Surviving the Big One
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40689998/ns/us_news-the_new_york_times
The above link was posted on the site of my ol' penpal, Infdel753. As someone born and raised inside the Beltway, with a serious interest in geopolitics, I always just sort of assumed that I'd die in a thermonuclear blast before I turned 30. (You cannot imagine my delight and surprise when the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union occurred). Such thoughts always gravitated to what would happen in DC if a nuclear bomb were to go off - even a small one, and not even "on target" at someplace like the Capitol, the Pentagon, White House, etc. I'll tell you - absolute and total chaos and breakdown, for days. The (continuing) talk of evacuation is and always has been ludicrous bordering on outright insane. As I have said before - every weekday for decades there has been a major simulation of an evacuation of the city - it is called Rush Hour, and we fail it every time. A flake of snow, a drop of rain, a fender bender on 66 or a broken bus on Route 7 mean near-gridlock. The idea that an atomic blast won't create a thousand times the inconvenience and effect is silly. Another thing to keep in mind is that a fair portion of this "test evacuation" relies on buses and subways moving out of the city, and then BACK INTO IT to pick up more people. Two words: NO WAY. The drivers will go as far away as they can, and then abandon their vehicles. Emergency services within the District barely function now, with everything relatively rosy. They'll collapse before the mushroom cloud is fully formed. Nope, it'll be a true mega disaster. People might as well stay put, because the roads will be totally impassable. Those who walk will get caught in the radiation cloud that the above article is talking about. I'm afraid three things are certain - a lot of people are going to die, you'll need an armored bulldozer to get anywhere, and Fairfax County Public Schools will close two hours early.
The above link was posted on the site of my ol' penpal, Infdel753. As someone born and raised inside the Beltway, with a serious interest in geopolitics, I always just sort of assumed that I'd die in a thermonuclear blast before I turned 30. (You cannot imagine my delight and surprise when the collapse of the Warsaw Pact and Soviet Union occurred). Such thoughts always gravitated to what would happen in DC if a nuclear bomb were to go off - even a small one, and not even "on target" at someplace like the Capitol, the Pentagon, White House, etc. I'll tell you - absolute and total chaos and breakdown, for days. The (continuing) talk of evacuation is and always has been ludicrous bordering on outright insane. As I have said before - every weekday for decades there has been a major simulation of an evacuation of the city - it is called Rush Hour, and we fail it every time. A flake of snow, a drop of rain, a fender bender on 66 or a broken bus on Route 7 mean near-gridlock. The idea that an atomic blast won't create a thousand times the inconvenience and effect is silly. Another thing to keep in mind is that a fair portion of this "test evacuation" relies on buses and subways moving out of the city, and then BACK INTO IT to pick up more people. Two words: NO WAY. The drivers will go as far away as they can, and then abandon their vehicles. Emergency services within the District barely function now, with everything relatively rosy. They'll collapse before the mushroom cloud is fully formed. Nope, it'll be a true mega disaster. People might as well stay put, because the roads will be totally impassable. Those who walk will get caught in the radiation cloud that the above article is talking about. I'm afraid three things are certain - a lot of people are going to die, you'll need an armored bulldozer to get anywhere, and Fairfax County Public Schools will close two hours early.
posted by mendip at
11:50 AM
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