04-02-2011, 10:56 PM
(04-01-2011, 11:47 PM)username Wrote: Honestly Katrina (and maybe the BP oil spill) were the closest we've had to a Japan earthquake/tsunami.
That said, I was once put in charge of creating a disaster preparedness plan for the company I worked for. What a joke. If you kept extrapolating out the possibilities, it became impossible! Okay, 1), the building collapses (what do you do?), 2), people can't get to the office because roads/bridges are impassable (what do you do?), 3), all communication is down so you rely on off-site back-up computers but unfortunately they're down too so 5)...
At some point we always got to "we're fucked".
The Gulf Coast is not ruined. The ocean cleaned itself in a few months (bacteria consumed the methane). The oil company cleaned the tar balls (which are really only hazardous if you eat them or get those little black spots on you bikini, which I remember from California beaches back in the 80s). The hype after the spill made it seem like it was a huge environmental disaster. It really wasn't. Residents of the coast got huge checks to make up for the lost revenue, so they go to kick back and still get paid.
There are still areas of oxygen-depleted water in the ocean, but that will take care of itself when the bacteria die off that consumed the oil/hydrocarbons.
Did you know there is such a thing as "heavy water"? Instead of regular Hydrogen atoms in the H20, they are isotopes of Hydrogen (extra neutron). That is the water they use in nuclear reactors and is why you just can't pump ocean water to replace it when an earthquake cracks your retention walls.
If the local and state officials in Louisiana had been prepared, which they should have had all kinds of plans ready after 9/11, there wouldn't have been such a problem. When they did notify the people, they didn't leave. Everybody thinks stupidity is funny until some bad shit happens, then they want to blame someone else. Then we take away freedoms and make stricter rules because of stupid people and we all suffer. Stupidity is dangerous.