. Military-connected families can ask about a Military Welfare Inquiry.

If the person was outside the United States, the Red Cross runs a free Restoring Family Links national helpline at 1-844-782-9441, which works through the global Red Cross and Red Crescent network.

Common mistakes

Calling again and again. Ready.gov's point about tying up lines applies to every redial. One text, then wait. Everyone contacting everyone. Without one agreed contact, the same news travels ten times and nobody is sure who has heard what. Saying too little. "OK" leaves people guessing where you are and whether you are moving. Add a place and a next step. Going quiet after the first message. Plans change during an evacuation, so send an update when you move.

It also helps to agree on all of this before anything happens, so nobody has to work out who should message whom in the middle of the emergency.

Tools that can do the asking

Phones can take over part of the routine. Ready.gov describes the FEMA App as a way to receive weather and emergency alerts from the National Weather Service for up to five locations and to send notifications to loved ones.

KinPing is a family check-in app built for this exact step. When an official public alert covers the area a family member picked, it asks everyone to check in, each person answers Safe, Evacuating or Need help with one tap, and the replies light up one family board. It does not replace official alerts or 911, and no app can promise that a notification arrives, so keep the text-first habit as your backup.

Frequently asked questions