Second-hand bookstores in Australia (East Coast Cairns-Syd..

On Wed, 07 Nov 2007 16:24:17 +1100, Alan S <nothere DeleteThis @there.com>
wrote in <7oi2j3h6cm9c12agi8gi6hcdkli4rccs0m DeleteThis @4ax.com> :

>On Tue, 06 Nov 2007 23:15:47 GMT, kangaroo16
><kangaroo16 DeleteThis @invalid.com> wrote:
>
>>You are right, of course! Boxing day would be better than
>>Christmas Day, actually. Although most Darwin residents
>>weren't very prepared for Cyclone Tracy on Christmas Eve in 1974.
>>
>>From memory, reports said that only about 1 in 50 cyclones would
>>normal present a problem, so it seems likely that most people
>>ignored the warnings.
>>
>>One thing that surprised me a bit was that it took so long to get
>>the word out. After all, Darwin had a couple of military bases
>>and was the site of a major transmitter for Radio Australia, yet
>>it took hours for the news to get out. Wife & I were in Sydney
>>at the time, and from memory wasn't on the news there until
>>around 8:30 AM. Found out later that the first one to break the
>>news was a radio amateur who managed to get some emergency
>>power for his short wave transmitter.
>>
>>For those who are unfamiliar with the damage it caused, about
>>70% of Darwin was destroyed. The highest wind speed recorded was
>>217 KPH [ almost 135 MPH] before the anemometer blew away. I had
>>spent several weeks in Darwin decades before, so could why it did
>>so much damage to houses. Most were built on posts about 10 feet
>>off the ground, partly for termite protection, partly to escape
>>the heat. Bathroom, toilet, and laundry were usually at ground
>>level, and it was a handy place to park the car out of the sun.
>>Some of the pictures reminded me of pictures of Hiroshima after
>>the A-bomb.
>
>I was the junior member of the RAAF radio/navaids damage
>assessment team, flown in on a herc on 6th Jan.

A RAAF Hercules is equivalent to a USAF C-130 from memory.

It must have been a bit of a shock if you had seen Darwin before.
The site I quoted said 70% of city destroyed, but a site I ran
across later claimed 90%.

An immigrant mate was up there at the time, and he said that
cyclone Tracy was the worst he had ever seen. Come to think of
it, he was the one who told me that the warnings were largely
disregarded, even up to a few minutes before the cyclone hit.

To be fair, of course, when people have a Christmas Eve bash on
they aren't likely to be listening to the radio or watching T.V.
I saw an item recently where some areas in the US now have a
system where authorities have a system that will ring
progressively dial every phone in a particular answer where the
phone rings until someone answers it, and when they do, they get
an recorded emergency alert message. Doesn't sound like a bad
system actually.

For a few decades now, in the US, can get a weather, or other,
emergency alert radio active 24/7. On squelch, remains silent
if nothing coming through. More info at
http://www.weather.gov/nwr/

No doubt a good system, especially in a densely populated area,
but I doubt that many Americans have one. Possibly in Midwest
tornado areas where a twister can strike at short notice.

Still, the cheapest model used to sell for around $US 120, so I
can't see most Americans having one. Especially when most don't
bother to buy $6 smoke detectors, $15 for an earth fault detector
for safe use of power tools, etc.

Would cost the Gov't here a fair bit to set up such a system.
However, there would be few families without one or mobile
phones, and wouldn't take much to set this up.

In one sense it would be the reverse of the emergency phone
system here where can reach the "000" emergency number for
police, fire, or ambulance on any working phone. For no charge
from any pay phone, or even an old prepaid mobile with no credit
on it. Have heard of hikers and others buying a second-hand one
for $5 or $10, which is pretty cheap insurance, actually.

Anyway, my mate said it was a pretty scary situation in Darwin.
Apparently many sought shelter in ground level concrete bathroom,
toilet or laundry while their house disintegrated.

After the cyclone, no mains electricity, no mains water, no phone
service, etc.

>Stayed a week in the old Waaf's quarters. The place was
>flattened, particularly the Nightcliffs/Casuarina area.
>
>One thing I will never forget. The Waafs had planned a
>Christmas party that included about thirty Kilos of king
>prawns. They stored them in the fridge, power went off
>during the blow, and I was the first to open that fridge two
>weeks later. That scent was indescribable.

Having once sniffed a few prawns which had gone off in
a faulty fridge in 2 or 3 days, I can easily believe that 30 kg
of prawns after a fortnight in the tropics would have a truly
indescribable scent!

By that time it should have been diffusing through the door
gaskets and the fridge insulation, I can easily believe that the
scent was indescribable. I doubt if they looked very good
either.

I have to ask, though, what prompted you to open the door?

Although I suppose you had to, as some kid or even an adult had
sought shelter in it.

It must have been a hell of a job to dispose of all the rotting
food, actually. Was it buried, burned, or dumped at sea?

Actually, I would find it hard to imagine the problems of a
disaster of that magnitude. Only a military response could have
coped with it. Alan Stratton did a terrific job. There would be
looters, injured people, spoiled food, wreckage to clear up, and
so on.

If you were there for more than a few days, you certainly earned
your service pay! I would have had trouble coping with something
like that even when I was young.

Still, the Australian response was nothing short of magnificent.
Even the military probably wouldn't have enough aircraft to get
the women and children out, and it must have required a lot of
organization even to get the use of civilian airliners. Even
providing food, water, and emergency power must have been a very
difficult task, although, from memory, it didn't take all that
long to do it.

No idea how many people were injured, but I think it would have
been a large strain on the limited number of capital city
hospitals.

I suspect that Australia would be one of the best countries in
the world to survive a major disaster. Fortunately, Australians
tend to be a pretty helpful mob!

Possibly because most of them look upon someone needing help and
think "There, but the Grace of God, go I". Personally, have
never been in any other country where people were so friendly and
helpful.

Most countries are massively overcrowded, and depend on
infrastructure and imports to even survive. Even in an extreme
disaster, such as nuclear war, or drastic climatic change,
Australia would offer more hope of individual survival than any
other country I can think of.

Not only does the domesticated livestock vastly outnumber the
population, but there are probably ten times as many kangaroos
than people. 'Roos are a superior meat to beef in some ways.


Despite our age difference, am pretty confident that I wouldn't
go hungry here. I do have a few survival skills....

If we were surviving together, would be happy to share them with
you.

Nice chatting with you, even by Usenet.

Cheers,
Kangaroo16
>
>
>Cheers, Alan, Australia
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