Tuesday, July 29, 2014

Re: [californiadisasters] TV news now covering water main break in Westwood



Wow, another interesting tale... thanks for sharing that, too. Yes, even smart people who know better goof up, but most of the time when dumb people and smart alike goof up they don't die for it but unfortunately there are those incidents when things don't work out... which brings to mind that recent case of the Ventura Co. firefighter who chased after his dog barefoot and without water on a hiking expedition on the LPF and disappeared and apparently fell to his death.... he was an avid hiker and camper and had all his firefighter experience and died anyway... I'm sure he was kicking himself before he left this world. BTW, what were you teaching at Berkeley and now teaching at UCLA?


On Tue, Jul 29, 2014 at 11:04 PM, 'Brent A. Corbin' bcorbin@ucla.edu [californiadisasters] <californiadisasters@yahoogroups.com> wrote:
 


Thanks Kim -

My big eye-opener came many years ago, shortly after the Loma Prieta quake.  I was up at Berkeley at the time, and had been invited to a meeting on campus that was supposed to open a dialogue on how everyone would respond to the Big One.   Long story short, after listening for a couple of hours to quibbles over whether parking enforcement belonged to the campus PD or facilities and how they might need to have access to bulldozers to clear roads to get deliveries on to campus, I made the fateful mistake of asking 'What about the students in the dorms?'    The immediate and unanimous response (probably the only point on which everyone (else) agreed) was that the students would have to find a way to fend for themselves for a while, possibly weeks, as the first order of business was going to be to re-establish the business operations of the campus.  

Nothing has changed.   That same system that we have relied on to take care of us in times of need, that system that has had the luxury of being able to respond when we call, is going to be taxed, it is going to have other priorities, and other masters, when stuff hits the fan.  The wise person will keep this in mind and dial their expectations in accordingly.

But I think the lesson I kind of hope people will take away is that, we can do really stupid things.  I have faced flash floods and severe urban flooding, I know better than to drive into a torrent.   I thought I had established this as part of my programming.  And here I was, halfway through, before I realized I was in a place I really didn't want to be.  If you're like me, you probably entertain yourself by imagining 'what would I do if....'    (It's a darn good exercise - I encourage my students to do the same thing before each exam 8*)  )  -  I think I'm going to have to broaden this to include 'how would I extricate myself, should my common sense fail me...'  8*P






On 7/29/2014 10:04 PM, Kim Noyes kimnoyes@gmail.com [californiadisasters] wrote:
What a wonderful account of this event, Brent. Thanks for sharing! It just goes to show that we all have to take our survival into our own hands ultimately and be prepared and free-thinking... we better not think that Californians are much different than those people in the South Tower WTC who went back to their cubicles after being told there was nothing wrong with their building and no need to evacuate.






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Posted by: Kim Noyes <kimnoyes@gmail.com>


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