As we near the date of Hurricane Katrina’s destruction and the 9th anniversary of 9/11, it is a good time to see how far we have come in correcting severe communication breakdowns in both disasters. We may not be able to prevent all disasters, but we can improve our response. One of the main components of that response is communication.

Satellites are key in planning emergency responses by local, state and the federal government. Everyone seems to have learned the lesson that lack of communication will make a disaster a catastrophy for the individuals that are affected. We have all heard the tapes from 9/11 of firemen and police officers unable to communicate with each other or with other emergency responders. We repeated this scenario again in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

Many of our friends and family are embarking on a great adventure. They have decided to place their presence on the web. They share personal things, such as pictures of the grandkids as they grow, for distant grandparents, their own interests and hobbies, and other items that they feel are either of interest to them or others. I have some friends that are building a home, and they have begun a small web site where they post pictures of the progress as it takes place. They began with pictures of the property and views and have just posted pictures of a cleared driveway and the clearing for their home. They can now stand right in the spot where their back deck will be and post a picture of the view from there. Another good use for this web space is to share your family with your friends and relatives. My nephew and his wife live across the country from my mother and he has two children. They post updated pictures regularly so that my mother can see her grandchildren grow up, regardless of the distances involved. I’m sure you can think of other good uses that you can put your web space to.