Disaster Response
14Communication during and after natural disasters, power outages, and infrastructure failures.
Case Studies— 6
Cairo Ramses Exchange Fire: When a Single Building Knocked Out a Nation's Internet
On 7 July 2025, a fire in a Cairo telephone exchange cut Egypt's national internet connectivity to 62%, suspended stock market trading, and disrupted banking — exposing how centralized internet infrastructure creates national-scale single points of failure.
Egypt2025Cuba: Grid Collapse and the Diaspora Communication Blackout (2024)
How a series of national power grid failures across 2024 left 10 million Cubans without electricity, cut mobile and internet services, and severed contact between the island and the nearly 3 million Cuban Americans trying to reach family from abroad.
Cuba2024Bangladesh: Internet Shutdown During the 2024 Uprising
How Bangladesh's government imposed a 22-day shutdown during the student-led uprising of July–August 2024, using layered controls from full blackouts to VPN blocking, and what survived.
Bangladesh2024Ukraine: Civilian Communication Networks Under Infrastructure Attack
How Starlink, civilian mesh networks, and amateur radio combined to maintain communication across Ukraine after Russia's 2022 invasion, and what it reveals about resilience under deliberate attack.
Ukraine2022NYC Mesh: Community Internet Infrastructure
How a volunteer-run WiFi mesh network grew to ~1,000 nodes across New York City, providing resilient internet access and demonstrating what community-owned infrastructure can sustain over a decade.
New York City, New York2014Red Hook, Brooklyn: Community Mesh After Hurricane Sandy
How a partially-deployed WiFi mesh network helped Red Hook survive Sandy, and why a community-owned network built before the disaster proved more valuable than anything deployed after.
Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York2012
Playbooks— 8
Communication When You Didn't Prepare
A disaster has happened. You have no radio, no mesh node, no plan. Here is what you can still do — right now — with a phone, a car, and common sense.
Individual or householdStaying in Contact with Family Across Borders During a Crisis
A practical guide for people with family in another country who may lose power, internet, or phone service during a conflict, disaster, or grid failure — what to set up now, and what your options are when normal communication stops.
Individual / householdAnnual Communication Drill
Test your communication network under realistic conditions, find failures before an emergency does, and train new members. A structured guide for running a drill that produces real improvements.
AnyEmergency Response Group Activation
Your community has experienced a disaster. Infrastructure is degraded. This playbook walks you through activating your communication network hour by hour: from personal safety to sustained multi-day operations.
Any — assumes pre-positioned equipment and trained peopleMid-Size City Communication Network
Build a city-wide resilient communication network for 5,000–100,000 residents. A phased approach through stakeholder mapping, AREDN backbone deployment, and community distribution.
5,000–100,000 residentsVolunteer Organization Communication Network
Build a resilient communication system for 20–200 member volunteer organizations — search and rescue teams, CERT groups, mutual aid networks, and disaster relief organizations.
20–200 membersSmall Town Communication Network
Build a town-wide radio and mesh network for 500–5,000 residents in 3–6 months. Build on existing amateur radio clubs, install repeater infrastructure, and establish anchor points at key community facilities.
500–5,000 residentsNeighborhood Communication Network
Build a two-way radio and mesh text network for 50–500 households in 4–12 weeks. Start with GMRS licensing, add Meshtastic nodes, and create a communication plan your neighbors can actually follow.
50–500 households