Re: Major Power Outage

[Aaron Read <aread@speakeasy.net>]

At 12:17 PM 8/18/2003, Kevin Vahey wrote:
>I really question EAS's role anymore  yes for severe weather it is useful 
>but it wasn't used on 9/11.


I think a lot of people are starting to question EAS, which is a good 
thing.  People are realizing that the system has serious flaws but also is 
dramatically underused.  There's a lot of potential for EAS but it needs a 
serious re-thinking in how it's to be used if it'll ever be truly effective.

EAS also wasn't used on 9/11 for some very good reasons.  Not the least of 
which was that there was no action for the American public to 
take.  Traditional media was doing a fine job getting the info out about 
what was happening but there was nothing for Joe Average to actually 
do.   In fact, the blackout was a better candidate for EAS National as it 
affected a huge area of the country (and more than just the blacked out 
areas) and there were things that people needed to do.  Such as turn off 
all their appliances in anticipation of power slowly coming back on (and 
thus reducing initial load) etc etc etc.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aaron "Bishop" Read             aread@speakeasy.net
FriedBagels Consulting          AOL-IM: readaaron
http://www.friedbagels.com      Boston, MA