Installing an off-shore gas platform can be a tricky proposition. Things can go very wrong. That’s exactly what happened with this $40 million Iranian platform was being installed in the Persian Gulf. For as terrifying as the footage is, there were no reported casualties; looks like everyone knew how to swim. Still, that’s a lot of cash going down the drain, and boy does it ever look like $40 million worth of pure, unadulterated terror. [Reddit] More »
Imagine standing on the road one day and have a sinkhole swallow you whole. Or imagine sitting in your house and having a giant sinkhole vaporized your entire building. That’s what happened in China. Two buildings in Guangzhou, China tumbled straight into a giant sinkhole as the ground below them disappeared. Luckily, no one was hurt (though 300 residents had to be evacuated and some of them just lost their home) as construction workers noticed the ground was already seeping in. More »
A helicopter has crashed into a crane in Vauxhall, London, after it failed to see the structure due to thick fog. More »
The Coast Guard reports that an oil platform 17 miles southeast of Grand Isle, Louisiana owned by the Houston-based firm Black Elk Energy caught fire this morning. According to the latest report, Two crewmembers are dead, four are in critical condition, and the Coast Guard is still looking for two who are missing. A total of 11 crew were airlifted and are in medical care. While it’s impossible not to think immediately of 2010’s Deep Water Horizon disaster, it looks like this tragedy won’t lead to an environmental catastrophe. More »
Hurricane Sandy is coming quick, and you want to be ready. You’ve got all your gear, and now it’s time to batten down the hatches. But before you do that, there are five common hurricane myths you should know about. More »
Don’t break out your shotgun, gas mask, and emergency rations, but make sure you know where they are: it looks like an enormous chunk of the Internet in North America is dead. More »
Emergency services are embracing technology as new ways to investigate, send alerts and receive reports of crises. And now, the Japanese are looking at social networks to support communication in disaster scenarios, especially when traditional services fail. The local Fire and Disaster Management Agency put together a panel discussion on just that topic, with representatives attending from the likes of Twitter, Yahoo, Mixi and NHN Japan, as well as various government and emergency bodies. The talk was motivated, in part, by the March tsunami, when the internet was the sole means of information for some, and with initiatives like Google’s Person Finder playing a role in the aftermath. Any formal implementation of the ideas discussed is probably a long way off, and this is the first of three planned meets to hash it out. In the meantime, however, Twitter’s Japanese blog posted some suggestions on how their network could be used in emergencies — we just hope they won’t be needed anytime soon.
Filed under: Internet
Japan considers using social networks in disaster situations originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 30 Aug 2012 01:41:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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The tremors will probably still wake you up in the middle of the night, but falling asleep in an earthquake prone part of the world would be a little easier with this reinforced bed that can support up to 65 tons of debris. More »
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