What really drives changes in our daily lives? Is this emergency in Baghdad, Bangladesh, China?
Connecting the Dots: Do you rely on electricity? Roads & bridges? The Internet?
Yesterday morning’s storm here knocked out our power at 3am Saturday and it’s expected to fixed by close-of-business on Tuesday! It’s only affecting 45,000 people here now, so this is a local story
….
Yesterday afternoon I almost purchased a portable generator. Instead, I’ll be buying a standby generator (which runs on natural gas) that I can plug into my home circuit system and prioritize my heat and air conditioning; sump pump (critical since my basement flooded last year when the power went out!); refrigerator; and a few other items
Its Minnesota, in the heartland of the US.
As we become more wired, and I can reflect on the 2003 power outage that took out the US NW, and Eastern Canada (50 million people without power), some key things come to mind for service providers including Banks.
Mobile: Internet depends on electricity, plus a connection. Mobile is the only available application during a power outage. Smart Banks will develop mobile, but not only for transactions. Mobile for communication, and providing information. RSS to mobile readers for emergency information. email to update on emergency status.
Bankwatch 
Not sure if mobile will be available. Probably yes if the outage is just the building you are in.
Probably NOT, if it affects a wider area, since the poles with the submitters will be out of power, too.
Furthermore even if they have power the network will likely break down fast since capacity cannot meet crisis demand
@Ano … based on our experience in 2003, while cell experienced brown outs, it was available quicker than everything else.