I work in New York City, in a part of Manhattan called "Chelsea" - it's about a mile south of Times Square, in the center of the island.

I can honestly say that, despite the attacks of 9/11, I feel safer in NYC that I do in Chicago, Los Angeles, Atlanta, London, Helsinki, Dallas, New Orleans, San Francisco, Boston, Philadelphia, Nicosia or any of the many other places I've been and worked since 9/11.

Why? Because I think that New York now has it's act together when it comes to emergency preparedness. I think that they do a good job of communicating and I think that as a city, New York is more "ready for anything" than most places.

A lot of it comes from having a LOT of money here, but some of it is just a certain attitude.

So...what do you think of the city/urban area where you live or work?

Where I live(and work for that matter) most people are pretty prepared to go a week or more w/out any outside assistance. Getting snowed in or not having power for a week and living at least 20 minutes from a store or gas station makes most people think ahead. I also know there are those who don't prepare because they could care less or they can't afford it...

Overall, I think living further away from a big city makes more people be prepared by the nature of their surroundings.

The last major disaster in my city was when the railway bridge collapsed during a winter storm. It gave rise to some pretty dreadful poetry by William Topaz McGonagall. Otherwise nothing really has happened since then.

The Tay Bridge Disaster

Beautiful Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay!
Alas! I am very sorry to say
That ninety lives have been taken away
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

'Twas about seven o'clock at night,
And the wind it blew with all its might,
And the rain came pouring down,
And the dark clouds seem'd to frown,
And the Demon of the air seem'd to say-
"I'll blow down the Bridge of Tay."

When the train left Edinburgh
The passengers' hearts were light and felt no sorrow,
But Boreas blew a terrific gale,
Which made their hearts for to quail,
And many of the passengers with fear did say-
"I hope God will send us safe across the Bridge of Tay."

But when the train came near to Wormit Bay,
Boreas he did loud and angry bray,
And shook the central girders of the Bridge of Tay
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

So the train sped on with all its might,
And Bonnie Dundee soon hove in sight,
And the passengers' hearts felt light,
Thinking they would enjoy themselves on the New Year,
With their friends at home they lov'd most dear,
And wish them all a happy New Year.

So the train mov'd slowly along the Bridge of Tay,
Until it was about midway,
Then the central girders with a crash gave way,
And down went the train and passengers into the Tay!
The Storm Fiend did loudly bray,
Because ninety lives had been taken away,
On the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

As soon as the catastrophe came to be known
The alarm from mouth to mouth was blown,
And the cry rang out all o'er the town,
Good Heavens! the Tay Bridge is blown down,
And a passenger train from Edinburgh,
Which fill'd all the peoples hearts with sorrow,
And made them for to turn pale,
Because none of the passengers were sav'd to tell the tale
How the disaster happen'd on the last Sabbath day of 1879,
Which will be remember'd for a very long time.

It must have been an awful sight,
To witness in the dusky moonlight,
While the Storm Fiend did laugh, and angry did bray,
Along the Railway Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
Oh! ill-fated Bridge of the Silv'ry Tay,
I must now conclude my lay
By telling the world fearlessly without the least dismay,
That your central girders would not have given way,
At least many sensible men do say,
Had they been supported on each side with buttresses,
At least many sensible men confesses,
For the stronger we our houses do build,
The less chance we have of being killed.

Interesting topic and I look forward to what others consider in responding.

I live in eastern Iowa and based on how the area around here handles our usual run ins with mother nature (tornados, blizzards, flood -especially last years), I would say we will do pretty well. Our services (police, fire etc.) are pretty good, people are pretty self sufficient and generally prepared but most importantly we have a lot of intangibles that roll up into a general will to overcome adversity. There have been way too many examples of communities coming together in trying times over the last year but it sure feels good to know that we can and have pulled together when it matters.

- Eric

Like Martin, I'm in NYC.

NYC sort of has their act together, and in general has for a long time. There may be "issues" getting a scene setup, but a lot of that is infighting. In the SHORT term (say less than 24 hours), it's very possible for the NYC pros to get overwhelmed by shear numbers (where else do you have to move a million people to get them home, even without an evacuation?)

