Congratulations to all who have recently been liscenced. I have been a ham since 1989. It is lots of fun and you meet lots of nice folks like on this forum. You will also be interested to know that there are some ham articles on arrl.org about preparedness. Lots of hams have a "Go Bag" for communication emergencies so that they are prepared to set up in the field on a moments notice.
I participated with our local club a few years ago when an ice storm hit our city. Power was out in most of the city for 7 days. The fire department and other public safety could not communicate with the electric company because phone lines were constantlybusy. We passed nearly 5000 messages between the city and the electric company and we also manned the storm shelters. I helped out at the Red Cross storm shelter located at the Senior Citizens Center. It was like a nursing home .
There is a group called the Adventure Radio Society that has contests which encourage hams to set up at remote locations with minimal gear.
I will see if I can put together some more information on ham radio and preparedness and submit it on a post.