U.S. Coast Guard Capt. Joseph Castillo couldn’t shake a nagging thought while in a post-Hurricane Katrina meeting. News accounts of a downed orange helicopter would cause his wife to fear the worst. Hastily, he composed a text message — no more than the 160 characters possible in a Short Message Service (SMS) exchange between cell phones. Relieved that his family knew he was alive, Castillo returned to the business of coordinating airlifts for stranded hurricane victims.

Serendipitously, SMS proved during Katrina that teenagers desperate to stay in constant contact with classmates where not the only users of the technology.

Coast Guard officials used the technology to direct life-saving helicopter rescues. Gulf Coast ambulance drivers used cell phones and pagers to send text messages to area hospitals about the status of incoming patients.

When disaster strikes, SMS has a major advantage over cellular voice calls and wireless e-mail devices. Text messages do not rely on voice channels for transmission, and they don’t piggyback on enterprise e-mail servers. Instead, SMS messages travel as small packets of data on a wireless carrier’s control channel, the same portion of the spectrum that keeps a cellular network apprised of a particular phone’s location and status.

Because SMS messages are isolated in the control channel and are often unfazed by heavy traffic or adverse conditions that can overwhelm wireless networks, text messages can get through when most other methods of communication fail. Hence, some government officials are beginning to build SMS use into disaster planning exercises.

“During Hurricane Katrina, we used SMS to get people to where we needed them to be,” Castillo said. “Now we are including use of the technology not only in our hurricane planning but in all of our disaster plans.”

In addition, Castillo realizes that this simple communication tool can make a major difference for any government employee faced with the personal and logistical issues involved in functioning in the immediate aftershocks of disaster.

“My wife knew I was flying in a lot of helicopters, and there was no way to assuage her” fears, he said. “Often in a crisis, several hours can pass with no way to let others know that your cell phone is working.”

Because SMS is often reliable in the wake of disasters when other communications fail, officials at agencies or departments not on the front lines of disaster recovery may find themselves and their employees turning to text messaging, should worst-case scenarios materialize.