Mobile phones, phone systems, and emergency location systems are described with features that assist rescue teams in locating survivors in a disaster situation where a phone user and their mobile phone are buried under rubble. To enable the phone's battery charge to last longer, an emergency power conservation mode (E-mode) is activated by either receiving a command from an external source via RF transmission, or by noticing a rapid reduction in signal strength from a tower without changing the phone's physical location. Transmissions are also made by the phone from time to time indicating the user's health condition including providing an indication of life. Portable RF devices may be deployed at grid positions to locate mobile phones by triangulation based on signals received from mobile phones while battery charge still exists for the mobile phones immediately following the disaster.