Are ham radios that useful in 2017 other than a shtf world?

Ham is used regularly in many emergency situations. Several personal example. During the Loma Prieta quake, my daughter was at UC Santa Cruz. I was worried about her safety. I got on the Calif. earth quake net and within about 20 minutes found that she was fine, and volunteering in the Sheriff's office.

During another earth quake in Calif. I was scheduled to fly out of LAX with the CSULB football team. I was able to get hold of a ham in the Control Tower at LAX and confirm that the plane would be available.

During Ivan in Pensacola FL. A neighbor who foolishly elected to say in her waterfront home was able to get to my via Cell phone and ask for emergency help. She could not get 911 because the 911 system had been shut down, and there was no more emergency response. I got to the EOM center ham operator, and got her and family put open the list for immediate help when emergency services were available in the morning.

I have many other instances, but many times cell services are overwhelmed or go out because of physical damage to towers or power supply-- Ham gets thru.

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Are ham radios that useful in 2017 other than a shtf world?