Houston? We have a problem.
No, today's rant isn't about NASA (although that is a topic that is still out there) this one is about the nightmarish evacuation of Houston. The plan was, Houston had been divided into three "groups" for evacuation. The outlying areas would be Group A, clearing the path for Group B in the closer areas to go roughly 8 hours later, and then Group C in the middle would go last.
What moron came up with this plan? Have they never been to an airport? All the airlines try to board planes this way and it works about as well there. What they end up with is a clogged line at the gate as people try to be first in line for their group, then a clogged line in the jetway as people line up at the bottleneck of the door, then a clogged line in the aisle as people wait for people to actually plant their fat asses in seats that are too small. ANYONE could have told them that this wouldn't work worth a damn, and lo and behold, it didn't.
And to make matters worse, this was an orderly evacuation, with days worth of lead time. What would this look like in an actual "right now" emergency? Here's a better question, what would constitute a "right now" emergency? Bio-war? Chemical attack? Maybe it's a good thing that the evacuation plans are so screwed up. In the event of a chemical attack, it is likely it would be over before anyone know what was going on. In general, chemical attacks last a few minutes, and then they're over (at least the immediate effects, things like dioxin will still kill, but that takes years). In the case of a bio attack, the fact that evacuation fails so badly could mean that the effected area can be cordoned rather than the panicked flight spreading the attack all over.
What then is a scenario that would require emergency evacuation? Union Carbide in Bhopal, the worst chemical accident in history. That's a good example. Chernobyl is another. Those however, are not the sorts of things that we see "Homeland Security" dealing with. Blowing up some miscellaneous landmark will frighten people, "Oh no, they took out the Chicago courthouse!" But the damage is relatively minor. A small number of people killed and injured, some lost records, and that is all. But what would be the result if they decided to go after something that isn't even considered a target anymore, like a decommissioned nuclear plant? How about an exploding gas tanker leaving a regional chemical plant? The things are everywhere, and would create circumstances where an evacuation would be needed.
Failing to take into account the human reaction is a sure way to fail. It's time to be smart about how to make these things work before someone else figures out how to use them against us.
What moron came up with this plan? Have they never been to an airport? All the airlines try to board planes this way and it works about as well there. What they end up with is a clogged line at the gate as people try to be first in line for their group, then a clogged line in the jetway as people line up at the bottleneck of the door, then a clogged line in the aisle as people wait for people to actually plant their fat asses in seats that are too small. ANYONE could have told them that this wouldn't work worth a damn, and lo and behold, it didn't.
And to make matters worse, this was an orderly evacuation, with days worth of lead time. What would this look like in an actual "right now" emergency? Here's a better question, what would constitute a "right now" emergency? Bio-war? Chemical attack? Maybe it's a good thing that the evacuation plans are so screwed up. In the event of a chemical attack, it is likely it would be over before anyone know what was going on. In general, chemical attacks last a few minutes, and then they're over (at least the immediate effects, things like dioxin will still kill, but that takes years). In the case of a bio attack, the fact that evacuation fails so badly could mean that the effected area can be cordoned rather than the panicked flight spreading the attack all over.
What then is a scenario that would require emergency evacuation? Union Carbide in Bhopal, the worst chemical accident in history. That's a good example. Chernobyl is another. Those however, are not the sorts of things that we see "Homeland Security" dealing with. Blowing up some miscellaneous landmark will frighten people, "Oh no, they took out the Chicago courthouse!" But the damage is relatively minor. A small number of people killed and injured, some lost records, and that is all. But what would be the result if they decided to go after something that isn't even considered a target anymore, like a decommissioned nuclear plant? How about an exploding gas tanker leaving a regional chemical plant? The things are everywhere, and would create circumstances where an evacuation would be needed.
Failing to take into account the human reaction is a sure way to fail. It's time to be smart about how to make these things work before someone else figures out how to use them against us.
posted by Mike N | 2:06 AM
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