[extropy-chat] hurricane frances

[Amara Graps]

Spike:
>Heres my proposal.  Let a group of volunteers set up a webcam
>in their neighbor's house, looking back at their own house.
>Then when an earthquake hits or a storm comes, everyone can
>log on and take a *random survey* of the local homes.
>In 89, the ExIers could have quickly learned that over 99% 
>homes stood up fine, a broken window here, a masonry crack
>there, most homes suffering no damage.  

I wonder where was your home, Spike, because mine had no electricity
for about 24 hours during the '89 earthquake. I (and my neighbors)
were in the middle of suburban Cupertino. Makes it difficult to set
up a web cam, no?

Driving in to make a survey: the freeways were blocked off in many
places. (and the electrical outage caused streetlights to be off). 
OK,  bicycles and legs still worked.

Flying in to make a survey: not possible either because San Jose
Airport was closed (I know because I was supposed to fly out to
Arizona early the next morning for an astronomy observing trip, and
the flight was delayed) while  the runways were inspected  for damage.

Minor damage, I agree, yes, but I was cleaning up the glass in my
kitchen for days, and I lost a few irreplaceable pieces in the
living room when the bookcases bounced a few feet, and my Mac Plus,
when it fell over, displayed the cracks in the case for the rest of
its life.

>A random walk thru neighborhood videos might
>have you searching for hours before one found *any* earthquake
>damage, and I suspect the same for serious hurricane damage.  

well........

Amara