Municipal blackouts; Factor this into preparations

Bob - April 23, 2021

https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/japan-says-seek-short-powerful-state-emergency-tokyo-osaka-elsewhere-2021-04-22/

Good morning,

The article’s title is clear enough.  Contemplate the narratives:

“We will be asking for illuminations and neon signs to be turned off,” … “It will be dark at night … … the initiative would discourage people from going out at night”. One benefit of studying WWII history – reading and talking with WWII era folks – allows for understanding blackouts and consequences.

Definitely factor this blackout scenerio into preparedness.  

My area is the opposite of Tokyo and other huge cities but we’ve had experience with power faulures.  A certain traffic light going out of service at night is a common crash scene.

My area is a 24/7 work schedule type of social environment.  Some will stay at workplace until daylight.  Safety governs.

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Good morning Bob,

Blackout scenario is very important and thank you for posting this article.

I’ll be back later when things settle down. 

 

It’ll be interested to see if the Olympics end up happening there this year. And if it does, I expect they will see a huge uptick in cases. Hopefully they will take the next few weeks seriously and decrease the amount of cases by the implementation of these new rules.

 

Good afternoon Olly,

Real good point re the Olympics … actually an excellent point !

This is perhaps the best barameter we have to see how the virus cases are handled and the weekly average results.

Plus, this is a specific world barameter.  How will other countries deal with letting their citizens attend games in Japan ? The airlines’ responses will be interesting.

The Olympics can probably be said that more accurate info will be made available that checking other stuff like financial markets and Tokyo’s famous Nikkei stock market. 

 

I’m in no way an expert or smart in world economics, but to me it just seems to be a bad idea to bring your top athletes to a hive of covid cases, and then after they have been around thousands of people ship them back to their home countries. Seems like a fast way to continue things spreading. 

But I know there are billions of dollars at stake, people have been training for this their entire lives, and so much planning and prep work has already been done for them just to cancel things. So i’m afraid that they may end up having the Olympics anyway.  We shall see…

 

Good morning Bob,

Still hectic but trying to get some time on here.

I just watched part of a progam on WWII, blackouts and serial predators.

The biggest concern I have for blackout conditions is crime, be it violent crime or property crime. I am really glad that I selected security cameras with audio. It is comforting to be able to hear when you cannot see.

There is a strange effect upon people during blackouts as we have seen in the past with looting and rioting. People setting fires is another big concern.

https://time.com/3949986/1977-blackout-new-york-history/

 

Good afternoon Ubique,

Just glanced at the TIME link.

I remember the Son of Sam murders and the blackout. Some associates of mine were in the NY National Guard at the time.  For every callup for active duty riot patrol, they got one year reduced from their 6 year National Guard obligation.

At least preparing for blackouts is about the same for other situations. Security is at the top of the list. Security includes fire fighting plans.

 

Good afternoon Bob,

It was a bizarre time. I can’t imagine what NY National Guard riot control  experienced. I also can’t imagine what was going through the minds of people who use a disaster to unlease that type of insanity.

Following the musings of “I can’t imagine” – I can’t imagine why Japan is even considering continuing with the Olympics. There are mutations of Covid-19 that may be resistant to vaccine and so many countries overloaded by this third wave.

I appreciate athletics as much as the next person, but seriously? Now? Maybe it’s the almighty dollar driving this one – all those Olympic tourist dollars.

 

Thought I would link in some articles regarding an unintentional blackout in NZs largest city

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/auckland-blackout-shock-to-the-system-why-did-it-happen/U7IE4IYJUCXR4G3H2WPNVYNYBE/

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/entertainment/the-diary-21-responses-to-aucklands-power-cut/JJP22Z3I3PQMO4VBRR7X7XGOQI/

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/power-outage-mobile-phone-customers-also-affected/LMQQAEMP6NN3Z3FKXCUWUQKGI4/

 

Good morning LBV,

Just read the first article.

I liked reading “Residents kept up positive attitudes and thought about future planning and safeguarding”.

If the mentioned PM Key was the stock market PM, I remember his pronouncements.

Got the same espresso pot in my field kitchen bin.

 

Yes, that was our PM.

Incidently there was a 5 week blackout in Auckland back in 1998. During that blackout, the mood was not so positive.