Need help right now?
If someone needs immediate help with separated, no signal, use emergency mode.
Do this nowDraft guidance — professional review pending.
AidNow content is under active review. Always contact emergency services for serious emergencies.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Family or group members are apart during disaster or remote travel and mobile networks are dead or overloaded.
The essentials if you need to act right now.
Go to meeting point. Register at centre. Try SMS. Leave note if safe.
What might I see? Observable signs — no diagnosis required.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Calls fail, no data, members not at rally point.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Disaster ongoing — earthquake, flood, cyclone.
Optional deeper explanation — not required to act.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Networks fail when towers lose power or overload in disasters.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — SMS and data may work briefly on any available tower — try periodically.
Check the scene before you approach.
Civilian-safe actions you can take.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Text short message: "I am safe at [place]. Go to [meeting point]." — retry hourly.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Listen for official assembly instructions before moving far.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Write note on door or community board if paper and pin available.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Charge phone when power returns — first call to agreed out-of-area contact.
When and how to get professional help.
Missing vulnerable member still needs police report even without phone.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Use agreed plans and official registries. Limit risky travel without information.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — 112 when any signal returns — even seconds is enough for location SMS.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Out-of-state relative as message hub if local lines down.
Dangerous actions, when not to attempt rescue, and common myths.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Do NOT drive into disaster zone blindly searching.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Do NOT trust unverified social media reunification posts alone.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — No phone means no way to reunite
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Physical meeting points, written notes, and official registration work when networks fail.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Dangerous solo searches without plan.
Other scenarios in the same family.
Trapped in cave
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person or group is stuck in a cave because of flooding, rockfall, lost passages, or equipment failure.
Confined space
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person is stuck inside a tank, silo, pit, manhole, or storage container with limited air and exit.
Mud or quicksand
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — A person is sinking or stuck in deep mud, quicksand, tidal flat, or liquefied soil and cannot free themselves.
Elderly missing
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — An older adult with dementia, confusion, or cognitive impairment has wandered away and cannot be located.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Police missing persons report does not require your phone — use centre phone.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Injured or child missing overrides communication problems — report in person at police.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Keep calling same number — eventually it rings
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Battery dies. SMS and periodic tries preserve power for when tower recovers.
DEVELOPMENT FIXTURE — Dead phone when network returns hour later.