Two situations come to mind. One was a climbing accident in the late 1980's and the other was the Nisqually Earthquake in Washington in 2001.<br><br>The climbing accident occurred toward the end of the days climbing. My climbing partner and I both fell down an "easy" snow field into a snow moat. He fractured his pelvis and wrenched his arm, I injured my back. He free climbed out of the snow moat, I was wedged between the snow moats lip and a rock (the hard place) and was able to extricate myself from this place. We then both proceeded down to the Pacific Crest Trail where he was unable to proceed. We decided to bivouac at this site. I returned to our base camp and picked up sleeping bags, tent, and other equipment. This was a Sunday and we were both expected to return home that evening. We were well equipped for the bivouac but he was in fairly intense pain from the broken pelvis. I left early the next morning to get assistance. I alerted SAR and they were able to reach him at night fall. The US Army based in Yakima WA, flew a MAST helicopter in and winched him out to the ER in Seattle. He recovered and continued to climb, I retired from climbing.<br><br>This accident and its aftermath induced me to get my HAM license (2M operation would have given me nearly instant access to a phone both to alert SAR, my wife and others). This was all prior to widespread Cell phone use....but the radio is still superior in the mountains.<br><br>The big lesson to me was that even though we were very well equipped both with the stuff we carried on the ascent day and with the base camp supplies I was able to bring back to the accident site, COMMUNICATIONS would have saved him much suffering, gotten SAR to the site in the daylight instead of a night rescue, allowed me to remain with him for assistance and guidance to SAR and given our friends and family much needed information.<br><br>The earthquake was a much different story. Many of the buildings in the area of Seattle that I work were very severely damaged. We had difficulty exiting our building as the emergency exits were both filled with fallen bricks and the exit door was locked due to security concerns at the loading dock level. This totally unacceptable locked door has been presently fixed, but I still keep a 3' heavy duty pry bar at my desk and exit with it for all emergencies.<br><br>Again communications to my wife were difficult. Loads of cell phones were available to use, but the sites were completely clogged. I was able to successfully use my HAM radio to get a message to my wife and get information about bridges, roads etc. I am now a member of our community emergency communication service, and just about to begin CERT training.<br><br>This earthquake was the reason I found this site and keep learning.<br>