tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post1102856308352437644..comments2024-02-23T01:30:06.101-08:00Comments on Early Warning: Sustaining a City in a Long-Term Power OutageStuart Stanifordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/07182839827506265860noreply@blogger.comBlogger4125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-57793862880959082202013-06-10T15:58:12.828-07:002013-06-10T15:58:12.828-07:00We had all these issues and more in a recent earth...We had all these issues and more in a recent earthquake. All utilities and use of the port, airport, tunnels and many bridges and roads was lost across most of the city on the day of the event. Power, telephones, water and sewage were still offline in a significant fraction of the city many weeks later. In some places some services are not able to be fixed, ever. <br /><br />The report and Stuart are correct that interactions become critical. I'm told the central hospital UPS took over smoothly, but then itself failed a couple of hours later due to shocks stirring up sediment in the diesel tanks. Patients in certain wards had to be carried down many stories by medical staff with torches in their mouths. As the report notes at the end, communications are the most critical. The cell networks were shattered and overloaded, but still somewhat available for emergency service. One major provider almost lost their entire network however when access was denied to refuel their base site UPS. The CBD was badly damaged (over 1000 buildings have now been demolished) and entirely cordoned off by police and army, and the cell provider's base was within the cordon. The problem with access was itself communication, which was patchy between the checkpoint and an under-siege civil defense HQ. HQ had its own issues. The police comms station hung on during the event but the rest of the complex was evacuated and judged unsafe for civil defense. They settled on a newish civic building built on seismic base isolators. A few days later it turned out that building was not safe either because it was in the collapse footprint of an adjacent tower that was found to be much less structurally sound than initially assessed. <br /><br />A point not explicitly made in the executive summary is that resilience and flexibility become very important in a major event with complex and unforeseen effects.<br /><br />I note a mention in the report that perhaps emergency generators for cell stations could be paid for by charging vastly inflated rates at those times. This is the opposite attitude to what is needed in a true emergency. Tens of thousands of people and businesses donated labour, food, accomodation, water, money, whatever. The dominant telco waived cell charges for those with inoperative landlines.. ie everyone in the first instance. Once the airport re-opened airlines added extra flights, at or below cost to reposition visitors and refugees out of the city and residents and helpers back in.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-13579606270529595862013-06-07T20:52:35.294-07:002013-06-07T20:52:35.294-07:00We came very, very close to this when I was living...We came very, very close to this when I was living in Montreal during the 98 Ice Storm. 5 out of the 6 main power lines leading onto the city went down and it was only pure luck the sixth didn't as well since it had the same capacity and the same amount of ice build up.<br /><br />As it was, the power outages were okay for us, but could have been down for three weeks much like the south shore saw.Deanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14771551678483632076noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-16792828575253411552013-06-07T18:14:36.782-07:002013-06-07T18:14:36.782-07:00As long as "there is a lot of fuel there"...As long as "there is a lot of fuel there", 'there' being a fairly dense metropolitan area, it won't just be left laying around while people dehydrate, starve or freeze to death.<br /><br />I mean, absent a generator preinstalled at a gas station, why would not someone needing gas for his ubiquitous pickup truck put his own generator in the bed and roll on over? Even handpumps could be used in a true emergency, but given the sheer number of generators (and car altenrators+inverters) available in the USA, why even bother?<br /><br />Once refrigeration of food in a given grocery store starts getting problematic, you'd hope the store owner would have the sense to firesell their stuff while they still could; to people that still had power, or had better backups and more-better fridges. Or perhaps to store owners in unaffected areas.... Things of genuine value are rarely left unused. At least as long as people are not barred from even considering whole rafts of potential ways to make do.<br /><br />Of course, if the disruption drags on, eventually there will be no "fuel left there." And no food. Then the real hurt is on.Stukihttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00729167033124570823noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5235419263414453422.post-79851843128586546572013-06-07T13:53:03.859-07:002013-06-07T13:53:03.859-07:00Off in Portland, there's these guys, proposing...Off in Portland, there's these guys, proposing to help with cargo bikes: http://bikeportland.org/2013/05/07/disaster-relief-trials-back-and-bigger-for-second-year-86285<br /><br />Unfortunately, the math seems to utterly fail for water delivery. A plausible upper limit for cargo load is 200lbs (I've carried that on several occasions, it is a lesson in physics) or 25 gallons of water -- 1/100 of a truck load. The only advantage the bikes have is fuel flexibility; not only will they run on anything edible (include vegetable oils, sugar, and dilute ethanol), quite a few of us are carrying a substantial "reserve fuel supply" (in my case, I estimate a minimum of 1000 miles; I am 2000 miles over my weight in college).<br /><br />Of course, all of this assumes that this hypothetical horde of cargo bikes is also helpful and public-spirited and hangs around; at some point, they might decide to just get the heck out of town, which they are well-equipped to do, since bikes are not impeded nearly as much as cars are by downed trees, washed out roads, minor flooding, or landslides.dr2chasehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16320828055999939449noreply@blogger.com