The topic of electronics and the outdoors can be a hot button issue for many. For years many Scout units have maintained a ‘no electronics on campouts’ policy. I think that camping should be about detaching from our digital devices. That said technology adds a lot of tools, many in the form of apps. In addition to my ‘Scout apps’ I’ve put together a collection of apps to be prepared – for emergencies and natural disasters. In a real disaster, charging capabilities may be limited so I suggest using the apps before hand to best prepare yourself BEFORE you’re called on to put those skills to the test.
That said here are my top apps for disaster preparedness:
Bear Grylls – Bear Essentials: A collection of wilderness survival lessons, tools, games and quizzes to test your survival knowledge.
FEMA: The FEMA App contains disaster safety tips, interactive lists for storing your emergency kit emergency meeting location information, and a map with shelters and FEMA Disaster Recovery Centers (DRCs).
Pocket First Aid & CPR from the American Heart Association: First Aid and CPR training
Flashlight: When the lights go out use the iPhone camera flash as a flashlight.
iHurricane HD: During Irene I used this frequently to track the path and intensity of the hurricane. Push notifications for alerts for your location.
Morse Code: When I was a Scout I learned the basics of Morse Code communication. If your in a situation and that’s the only way to communicate you’ll know how. (Just hope there’s someone on the receiving end that still remembers it too).
NOAA Radar US – HD Weather Radar and Forecasts: The most advanced, fastest loading, and highest resolution radar/satellite app available.
Relief Central: As an aspiring ShelterBox SRT member this app is a resource with more international than domestic application. The mobile app specifically developed to help disaster workers operating in the field. Relief Central, available for free on all the major mobile platforms, provides access to relevant reference material and supplies news feeds from government and private relief agencies.
Users can search The World Factbook from the CIA for detailed information on over 250 countries and territories or review disaster assessment and response guidelines in The Field Operations Guide from the USAID. Relief News gives you up-to-the-minute RSS feeds from trusted government, non-profit, and international resources such as the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), Red Cross, ReliefWeb, and more. With Unbound Medicine’s selected MEDLINE Journals users can link to the latest abstracts and articles in relevant scientific and medical literature.
American Red Cross: Shelter View: Maps locations and shelter details for emergency shelters across the US.
Survival Guide: Based on the US military survival manual.
Emergency Radio Free (Police Scanner): Listen to police, fire, EMS, NOAA and many more radio communications.
**Evac Routes: Not an app persay, this is a link for a PDF of all the local evacuation routes for my county. You’ll need to do a little research to find your own, then save to home screen.
