Tsunami

In 2004 there was a large earthquake in the Indian Ocean, resulting in the single most deadly earthquake the World has ever seen. It was important that vital information was able to be sent rapidly. Many of the communication lines had been severed so alot of communication became impossible, however, some communications remain active.

SMS messages were able to be sent as they rely on a break in the signal to be sent. Even with the servers running at 100%, as soon as it dropped to 99%, a few messages were able to slip through the system.

E-Mail communication was still working so that was vital in order to keep contact between help and aid bases.

Websites and blogs had been set up to inform the relatives of whereabouts or what to do.
This was important as there were little chances of telephone communications from loved ones, so it was possible to search for them on certain wesites.

Finally, many of the popular news sites were displaying SMS messages and E-Mails accross the bottom of their broadcast in order to help loved ones communicate with eachother.

peace