Long Beach City Manager Jack Schnirman. (Photo: City of Long Beach’s official website)

After Superstorm Sandy swept in, the City of Long Beach was in “complete communication darkness,” City Manager Jack Schnirman testified at a Federal Communications Committee hearing Tuesday.

Schnirman’s testimony was part of a discussion about the effect Sandy had on local and state communication infrastructure when the Oct. 29 hurricane crippled the region.

Long Beach, which was one of the hardest hit areas during the deadly storm, had no access to computers, telephone, cable or Internet, and all cell tower batteries were dead by the morning, Schnirman testified.

“All mobile communications were lost,” Schnirman said.

All cell towers in the city were down during the storm and service providers were “nowhere to be found,” according to Schnirman’s remarks.

With the city’s infrastructure shot and cellphone and Internet service virtually nonexistent, the city had to rely on a local vendor’s gas-powered copy machine to print out daily flyers to communicate with residents. Local police went around the city with bullhorns to update residents on the condition of the city and its ailing infrastructure.

The city also relied on social media to inform residents who were able to connect to the Internet.

“We faced a variety of obstacles as we executed our crisis communications plan. We found that there is significant room for improvement with regards to wireless carriers’ infrastructure and response,” Schnirman said.

Schnirman was tapped by Sen. Charles Schumer to testify in front of the FCC after the senator had requested that the agency develop a plan to ensure another communications blackout doesn’t occur again in the event of a major storm or terrorist attack.

“Field hearings will increase our understanding of the problems encountered during Superstorm Sandy and harvest the best ideas to ensure that mobile phone service doesn’t fail after future storms,” Schumer said in a statement. “Mobile communication has become an essential part of our lives, and increasing its reliability must be a top priority.”

During his testimony, Schnirman recommended that municipalities have built-in generators for communications infrastructure,  all cell-phone carriers provide emergency contacts and easier access to cell towers on wheels.

Well, not Twitter, but the people who misuse the social media site and decide to post/repost something, allowing potentially untrue information to spread like wildfire without any repercussions.

On Tuesday, a Twitter account that purports itself to be the official media account of the minister of foreign affairs in India sent out a tweet to its 200-something followers announcing the “death” of the Dalai Lama.

Here’s the tweet in question:

THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA ANNOUNCES THE DEATH OF H.H. TENZIN GYATSO, THE 14TH DALAI LAMA TODAY IN DELHI

— Salman Khurshid (@IndiaMOFA) January 15, 2013

So, is the Dalai Lama dead or not dead? Most Twitter users have shrugged this off as another social media death rumor. Not to mention the fact that no official news agency has even hinted at it.

“Wanna kill who rumored Dalai Lama is no more,” read one tweet. (They may be taking it too far, but you get the point.)

Somewhere meshed in with people randomly quoting the Dalai Lama are other Twitter users discrediting the original tweet. Many think it’s nonsense.

The Dalai Lama now joins a host of other celebrities and luminaries who have been killed off by social media sites. Many times these subject turn into trending topics that further fans the rumor.

Some famous fake deaths revolve around comedian George Lopez, singer Taylor Swift, ass kicker Jackie Chan and even funnyman Eddie Murphy.

Reports of their demise were quickly squashed.

Some social media users also attempted to kill off Bill Cosby.

Here’s your lesson of the day: don’t believe the Twitter rumor mill.