SOUTH BEND, Ind. –  Natural disasters can injure people, leave people homeless, and send a city into total panic.  But what’s scarier is that many times they knock down cell towers leaving people unable to call for help.

Tuesday AT&T, with the help of the St. Joseph County Chamber of Commerce and Homeland Security, is unveiling a disaster communication facility to make sure that doesn’t happen.

It will be housed right here in South Bend.

Chamber of commerce president Jeff Rea says when disaster strikes there is nothing worse than not being able to get a signal out to call for help.

"It's really critical to first responders or even just citizens is in a disaster be able to communicate to the outside world", said St. Joseph County Chamber of commerce president Jeff Rea.

Lucky for us, AT&T is investing 3 million dollars into a disaster response communication facility.

"If a tornado or a hurricane hits that area and a cell tower is down, they need other opportunities to make that connection and this gives them those opportunities", said Rea.

Rea says this facility will help more than just St. Joseph County disaster victims.

"From this facility, they will be able to serve people as far as Houston, Texas or Miami, Florida in the event of a disaster", said Jeff Rea.

Rea says the fact that AT&T chose South Bend for its’ disaster response headquarters, speaks world’s about the city’s economy and its’ residents.

"St. Joe County has some significant advantages...we think we have a good geographic location..we have a strong work ethic of our folks here...our low taxes...and our availability of power are all things that solidified AT&T’s investment", said Rea.