BREAKING: EARTHQUAKE IN DC

[Wing Commander MAD]

Some horrible pictures of the devastation left behind by the quake.

However will the East Coast recover from this massive, devastating event?

FYI, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is flagging a couple items from the listed site as malware upon visiting the link.

[Enigma]

Some horrible pictures of the devastation left behind by the quake.

However will the East Coast recover from this massive, devastating event?

FYI, Microsoft Security Essentials (MSE) is flagging a couple items from the listed site as malware upon visiting the link.

Same here. I think it is a trojan downloader. The site wants to add "missing" plugins and MSE was flagging that and something else.

[Slacker]

The house shook here on Long Island. I'm on the second floor, and the first inkling I had something was up was a book or two falling off a bookcase I was packing up. I figured it was the cats screwing around, and then I saw the iced tea in my glass going crazy and the whole house creaked a little bit. That's a little beyond Roosevelt and Hammurabi's skillset.

[eion]

Do you know if any elements of the evacuation plan were used for Obama's inauguration? That had some of the same elements.

It looks like the inaugural evacuation plan was based on Operation Fast Forward I/II, the operational name for the 4th of July tests. Based on the numbers from the article, 120,000 evacuated northward via bus and metro per hour, and a crowd estimate of 2 million, it would take 16 hours and change to evacuate DC. That's before you start using chartered buses and start synchronizing the traffic lights on 240 second cycles.

I still maintain that marching people south across the Potomac bridges and staging evacuations out of the Pentagon parking lot could help a lot too. One of the issues in evacuations is people outside the mandatory evacuation zone choosing to evacuate as well. This creates bottlenecks, and by having a dedicated assembly ground nearby the evacuation zone, and then using closed inbound lanes (I-95 and I-66 in this case) to bus people out from the assembly area, you can more efficiently empty the evacuation zone while still allowing voluntary evacuations to continue.

But of course non-emergency evacuations (such as the earthquake and events like the inauguration) are very different from emergency evacuations where it is less important to get people somewhere in particular and more important to just get them out of the area. Voluntary evacuations will always take longer than mandatory ones because people decide themselves where they're going and how they'll get there. In those cases all you can really do is optimize the travel routes and increase access to public transportation.

We'll have to wait to see if any of the mass evacuation plans components were activated during the earthquake, but as far as I know it was just another normal day of traffic without any timing optimizations or additional buses added.

[Sea Skimmer]

Even in an emergency evacuation it depends on the details. If a radiological attack took place for example, the last thing you would want is people fleeing on foot. They'd be safer staying indoors, on middle floors, away from the street and the roof, until they can get into a bus or car and be moved out at a decent speed. Also, moving people on foot across a bridge, or any other confined space, is a good way to have hundreds of people crushed to death in a panic. This has happened in real life, I can think of examples within the last ten years, and I am sure the planners at work in DC know all about it.

[Havok]

*snickers* Guys, it's been three days since the BIG ONE. I think it is time to let it go.

AND NO. We would not be paralyzed by two feet of snow, we would all just take vacation days and go snow boarding.

Oh man, SF would be a down right hoot.

[Flagg]

*snickers* Guys, it's been three days since the BIG ONE. I think it is time to let it go.

AND NO. We would not be paralyzed by two feet of snow, we would all just take vacation days and go snow boarding.

Oh man, SF would be a down right hoot.

Hey man, they gotta cover something sensationally domestically between Casey Anthony is on probation and KILLSTORM 2011!

[weemadando]

*snickers* Guys, it's been three days since the BIG ONE. I think it is time to let it go.

[Lonestar]

*snickers* Guys, it's been three days since the BIG ONE. I think it is time to let it go.

AND NO. We would not be paralyzed by two feet of snow, we would all just take vacation days and go snow boarding.

Oh man, SF would be a down right hoot.

That shit may work with people who have only lived on the East coast, but I've split enough of my adult and young adult life between the two coasts to know you Californians fly into panic at the slightest precipitation.

"STORMWATCH 2011: MIST HAMMERS CALIFORNIA COAST"

[ComradeClaus]

In Chapel Hill we had only some minor vibrations. Apparently, it was a bit more pronounced nearer the mountains.

So, what practice or policy do you think the looneys will claim caused this one?

God getting ready to open the gates of Hell for Armageddon? Been awhile last time he did, so he needed to practice? All the Gay Marriage in New York, you know?