An MCE is typically caused by a sudden disaster of some sort , such as an earthquake or explosion . One of the earliest examples was the Iroquois Theatre Fire in Chicago in 1903 . The 1963 Kennedy assassination represented a mass call event for Washington , DC . One of the most notable examples of a MCE was the 9/11 attacks . A more recent example was the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing , in which mobile network service was so degraded by people checking on the safety of friends and family ( or reporting their own status to others ) that journalists and the public both assumed that the networks had been shut down to prevent further remote detonations , although this was not the case with any mobile phone company
Boston Marathon bombing
Boston Marathon bombing
Mass call event