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In a disaster, public transit is one of the first utilities to go. A fun exercise is “could I walk home from here?” If not, and you spend a lot of time there, y

In a disaster, public transit is one of the first utilities to go. A fun exercise is “could I walk home from here?” If not, and you spend a lot of time there, you need to stage an emergency kit there at least as much as you need one at home. I wouldn’t count on BART service anytime soon after The Big One. (Not that I’d count on freeways either. A bike seems like your best bet). You find dependencies on electricity in surprising places. Good luck getting water out of an automatic faucet or push button water fountain. Good luck getting your car out of a stacker system - even if it’s already at ground level, those doors don’t have manual releases. Good luck getting through any badge reader doors in your office or apartment complex. (This may rule out the bike, even if you brought one).

thatfrenchguy 7y ago
> public transit is one of the first utilities to go This is mostly depending on how much backup the said agencies have. > I wouldn’t count on BART service anytime soon after The Big One And yet it's the only thing that survived the 1989 earthquake !
SilasX 7y ago
>Good luck getting water out of an automatic faucet or push button water fountain. Yikes! I hadn't realized that. I always praised plumbing as a good example of a well-designed, robust system that works even when the power is out, and how only the naive, self-styled 10xers would break that to be trendy ... and yet, they did it already. Hopefully the auto-flushing toilets don't have this problem?
- sudhirj 7y ago
  They do, automatic = electric. If you're not applying force from your muscles to move something, that force is being applied by electricity.
  - deleted 7y ago
    [deleted]
  - VBprogrammer 7y ago
    To be fair, if you pour a bucket of water down a toilet fast enough it will "flush" regardless.
    - ivl 7y ago
      Or just put water into the tank.
- rwmj 7y ago
  Where I live our water supply is pumped by electricity, so losing electricity means losing fresh water. But hey, at least it's not like the UK government is about to do anything reckless.
  - VBprogrammer 7y ago
    In Kempton steam museum they have the old backup generator which was actually powered by a water turbine from the mains supply (so indirectly powered by the steam engines). I'm hopeful that the modern system has at least as good redundancy but I wouldn't bet on it either.
- astura 7y ago
  Plumbing doesn't work when the power is out if you're on a well with an electric pump. Which is why my well-water friends have generators.
sbierwagen 7y ago
>Good luck getting through any badge reader doors in your office or apartment complex. Depends on the type of lock. Doors that use a big electromagnet to hold a plate fail-open, locks that actuate a latch fail-secure.
chewz 7y ago
In a disaster most people in a city will run out of food within 48 hours. Then you have riots as people with guns are taking food from people who have larger supplies. Water fountains won't be your problem then.
- kaybe 7y ago
  I have to say, the US is not really the place I'd want to be during a natural disaster. Japan seems to handle these things so much better, for example.
deleted 7y ago
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thatfrenchguy 7y ago

> public transit is one of the first utilities to go This is mostly depending on how much backup the said agencies have. > I wouldn’t count on BART service anytime soon after The Big One And yet it's the only thing that survived the 1989 earthquake !

SilasX 7y ago

>Good luck getting water out of an automatic faucet or push button water fountain. Yikes! I hadn't realized that. I always praised plumbing as a good example of a well-designed, robust system that works even when the power is out, and how only the naive, self-styled 10xers would break that to be trendy ... and yet, they did it already. Hopefully the auto-flushing toilets don't have this problem?

sudhirj 7y ago
They do, automatic = electric. If you're not applying force from your muscles to move something, that force is being applied by electricity.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- VBprogrammer 7y ago
  To be fair, if you pour a bucket of water down a toilet fast enough it will "flush" regardless.
  - ivl 7y ago
    Or just put water into the tank.
rwmj 7y ago
Where I live our water supply is pumped by electricity, so losing electricity means losing fresh water. But hey, at least it's not like the UK government is about to do anything reckless.
- VBprogrammer 7y ago
  In Kempton steam museum they have the old backup generator which was actually powered by a water turbine from the mains supply (so indirectly powered by the steam engines). I'm hopeful that the modern system has at least as good redundancy but I wouldn't bet on it either.
astura 7y ago
Plumbing doesn't work when the power is out if you're on a well with an electric pump. Which is why my well-water friends have generators.

sbierwagen 7y ago

>Good luck getting through any badge reader doors in your office or apartment complex. Depends on the type of lock. Doors that use a big electromagnet to hold a plate fail-open, locks that actuate a latch fail-secure.

chewz 7y ago

In a disaster most people in a city will run out of food within 48 hours. Then you have riots as people with guns are taking food from people who have larger supplies. Water fountains won't be your problem then.

kaybe 7y ago
I have to say, the US is not really the place I'd want to be during a natural disaster. Japan seems to handle these things so much better, for example.

deleted 7y ago

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