(Wargame) 7.5 Earthquake Hits VA...

[Kfgk14]

I yank my connection to the grid, buy four clean-suits for the family, and get ready to detach from society if things go south. Otherwise, life goes on. I don't need no nuclear power, I have solar.
Maybe add a few more panels to the roof for that purpose.

[John W]

Interesting scenario and a great way to get the mind rolling.

I think the immediate course of action would be to pull off the road if one were driving, keep the cellphone lines open, tune in to the AM stations for news and boot up the radio comms to gather reports. While gathering intel I would be taking stock of what gear is within the vehicle and making ready to park (off the road) if traffic prevents mobility. In either an on foot or on road situation I would aim for returning home as quickly as possible.

If I am the first one home and the family is out, I would expect, due to the severity of the situation at hand, that all members would RTB. With that in mind I would begin preparing based on the formulated plan which would be hanging tight, gathering intel and reassessing. When additional members of the group return we would brief one another on whats taking place, and what type of situation we encountered on our route home (roads clear, calm or panic etc.). If the roads are clear, we would work together in fueling up the vehicles and gathering a few last minute supplies if needed. The team that is moving out would bring cash, cell and radio, have charted out course and have a firm plan of where to go, how to get there, alternate routes, etc. It would be important to stick together as much as possible.

Prior to heading out, members present would fill up bath tubs with water, secure any items that might create further problems, shut off the gas lines and finally close the valve on the water heater (again, storing water). Now that we are ready to move out, we would leave a note near the entry way stating who has checked in, what time they were last there, route traveling/final destination and time left. It might be wise to leave a first aid kit near the note.

Upon return, figure out who has made it back home, who is missing, brief one another on any developments and decide what the next move is.

[LRS143]

John W - Nice, that's what I was looking for.

Now somebody throw a wrench into John's plan of returning home...

[Kfgk14]

D.C. slides into the Atlantic during Obama's State of the Union address; the Postmaster General, who's pheasant hunting in SD at the time, becomes President.

The sun shines the next day, national debt begins to reverse itself, SEIU falls apart, as does ACORN (or whatever they call themselves now). Drug dealers & users turn into compost, the dog comes back home, the wife becomes sexy again, and Morning in America dawns once more.

Come onnnnnnnnnnnnnn... B-I-G 'un!!!

I don't see why the postmaster general becomes president, and why the leader of an unprofitable government organization would even be desirable as a president.

And while my wife is still a looker in my view, I'd be glad to have her 25 again

[LRS143]

Yeah, I don't think the postmaster general is in the line. I could be wrong, I guess that line is pretty long in the case that our gubmint is decapitated.

So... John W, your home and most of those around have been looted, vandalized, and made unlivable. Plus the power is still out upon your return and there is sustained civil unrest in your area.

It's easy to see something happening anywhere at anytime. Yesterday a railcar fire led to 10's of thousands being told to evaq the area. http://www.fox40.com/videobeta/?watc...4-c36db6c8d265

[Tortuga]

Any mods out there feel free to come on in and lock it up or delete it altogether.

It appears the bubble leveled out, so I plan on keeping this open.

If you don't like this sand box (thread), go find one another one to play in. Please don't piss in this sand box and ruin it for the folks making their sand castles here.

[Kfgk14]

Oh boy, sand castles! Look at mine!


I'm so proud of me

Anyway, I'm happy to say that unless the winds shift in a bad way and some hurricane comes tearing up the coast to dump radioactive rain on my parade, I'll survive reactor breakdown in Virginia. Now, if I lived 250 miles south of where I am now, I'd be worried...

[Norseman]

Cool thread OP, can really get people to thinking if it stays realistic, and I think JohnW was spot on with one of the comments he made: Intel is crucial at this point to make good decisions.

Now to throw a monkey at the wrench.

The Good-Most of your group has stuck to the plan and made it back home and are starting to put the other critical tasks into motion, while doing this you notice some first responder folks just up the road from you that have stopped to clear debris left by looters so they can get their vehicles thru and you quickly run over to get a sit rep and this is what they give you:

Nuke plant back-up generators have suffered catastrophic failure and power is still out. Reactor coolant is starting to rise.

Weather has started to shift wind directions bringing in potential rain storms further increasing the potential to turn airborne contamination into ground contamination and potentially effecting ground water supplies.

Emergency services are starting to be overwhelmed.

Chemical plant north of you location has suffered structural damage and is on fire. Fire department is on site but having a hard time contaning the fire.

