Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

How to Escape a Sinking Ship

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

131–140 of 189 posts

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#131

Post by spideymans »

spicyramen wrote: post #96
smogcutter wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it. I learned this lesson on 9/11, as a high school student in lower Manhattan. We were told to sit in our homerooms and wait, while smoke (and god knows what else) enveloped the building. Eventually we were shuffled out of the building and told to keep going nor…

Having lived in Mexico City in the 80s till 2000s, there is 3 simple rules during earthquakes: don't run, don't yell, don't push. When you feel a strong one, the fourth rule is don't follow the first three and save your life. That saved mine in 1985

Why the rule against yelling?

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#132

Post by Kiro »

Taek wrote: post #124
Kiro wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They haven't beaten Covid. Their current curve is quickly approaching the spring numbers, expected to hit the February peak next week. https://www.npr.org/sections/coronavirus-live-updates/2020/1...

Deaths per million in Korea is a factor of 80 lower than in the US. Even if they return to previous highs they are way outperforming the US.

For sure but there's a common misconception bundling South Korea together with countries that have actually beaten it, like New Zealand and Vietnam. South Korea is doing great by any Western standard but they haven't beaten it, yet.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#133

Post by Aeolun »

secabeen wrote: post #13

Somewhat tongue in cheek, but still some good advice here: -- Know your surroundings, specifically where your exits are. The nearest exit may be behind you. -- Break the rules. Officials may try to deter you from using passages, ladders or stairwells. Ignore them. If you need to kick open a door or pick a lock, do it. -- Be where the well-connected people are, and look/act the part. Try to blend into the tribe, be a…

> They won't be able to do it if you still have your briefcase, or haven't taken off your shoes as requested.

I strongly believe the training to get the plane evacuated in 90 seconds includes a bunch of people doing exactly this.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#134

Post by nixass »

spideymans wrote: post #131
spicyramen wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in Mexico City in the 80s till 2000s, there is 3 simple rules during earthquakes: don't run, don't yell, don't push. When you feel a strong one, the fourth rule is don't follow the first three and save your life. That saved mine in 1985

Why the rule against yelling?

Spreading panic perhaps? Panic is not helping in situation like that. Never felt major earthquake but that's what I'd hate.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#135

Post by bhickey »

willyt wrote: post #119
orev wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In a situation like that, you only have a choice between really bad options. If everyone ran for the door, people would likely have been hurt or killed due to trampling. If everyone panics, you are guaranteed to have a bad outcome. In your case, staying in place might have allowed the dust to (literally) settle by the time you left the building. Obviously the people in the 2nd tower had a different outcome.

Yes. The worst civilian loss of life in Britain in WW2 was a crush that occurred at Bethnal Green station on a stairway down to an air raid shelter. A woman tripped and fell on the stair and people above carried on pushing to get down and the bodies piled up. 173 people died. There wasn’t even a stampede. I think that’s why we have the shelter in place rule for fires in the U.K. In more modern buildings there is a st…

> There wasn’t even a stampede.

Stampede is largely a misnomer. People die in crushes when the people in back don't know what's happening in front. This allows density increases until the people in the back become victims themselves.

During the Station Fire[0] there was a choke point at the front door. People fell on their way to the exit and other evacuating people, unaware of the situation tried to get out of the building. Few people knew about an exit near the point of ignition.

[0] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Station_nightclub_fire

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#136

Post by Aeolun »

spideymans wrote: post #131
spicyramen wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Having lived in Mexico City in the 80s till 2000s, there is 3 simple rules during earthquakes: don't run, don't yell, don't push. When you feel a strong one, the fourth rule is don't follow the first three and save your life. That saved mine in 1985

Why the rule against yelling?

Because it’s annoying if everyone starts yelling for minor earthquakes?

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#137

Post by jacquesm »

3pt14159 wrote: post #114
s5300 wrote: post #108

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, I grew up with a hobby that basically entailed... extreme hypervigilance, quick decision making, and leadership initiative. Seems to have ingrained itself deeply within me having participated in it somewhat religiously from 10-18. Sometimes I regret it a bit as it's made me pretty much always alert/hyperaware of my surroundings.

Haha, yeah I know what you mean. It also makes it hard to be a passenger in a car with an inattentive or distracted driver.

More than once I've asked someone to stop their vehicle so I could get out and arrange for an alternative transport. Either that or let me drive but no way I'm going to be a passenger in a car that has a driver that isn't on the job.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#138

Post by zaarn »

goodcanadian wrote: post #128
zaarn wrote: post #95

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can accept Planes instead of Ships, Mayday is a good show that guides on through the accident investigations of plane crashes (from a short video of the crash with details removed, through the investigation process and then finally a short section on the recommendations issued)

It is the same show, but it has different names: Air Crash Investigation Also (according to Wikipedia): Air Emergency (National Geographic Channel, U.S.) Air Disasters (Smithsonian Channel, U.S.) Mayday: Air Disaster (Weather Channel, U.S.)

My TV Organizer names it Mayday, hence I use that name.

Re: How to Escape a Sinking Ship

#139

Post by Radim »

Radim wrote: post #120
mauvehaus wrote: post #22

The Atlantic'a piece about the sinking of the ferry Estonia contains some interesting pieces of information for anybody who might like to survive a sinking in the future. It might also put you off getting on ships. https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2004/05/a-sea-s...

Chilling quote: > Thiger heard a clear comment from only one passenger, a man nearby, who joked, "Ha! Now we have sailed against an iceberg!" and took another gulp of beer. The singing continued unabated. Surely, this couldn't be happening to us !

I continued reading, what a rabbit hole. Apparently the cause of MS Estonia's sinking, as documented in that Atlantic article, is bogus.

New evidence points to a submarine collision and tampering of evidence in the initial 1994 investigation:

* https://news.err.ee/1140442/head-of-ms-estonia-investigation...

* https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/oct/04/maybe-now-well...

The whole shebang, with "crazy conspiracy theories", ridiculed for decades for claiming a hole in the hull and weapons transported onboard, now vindicated. What a mess.

Post reply on HN