The DC Earthquake

I was in my cubicle at work in Washington, DC for the 5.8 magnitude earthquake today. The building started to shake a bit, like it does sometimes with construction on a floor above. Very quickly the shaking got a lot worse and dust started falling from ceiling tiles. A couple of the gals were under their desks just that fast. I work near the center of a massive government building, so seeing what was happening wasn’t an immediate option.

I thought it was either a (1) quake or (2) a nuke attack. I’ve been around mortars and bombs of various types and this lasted too long and was too strong to be anything like that. A nuke attack on the Pentagon or maybe the national mall would have been far enough away from my DC workplace that the concussion and shockwaves might feel like an earthquake, I guess.

Yeah, I’m paranoid like that. Whenever the electricity goes off and it’s not storming, I check electronic devices and look outside for lights/cars to see if it’s an EMP or not.

The shaking passed after about five seconds and a guy from California was saying it was just a quake, no big deal. I knew that was most likely correct, but… Tried calling my wife and got a recording saying service was temporarily interrupted. Not a warm fuzzy (everyone is fine).

About two minutes after, news reporting said it was an earthquake. A bit after that we were told to evacuate the building, so I bailed and headed home (which turned out to be very good timing, not long after that there was gridlock, but I missed it).

When I was almost home I filled up my truck. When I got home I checked for broken gas and water lines (none), and noted the electricity hadn’t gone off (no blinking clocks). I then started charging any rechargeable devices and some batteries, incase large aftershocks took down power.

My firearms, magazine, water, and food were already squared away, and the BoB is ready to go if needed. It’s good to be ready.

Why our civilization is fragile, Part 6

This post won’t follow the format of preceding posts on our civilization’s fragility in that it doesn’t present an academic work related to collapse. Instead it looks at how world events can begin overlap and affect multiple systems. Some events we’re all aware of:

• The overthrow of Egyptian dictator – and U.S. ally – Mubarak and the new government that will eventually take power calls into question the last few decades of peace between Arab nations and Israel. Any large-scale war in the Middle East is a very bad thing for the rest of the (oil consuming) world.
• The related Libyan uprising against the rule of Muammar Gaddafi has caused fuel prices in the U.S. and elsewhere to skyrocket, threatening the already fragile financial recovery. What’s surprising about this is the relatively small amount of oil Libya supplied (about 2%), especially for the U.S. market:
  

  [Libya] normally pumps around 1.6 million bpd, 85 percent of which is exported to Europe. Output is normally equivalent to about 2 percent of global consumption, and unrest has cut output to about 500,000 million bpd…

• The earthquake and tsunami in Japan have caused a generations crisis there that has endangered the financial solvency of Japan and sent shock waves into the global financial market:
  

  The global financial turmoil sparked by Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear crisis — which has wiped out about $300 billion in U.S. stock values alone this week — is particularly troubling for the United States and several other countries, where an economic recovery has been showing signs of derailing because political unrest in Libya and the Middle East has led to a sharp run-up in crude oil prices.

• Though not in the news lately, the European debt crisis is still there looming around the corner, waiting to come back.

As political upheaval and natural disasters disrupt energy and other supply lines, the effects are felt throughout other systems and across the world. The nuclear plants probably melting down in Japan may slow plans for new nuclear power plants in the U.S. As nuclear power is the only energy source that has any realistic potential for replacing fossil fuels in the long-run, this only makes an American collapse more likely.

The world is getting closer to the edge. Additional natural disasters, political upheaval, or conflicts in critical locations could be enough to push civilization as we know it over the edge. I won’t say “the end is near” because the end is always near. Times like these we can get a glimpse of how close it is.

Remember Katrina: Did North Carolina Break Federal Law by Banning Guns?

After reading (and re-reading) the laws, I think they did (but I’m no lawyer). Here’s what happened;

Residents in King were fumed over the weekend after a state of emergency declaration restricted the sale of alcohol and the carrying of firearms in vehicles.
[. . .]
The state of emergency for King was declared by members of the City Council after Stokes County authorities also declared a state of emergency.

