Their communications networks have been severly hampered or are compromised. The easiest way to communicate is upload all pertinent info on to a lap top and take the entire thing. You can burn info onto CDs, but then can't add to it most of the time.
What info? I conduct my life with almost zero records (generated by myself of course. Others keep mailing me junk.) Most people retain vast amounts of information in their heads, and what they can't fits on a scrap of paper.