humanitarian.info

If you’ve been reading this blog for a while, you’ll know that I’m not convinced that cellphones are secure and stable enough to rely on in an emergency. Yesterday, a bomb went off just down the road from Sanjana’s home, killing 17 people and injuring 30. Sure enough, the mobile network went down immediately after the explosion:

However, for around two hours after the bomb went off in Nugegoda, not a single SMS went out from my phone. Also from 6pm to 8pm, not a single call (to mobile as well as land lines) I tried was patched through. While I was able to sporadically get messages, incoming and outgoing voice and outgoing SMS communications were completely off the air.