Sometimes, people use social media during emergencies, and networks crash. How do you think these risks can be avoided?

This post is in reply to a question posed during our short presentation to the class. I chose this question as it somewhat relates to my final project.
First off, the article I critiqued focused on risk and crisis communication professionals rather than social media users. Professionals in this field are learning from social media users about how to use the power of social media to disseminate their messages. Messages which could be life or death depending on the situation.
So the question poses an interesting dilemma. On one hand social media users are just as critical to spreading the word about a crisis as the professionals but on the other what does happen when there is a critical mass that interferes with the "official" communication.
This is when we get into the "r" word, regulation. When you talk about regulation and the internet this causes a lot of discomfort, the internet is one place where there are strong opinions about any type of limitations or censorship. Despite this I am sure some of you may have experienced a loud alert coming from your phone when there has been a child abduction or some other emergency.
This is government insertion that has been deemed necessary to public safety.
Is this effective? How do people feel about this? Do you think that given they can send emergency messages that possibly this means they could shut down private communication in the event of an emergency? Well, I'm not sure I have the answers at this point.
My interest in the subject was as the result of an event that did cause the network to crash. My partner was in Chelsea when the bombs went off in the area not too recently. Not having the television on, I had no idea what had happened. I got a text message from my partner to say he was ok, which was confusing as I was not sure what was going on. He could not call to tell me the details but could get a text through. Everyone was on their phones and caused a localized disruption to services. He was also lost as the subway was not working and because of the service interruption could not access the internet to figure out how to get home. He had to walk a couple miles out of the area before he could use his phone to find a route home.
So, what concerns me here is less about my personal need but more about the fact that people like you and I are wanting to say "we are ok" but what about the first responders? Don't they need to be able to communicate with each other without interruption, does this flurry of phone use interfere with their ability to effectively respond to an emergency? I'm not sure, my father was a firefighter and they used to use short-wave radio maybe this is still in place. Either way, I'm not sure how this event could be avoided but it is a good question and one that I am sure risk and crisis communication professionals are pondering.