Thread Rating:
  • 0 Vote(s) - 0 Average
  • 1
  • 2
  • 3
  • 4
  • 5

Can your city survive the apocalypse?

#1
C C Offline
http://www.cnn.com/2015/07/21/tech/disas...index.html

EXCERPT: The destruction of New Orleans by Hurricane Katrina was heralded as a wake-up call for the U.S., a catastrophe that illustrated the scale of the threat from natural disasters, and the inadequacy of preparations. But for all the earnest talk of 'learning lessons' that followed, no grand reform agenda was put in place to revitalize a city that remains devastated and deeply vulnerable. [...] the next disaster could be the city's last.

[...] The U.N.'s global risk report anticipates a record $314 billion of damage through natural disasters each year, exacerbated by the effects of climate change such as rising sea levels and more common 'freak' weather conditions. The report also highlights a widespread lack of preparedness and "continuous mispricing of risk."

Of course, there are few easy answers to how to withstand [...disasters...]

[...] Dutch architect Koen Olthuis has pioneered an approach of building on the water itself, creating floating structures on a foundation of foam and concrete, using 'scarless' techniques that don't damage the environment. His designs are in development from a hotel off Norway to a community in the Maldives, and the concept of building islands has become popular around the world.

"The only limit is finance," says Olthuis. "Building on water is much easier than people think, it just needs a mind-set change -- people have to see water as a threat but use it as an asset."

The concept has gone from 'freak architecture' to a practical necessity, he believes.

"Governments are starting to see the possibilities -- it could bring safety and also create new spaces. Hong Kong, New York and London have no space left to build."

Amphibious solutions also offer greater flexibility, allowing for the possibility of temporary and mobile buildings. One striking suggestion is that Olympic stadiums could be transferred between host nations rather than each country bearing their enormous costs.

Ultimately, Olthuis' designs are in service of addressing equality and the communities most at risk.

"People with money can own places that are higher and drier, and people with less money are more threatened. By having this technology on a larger scale we can improve the safety of threatened places. The natural location to do that is places like the Maldives, where you can have a positive effect on the slums and change the DNA. In this way, you can use architecture to create a more fair society."

The Dutchman favors a joined-up solution that combines resilient structure with urban planning that best protects the vulnerable points, along with sustainable practices that can forestall future danger, and effective disaster responses...
Reply
#2
Yazata Offline
Here in California the threat of a huge and totally-devastating earthquake that everyone calls "The Big-One" is always with us. It's inevitably coming, except that nobody knows when.

The 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake was pretty scary, at about 7.0 on the Richter scale. (The subsequent LA Northridge earthquake was about the same size.) But it wasn't apocalyptic by any means. Not even close.

The 1906 San Francisco earthquake, which totally destroyed the city, was about 8.0. That's usualy what people are thinking about when they say 'Big One'. That one was pretty apocalyptic for the city, though it was the subsequent fire that did most of the damage. If an 8 hit around here now, there would be thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of dead and the local economy would basically stop for a while.

Transportation would be frozen as roads and free-way overpasses were severed by cracks and collapses. Railways would be out of action. Airport runways might not be usable either. I'd hate to be in the BART transit tube under SF bay, but they say it was designed for earthquakes and shouldn't rupture and flood. The iconic Golden Gate and Bay Bridges are pretty hardy and should survive ok. One problem that we saw in 1989 was the earthquake shutting down public transit and the bridges, stranding hundreds of thousands of workers in a dark and electricity-less SF for many hours.

In San Francisco, glass falling out of office towers might cut up pedestrians on the street below, but they say that probably won't happen since the windows are designed to resist strong winds. (But I remember lots of broken glass in 1989, mostly from street-level shop display windows.) Brick facades would collapse. Huge numbers of residential dwellings might be rendered uninhabitable, leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless.

The iconic Silicon Valley companies would be hard hit, but these days companies like Apple just have their headquarters here. Most of their manufacturing is done elsewhere and I'm sure that they have disaster plans in place to transfer their management functions temporarily to another city. So the tech industry wouldn't be down for more than a short while.

And there have been earthquakes in places like Chile, and in Alaska in the 1960's, that made it to 9.0. That's 10 times the power of the 1906 earthquake. (The Richter scale is logarithmic.) They say that there's a chance of an earthquake that big off the coast of Oregon or Washington... sometime. (It's building up strength to get MR.) There's talk of tsunamis wiping out all the little fishing and tourism towns along the Oregon and Washington coasts. (I have relatives on the Oregon coast, near Lincoln.)
Reply
#3
Magical Realist Offline
I have a fear of the two upstairs apts above me crashing down on me while I sleep. I now live in a studio, so my table is only like 8 feet away from my bed, giving me time to get under it. This is the nightmarish way of dying I dread most, after being burned alive: lying trapped beneath rubble waiting days until I just die of bleeding or thirst. Portland is due it's "big one" too, although the schedule for such things isn't precisely predictable. The local news periodically advises having water stored in bottles and enough stored food for 2 weeks. I'll probably do this eventually, but I resent doing anything the media tells me to do.
Reply


Possibly Related Threads…
Thread Author Replies Views Last Post
  Article Gene-edited rice might survive in Martian soil (engineered crops) C C 1 73 Apr 29, 2023 07:58 PM
Last Post: Magical Realist
  Your neural implant: Will the company that maintains it even survive til you die? C C 0 52 Feb 17, 2022 05:57 PM
Last Post: C C



Users browsing this thread: 1 Guest(s)