Plans You Never Would Have Thought That We Need
Anyone who watches sci-fi action films has seen, at some point in the movie, a space craft dodging rogue asteroids or meteorites heading toward them.
It's one thing to watch out-of-control space rocks in the movies, it's quite another thing to actually see a fireball from a meteor enter the Earth's atmosphere and crash into a mountain in central Russia.
This is exactly what happened on February 15, 2013, when debris from a meteorite streaked across the sky and exploded over the Ural Mountains near the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The question was raised as to how did Russia's radar warning system fail to detect the meteorite? Imagine what would have happened if the meteor actually exploded in Chelyabinsk (or in any city in the U.
S.
, for that matter).
On the same day, an asteroid flew very close to Earth.
It would behoove our government officials to stop their political squabbling for a moment, come up for air, and seriously consider developing a national disaster/preparedness/evacuation plan for victims of space invaders of the rocky kind.
This plan would have to be a bit different from those already in place for tornadoes and hurricanes, seeing that a stray asteroid, of the right size, can destroy an entire city! This newly created plan would have to involve folks from the American Red Cross, the national go-to organization for disaster relief.
The ARC would also have to amend its disaster plans to prepare for what to do after space rocks hurdle to a city near you.
Maybe the ARC already has such a plan but hasn't gone public with it yet.
The proposed space-disaster plan would have to detail what citizens are expected to do and where they should go after hearing a warning siren.
Based on past weather-related disasters, even if people get advance warning that a meteor is on its way, there's always someone who wants to stay in their house and "ride it out.
" What if you're on the beach? Can you hear a warning siren? Remember the 2004 earthquake-triggered tsunami in the Indian Ocean? Then there are travelers on planes, trains and in automobiles.
How will they hear the warning? Should the FAA ban all air travel during the warning period? Just thinking about this all seems pretty far-fetched.
After all, these types of disasters only happen in sci-fi movies, right? But when you actually see a meteor exploding, creating a blast that's equal to 300,000 tons of TNT, it makes you stop and think: What if this happens closer to home next time? It's time to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
A plan of action is sorely needed since it seems as if the disasters we were expecting in 2012, may actually occur in 2013.
It's one thing to watch out-of-control space rocks in the movies, it's quite another thing to actually see a fireball from a meteor enter the Earth's atmosphere and crash into a mountain in central Russia.
This is exactly what happened on February 15, 2013, when debris from a meteorite streaked across the sky and exploded over the Ural Mountains near the city of Chelyabinsk, Russia.
The question was raised as to how did Russia's radar warning system fail to detect the meteorite? Imagine what would have happened if the meteor actually exploded in Chelyabinsk (or in any city in the U.
S.
, for that matter).
On the same day, an asteroid flew very close to Earth.
It would behoove our government officials to stop their political squabbling for a moment, come up for air, and seriously consider developing a national disaster/preparedness/evacuation plan for victims of space invaders of the rocky kind.
This plan would have to be a bit different from those already in place for tornadoes and hurricanes, seeing that a stray asteroid, of the right size, can destroy an entire city! This newly created plan would have to involve folks from the American Red Cross, the national go-to organization for disaster relief.
The ARC would also have to amend its disaster plans to prepare for what to do after space rocks hurdle to a city near you.
Maybe the ARC already has such a plan but hasn't gone public with it yet.
The proposed space-disaster plan would have to detail what citizens are expected to do and where they should go after hearing a warning siren.
Based on past weather-related disasters, even if people get advance warning that a meteor is on its way, there's always someone who wants to stay in their house and "ride it out.
" What if you're on the beach? Can you hear a warning siren? Remember the 2004 earthquake-triggered tsunami in the Indian Ocean? Then there are travelers on planes, trains and in automobiles.
How will they hear the warning? Should the FAA ban all air travel during the warning period? Just thinking about this all seems pretty far-fetched.
After all, these types of disasters only happen in sci-fi movies, right? But when you actually see a meteor exploding, creating a blast that's equal to 300,000 tons of TNT, it makes you stop and think: What if this happens closer to home next time? It's time to hope for the best and prepare for the worst.
A plan of action is sorely needed since it seems as if the disasters we were expecting in 2012, may actually occur in 2013.
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