How will media help, when disaster strikes?

Natural disasters can hit the world at any moment, and this occurred recently in New Zealand with the Christchurch earthquake. After this the media was on a frenzy preparing the rest of the country in case we were struck again.
Emergency kits were portrayed as vital, with many news shows broadcasting the essentials needed, were the kit should be placed and how to act in an emergency situation.

However for someone who’s grown up surrounded by new media, would they cope if disaster struck? We live in a world dominated by the web, we socialize via these networks and for many of us we communicate with family abroad through programs like Skye, and for many cordless phones are the only type they’ve seen.

Therefore when telecommunication providers like Vodaphone have a backup generator that only last for 8 hours, how do we contact friends and family to make sure there okay? When the internet’s down how do we let friends and family overseas know that were okay? When the electricity’s down, how are we to access news bulletins,, to inform us of ‘safe places’ ?

Its only after a disaster that you think of these things, and now to an extent new media has been developed in a way that won’t survive when the world takes matters into its own hands.