>> I get the impression that, unless it happens 10 to 20 years from now, you can pretty much write the PNW off. <<
Exactly.
>> Zero salvageable infrastructure <<
Even if it happens later, the losses will be very heavy unless people remove all the previous construction and replace it with the most robust things mankind can make -- or simply leave the area altogether. People don't want to do those things.
And even if they replaced the infrastructure, the fact is we can't make things that would reliably survive anything in the 9+ range. That takes tech we just don't have yet. The most we could do is somewhat reduce the damage from total obliteration to merely mass destruction. There's no way to keep a road or bridge or pipe from disconnecting when two pieces of land part company by 60 feet. The only buildings likely to survive intact are monolithic domes.
>> and a death toll that adds up to a sizable percentage of the population <<
In several places, the death toll will approach totality due to specific details of their shape. Those really should be closed, but people insist on living in lethal places.
The best we could do that people might actually put up with is harm reduction. Move the most vulnerable facilities -- hospitals, schools, nursing homes, etc. -- out of the kill zone. Also move homes and hotels out of there. Leave it only for recreation. At least that way, you won't have helpless people or sleepers routinely in the path of certain death. The way it's set up now, many towns will lose 100% of their vulnerable parties.
It's not just your own death you're risking. It's survival in a town that just lost every child because the school's so-called safety zone was 10 feet below the floodline and everyone knew it. And that's a pretty good example of hell on earth. Who wants to be the school board member or mayor that survives such a loss? But they don't think about that.
>> with little to no chance of recovery economically or socially for decades, if at all. <<
No shit. Even in T-America, which was much more prepared than here, it's never going back like it was, not even close. The 5 Minutes That Changed Everything.
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dancing_serpent
Yes ...
Date: 2020-02-09 08:55 pm (UTC)Exactly.
>> Zero salvageable infrastructure <<
Even if it happens later, the losses will be very heavy unless people remove all the previous construction and replace it with the most robust things mankind can make -- or simply leave the area altogether. People don't want to do those things.
And even if they replaced the infrastructure, the fact is we can't make things that would reliably survive anything in the 9+ range. That takes tech we just don't have yet. The most we could do is somewhat reduce the damage from total obliteration to merely mass destruction. There's no way to keep a road or bridge or pipe from disconnecting when two pieces of land part company by 60 feet. The only buildings likely to survive intact are monolithic domes.
>> and a death toll that adds up to a sizable percentage of the population <<
In several places, the death toll will approach totality due to specific details of their shape. Those really should be closed, but people insist on living in lethal places.
The best we could do that people might actually put up with is harm reduction. Move the most vulnerable facilities -- hospitals, schools, nursing homes, etc. -- out of the kill zone. Also move homes and hotels out of there. Leave it only for recreation. At least that way, you won't have helpless people or sleepers routinely in the path of certain death. The way it's set up now, many towns will lose 100% of their vulnerable parties.
It's not just your own death you're risking. It's survival in a town that just lost every child because the school's so-called safety zone was 10 feet below the floodline and everyone knew it. And that's a pretty good example of hell on earth. Who wants to be the school board member or mayor that survives such a loss? But they don't think about that.
>> with little to no chance of recovery economically or socially for decades, if at all. <<
No shit. Even in T-America, which was much more prepared than here, it's never going back like it was, not even close. The 5 Minutes That Changed Everything.