What would you do if your town became snowed in, flooded, or wrecked by a hurricane and you or your family lost access to the internet and cable or satellite? This can happen if you lose power, or it can happen if a cable is cut, dropped or twisted in the local box or transmitter.

Even if you were able to get through to someone on your telephone (check: does your telephone require electricity? The old ones didn’t), chances are you wouldn’t be able to get back online in the event of a major flood or other weather disaster.

You’d be stuck without any information access. This is especially frightening if your telephone line is the same line you’re using for the internet. If your internet connection or modem goes down, so does your telephone access.

Get Your Online Survival Info Now

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The point is that you need to prepare beforehand by getting the information you need now, while you have online access. In many cases, being a pure digital minimalist can backfire in an emergency situation. Here are a few things you might want to take into consideration:

Map of Your Local Area

You know your way around on a day-to-day basis, your usual routines, etc. but in an emergency there could be other things you’d need to look up. What if someone is trying to find your house? A rescue team? You need to be able to explain how to get there. What if you hear from an emergency radio broadcast that one highway or exit is blocked off? You need to know exactly where it is.

Bookmarks, Passwords and Banking Info

Is there anything you only store in digital form? Better make a hard copy while you still can. Do you keep important info like passwords only in a file on your laptop, or do you have important bookmarks for your favorite sites – better write down the URLs in paper form, too, and take note of the key pieces of information you get from there.

Have a list of your investments, your email contacts, contact info for your contacts, etc. Scour your online profiles for other lingering info – don’t let it sit online. Have a “real world” copy, too. Make sure your lifelines are secure.

Emergency Phone Numbers

We like feeling proud of the fact that we no longer need those hefty yellow pages books or telephone books that waste wood resources – but if all your telephone numbers are stored online or digitally, you might be just as out of luck. Be sure you write these all down and still keep your own contact book. If your iPhone dies you can still borrow someone else’s if you know the phone number you need.

How to Be A Minimalist Survivalist

These are just some of the pieces of info you’ll want to check on before you lose access to your internet and/or computer. Remember, batteries die out and power fails. You’ll need at least the latter to be able to get any access to your info. Don’t just back it up, print it out!