I am trying to get my wife and i situated with some kind of a radio that will allow us to communicate with each other should a disaster strike. I live in an earthquake zone and dont want to be stuck wondering if shes ok. We are rarely seperated by more than 15 - 20 miles at most, usually closer to 10. This is a densely populated city. What would be our best bet for communication should a disaster strike (excluding cell phones and carrier pidgeons :D)
Wow! I can’t believe someone here hasn’t answered your question. And what a great question, by the way. I, too, would like to know the answer.
The reason why there weren’t any replies, id there simply isn’t a radio service that can do point-to-point communications 100% reliably. Sure services with repeaters are there… but if the repeaters go down… no go.
A repeater with GMRS radios, an UPS, and a natural gas auto starting backup generator… 
thats how our site is setup… Granted, for something you will never use, my suggestion is a bit expensive, but its an answer! … i would see if there are any GMRS repeaters in your area that are well built and well maintained… A bunch of them just throw stuff together and maybe put a car battery in as a backup power source… Or you and your wife get a ham license there are more ham repeaters out there, and most of them are proud of their installs, and “usually” build their repeaters right…