What may happen to us...anytime, any day... Surreal landscape On Day 1, fires will break out in villages, chemical plants, factories and hospitals. About 4,000 major water distribution points will be damaged. There is no electricity, telephone lines and cell-phone networks are down; from 31 to 97 kilometers of electricity and telecommunication lines will be affected. About four out of 10 residential buildings will collapse or be affected. Many schools and business establishments will be heavily damaged or destroyed. Some hospitals will be heavily damaged and many patients will be evacuated. Hundreds, if not thousands, will be trapped dead or injured. Abandoned cars will litter the streets. Some bridges will be down, many roads will be impassable and ambulances cannot get through. The light rail systems will be at a standstill. Within the next few hours, the National Disaster Coordinating Council convenes but “not all member agencies have representatives immediately available,” the study says. By the second and third day, food and drinking water will be scarce. Moderate to weak aftershocks will occur. There will be no electricity, telephone communication and water. Back-up power generators will be available only in critical offices. Fires will spread unabated. Haze from burning buildings will darken the horizon. The President declares a state of calamity while the police contain random acts of looting. The military is mobilized for rescue, clearing of debris and construction of temporary shelters and medical centers. The homeless—that will swell to as much as 3.15 million—begin to occupy open spaces. Relief goods are distributed while volunteer rescue teams arrive from abroad. Many survivors rescued from collapsed buildings, especially children, will suffer from shock. Bodies exhumed from the rubbles will line the streets. Disease outbreaks threaten. Some 33.555 million tons of debris from nearly half a million damaged buildings will litter a surreal landscape. The air has the smell of decay and death. The Philippine flag, if it is raised, flies at half-mast. timawa.net/forum/index.php?topic=16515.0
Posted on: Sun, 09 Mar 2014 03:32:23 +0000
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