Anyway, one interesting thing I've learned in living NYC my entire life, is that when the going gets tough, NYers, rough as our reputation, tend to band together to help one another. Someone will step up and try to direct traffic for a little while. Someone else will open a hose bib, or a fire hydrant so people can get water. During the 03 blackout, I don't thing I saw a car/truck moving that wasn't totally loaded with people trying to leave the city

Generally, within 12 hours or so, the city will have it's act together - The Red Cross and Salvation Army will be trying to do what they can (Hint, they rarely open shelters here - they use hotels!), information hotlines will be setup (I don't like Mayor Bloomberg, but 311 was a great idea)

That said, NYC disaster service are VERY Manhattan Centric (Just like all city services), with Downtown Brooklyn #2, and then it's a steep fall off after that - Most of Staten Island and Eastern Queens are on their own until the rest of the city is taken care of

Phoenix would fall apart. I think because most people here came from somewhere else, if that makes since. As such they have little commitment to staying if they have/had to. Heck it hits 110 degrees and the weathermen are telling people to go to San Diego. Phoenicians are ingrained to get the heck outta dodge and that makes a big mess.

Of course there is 5 million people in the Valley of the Sun, so my point is generalized, tens of thousands if not more are well prepared for anything.

I suppose the positive to a disaster happening here is that the city is an urban sprawl masterpiece. There is CVS, Walgreens, grocery store, megastore, on every street corner laid out in perfect 1 square mile grids. So no one is really more than 5 minutes away from getting last minute supplies if an emergency hit.

San Franciscans are DOOMED!

The state/city Emergency Services folks seem to be doing a decent job, but 90+% of the citizens of the Bay Area are still NOT prepared for an inevitable 7-day ordeal in the next decade or two which will likely to be the most costly and challenging "near term" natural disaster in US history...

Geez - the Tay River Bridge. Most folks over on this side of the Atlantic won't remember that one, unless they are engineers

LOL Are you saying that most folk on your side of the pond know were the Tay River is?

My BIG worry in NYC (besides being ground zero for 'man mad disasters') is what is called "The New York Bight Scenaro"

If you look at a topographic map of NYC, and particularly one with a fathom curve, you'll notice that we have a large area of fairly shallow water offshore, and we are right at a sharp bend in the coastline

If a major (or even not so major) hurricane came up the shore as struck in NY Harbor (or actually worse, the eye goes ashore with a glancing blow into NJ so the east wall of the eye is in NY Harbor), there would be a MASSIVE storm surge. NYC actually has some shoreline flooding during the monthly high tides if there is onshore wind. Large sections of lower Manhattan, Downtown Brooklyn, and the parts of Brooklyn and Queens on the south shore of Long Island are in serious risk of flooding in even a Cat 1 hurricane

The problem is, there are SO many people that have to be moved, that they will have to start early, and given human nature, and the facts that 1)It hasn't happened in a long time and 2)NYC probably has the least cars/capita of just about anywhere in the USA, it's going to be "fun". In addition, being that the evacuation would have to start 72 hours or so before expected landfall, the cone of uncertainty is large enough that Nassau and Suffolk counties to our east, and parts of NJ will be evacuating themselves (want some fun? Look at a cross section or good topo map of Long Island - basically, it's a line of hills on the North Shore (the Terminal morrain) and a runout to an aluvial plain of sand to the south shore - the south shore is FLAT)

I know that NYC figures that if they are going to get hit with a cat III, they have to evacuate slightly more than 2.3 MILLION people, and I thing Nassau and Suffolk will be evacuating something like 1.5 million people at the same time. Given that there are exactly 8 bridges/tunnels off this island, and only 4 of them DON'T go to Manhattan...

(That's why when I bought my house, I actually looked at evacuation maps, and Topo maps, and bought a house on one of the highest hills in the city - I figure if the storm surge hits 110ft, we've got other problems)