"the police basically drew a circle around a certain area and let it burn itself out. What would you do if your house were in that area? That's not a rhetorical question. Think it through. What if the whole state were in that area?"

That's an interesting point. I was kinda' thinking about that this evening. What if a major city became a mega-disaster? A meltdown in the whole framework of society? What if there were also special problems, such as major fires burning out of control, or radiation released from a nuke plant. I doubt that first responders and humanitarian groups would want to venture into such a place. It might actually make sense for the authorities to form a cordon around the city, and provide assistance to those who were escaping the area.

It could be pretty messy inside the disaster zone, though. It would mean that no-one was coming with food, meds and water (unless they were air-dropped). That would force the remaining survivors to fight for limited resources. It's probably not the normal scenario for a disaster zone where people might try to cooperate, but is conceivable for a mega-disaster.

AND BY THE WAY ... here's one guy who seems to believe that my home town could become a mega-disaster. It's kinda weird when people keep talking about the place where you live in apocalyptic terms. Ha! Ha!!

http://www.utopiasprings.com/megaqke.htm

Pete #2