Your wife has not made it home but was able to get ahold of you via secondary comms (insert your favorite choice for that here) and has advised you that she is approx. 6 miles away but her car has been disabled from trying to avoid someone almost hitting her in the process of getting home.

The chemical fire is directly between you and her.

Oh..........almost forgot, the looters stole you entire supply of TP.

[Nathan_Bell]

A couple things that the little quake brought to my mind. Extrapolating up to the OP's scenario.

Comms, if you do not have a non-cellphone telephone you will not be communicating using normal systems. Plain Jane landline phone, with a cord, should remain in your home.

So pre-planning is a requirement. If X happens meet at Y, don't call on the cellphone and discuss it after the impeller has been struck.

Reconsider your work to home route to avoid traffic signals as much as possible, as they will likely not have power and will possibly be a chokepoint.

A disaster, if in an area that normally does not have that type of activity at all, does not have to be at disaster level to cause a lot of grief. For example, an Eastern earthquake, a snowstorm in the South, a tornado in the NE, etc will make a much bigger impact than those events would in their normal striking areas.

[John W]

John W, your home and most of those around have been looted, vandalized, and made unlivable. Plus the power is still out upon your return and there is sustained civil unrest in your area.

I would only be leaving if other members met up at base which means I would be returning with one or more individuals.

First, park 1 vehicle with headlights towards house, and another one backed up towards the house. Both parked in front yard. With the house illuminated, everyone involved would grab some sort of tool (use your imagination or EDC) to help protect themselves. One person would climb on top of a vehicle to watch for incoming trouble while the rest would immediately scope out the internals of the dwelling making sure no unwanted critters were sticking around. Following up, 2 people would go next door to make sure our neighbors are ok and inquire as to what happend. The rest stay would stay put watching the property and begin making sense of whats left.

Upon a quick return, our group would continue having one stand watch over the vehicles while the rest move to quickly scavenge our belongings and see what we have left for dealing with the current scenario. Take inventory, load usable items into back of vehicles, reasses. [/QUOTE]

Cool thread OP, can really get people to thinking if it stays realistic, and I think JohnW was spot on with one of the comments he made: Intel is crucial at this point to make good decisions.

Now to throw a monkey at the wrench.

The Good-Most of your group has stuck to the plan and made it back home and are starting to put the other critical tasks into motion, while doing this you notice some first responder folks just up the road from you that have stopped to clear debris left by looters so they can get their vehicles thru and you quickly run over to get a sit rep and this is what they give you:

Nuke plant back-up generators have suffered catastrophic failure and power is still out. Reactor coolant is starting to rise.

Weather has started to shift wind directions bringing in potential rain storms further increasing the potential to turn airborne contamination into ground contamination and potentially effecting ground water supplies.

Emergency services are starting to be overwhelmed.

Chemical plant north of you location has suffered structural damage and is on fire. Fire department is on site but having a hard time contaning the fire.

Your wife has not made it home but was able to get ahold of you via secondary comms (insert your favorite choice for that here) and has advised you that she is approx. 6 miles away but her car has been disabled from trying to avoid someone almost hitting her in the process of getting home.

The chemical fire is directly between you and her.

Oh..........almost forgot, the looters stole you entire supply of TP.

Ouch, without TP we are in big trouble!

Thankfully the CERT team in the area had a good handle of the situation. Thank them for their intel and return to relay what is known to the group. With the following in mind;

• Vandalized/looted home
• Supplies loaded up in 2+ working vehicles
• Missing wife (6 miles away, on foot, between chem fire)
• Degrading weather
• Nuke plant falling apart

At this point, shelter in place seems like a bad idea due to the above factors. We need to move out of harms way, and do it quickly. Get on comms and reconnect with wife. Have her move in a safe direction into the wind in a direction west or east of blaze to meet up at a agreed upon rally point. This way she gets fresh air and the blaze is moving away from her while she is working her way out of trouble. She brings her go bag and begins to move. We figure that on foot she can be making about 15-20 per mile, that we expect to rally within an hour or less (3 miles outside of the chem disaster). While enroute we will be evaluating our situation and discussing intel being gathered from the radio waves.

Goal at this point is to retrieve remaining family member and begin working our way out towards a relative or safe destination and regroup.

--

Please feel free to break apart the above and give feedback. Also, would like to see someone else jump in and either take a stab at the scenario, or start a new scenario so that we can keep this going.