Under North Carolina law, May said, when a state of emergency is put into place that includes a ban on driving, the carrying of firearms in vehicles is also banned. The King city curfew banned the sale of alcohol.
[. . .]
“By law, statute 14-288.7 automatically went into effect. And that law which goes into effect when there’s a state of emergency prohibits the transportation, purchase sale and possession of firearms other than on one’s own premises.” [bold mine]

Here is what North Carolina statue 14-288.7 actually says;

§ 14 288.7. Transporting dangerous weapon or substance during emergency; possessing off premises; exceptions.
(a) Except as otherwise provided in this section, it is unlawful for any person to transport or possess off his own premises any dangerous weapon or substance in any area:
(1) In which a declared state of emergency exists; or
(2) Within the immediate vicinity of which a riot is occurring.
(b) This section does not apply to persons exempted from the provisions of G.S. 14 269 with respect to any activities lawfully engaged in while carrying out their duties.
(c) Any person who violates any provision of this section is guilty of a Class 1 misdemeanor. (1969, c. 869, s. 1; 1993, c. 539, s. 192; 1994, Ex. Sess., c. 24, s. 14(c).)

This also happened after Hurricane Katrina in New Orleans;

After Hurricane Katrina, many New Orleans residents legally armed themselves to protect their lives and property from civil disorder. With no way to call for help, and police unable to respond, honest citizens were able to defend themselves and their neighbors against looters, arsonists and other criminals.

And Congress responded with the Disaster Recovery Personal Protection Act of 2006 (H.R. 5013 [109th]), which was signed into law in October 2006. The portion of the law to examine;

SEC. 706. FIREARMS POLICIES.

(a) Prohibition on Confiscation of Firearms- No officer or employee of the United States (including any member of the uniformed services), or person operating pursuant to or under color of Federal law, or receiving Federal funds, or under control of any Federal official, or providing services to such an officer, employee, or other person, while acting in support of relief from a major disaster or emergency, may–

(1) temporarily or permanently seize, or authorize seizure of, any firearm the possession of which is not prohibited under Federal, State, or local law, other than for forfeiture in compliance with Federal law or as evidence in a criminal investigation;

(2) require registration of any firearm for which registration is not required by Federal, State, or local law;

(3) prohibit possession of any firearm, or promulgate any rule, regulation, or order prohibiting possession of any firearm, in any place or by any person where such possession is not otherwise prohibited by Federal, State, or local law; or

(4) prohibit the carrying of firearms by any person otherwise authorized to carry firearms under Federal, State, or local law, solely because such person is operating under the direction, control, or supervision of a Federal agency in support of relief from the major disaster or emergency. [bold mine]

My reading is that, if the county that declared an emergency receives federal funds (and they all do), they cannot (jump to number 3) prohibit the possession of firearms unless it’s normally done so under federal, state, or local law. Since in the case of King, N.C., firearms being prohibited is NOT normal operating procedure, the state statue seems to be in violation of federal law.

The hole in this line of logic may be in the type of emergency, but the N.C. statute clearly runs opposite the spirit of the law as seen in the findings section of the federal law.

If I were a bad guy, the middle of a snow storm would be the perfect time to commit any number of crimes, with the authorities either unable to respond or taking care of other situations. But I’m a good guy, so that’s the time I’m most vigilant. Citizens have a right to defend themselves, and a snow storm does not negate that right.

Snow Panic in DC and the Benefits of Prepping

The record-breaking snowstorm in the DC area this weekend caused a rush on supermarkets and hardware stores on Thursday and Friday morning. WTOP radio traffic news reported many area supermarket parking lots full by 0600 (helicopter report). Probably some of this can be attributed tot the fact that it’s a Super Bowl weekend and shopping would have been impossible today for most people.

I did go to a local store to pick up some salsa for the weekend – a want rather than a need. While we don’t have buckets of wheat and other long-term food supplies, we do have enough food for a few weeks in our pantry.

Luckily our power didn’t go out as it did for about 225,000 in the region, but if it did we’d get along fine since we have a fireplace, a gas range and water heater (a hot shower will heat you up fast), a propane grill, a couple of camp stoves with fuel, and a large supple of candles, flashlights and batteries, and appropriate bedding and clothing. If we had to have some electricity, I could run a power cord in from one of our vehicles using a 400W inverter. Or we could just go someplace else in either of our 4WD vehicles if we needed to.

We don’t have a generator or the longer-term food supplies mentioned above, but we’re relatively very well prepared for being snowed in for a weekend or a few weeks. Thinking about preparing for TEOTWAWKI has the side benefit of making events like this mostly a non-issue.

Update: The federal government was closed Monday and will be closed Tuesday after this storm. Snow stopped falling by Saturday evening, yet much of the region is still snowed in, public transportation is not fully functional, and apparently government parking lots aren’t yet cleared. Even with all the advance warning, and panic, this is the result.

Update 2: Gotta love this intro paragraph – italics mine:

Washington (CNN) — Federal workers and schoolchildren in the nation’s capital were told to stay home for a second day Tuesday as another major snowstorm barreled toward the region, which is still reeling from a weekend blizzard.