Were people that naive back then and the writers exposed the dangers of doing this? Or was it just written for pure entertainment? I'm guessing many people in the audience thought it was stupid well before the aftershock came.
It is mentioned, following the aftershock, that the "Wilson Plaza" was built only 4 years earlier and was thought to be "earthquake proof." This info is provided on the radio as Graff and Lew are shuttling injured in Graff's super, transmission modified Chevy 4x4. I think you're instinct is right... entertainment value, and who needs logic when entertained?
Open the pod bay doors, Hal.
People believe that bomb shelters and those buildings certified as "earthquake safe" can survive anything. I would be out in the middle away from anything that could fall. That doesn't help if a fissure opens up beneath you. Funny thing is that the majority of buildings not earthquake safe were knocked down and the wrecking balls bounced off a lot of them many times before making a dent in the walls. Mother Nature has the final say if something is safe or not. When the big one hits if it does people will be running/crawling for their lives.
Funny thing is that the majority of buildings not earthquake safe were knocked down and the wrecking balls bounced off a lot of them many times before making a dent in the walls.
No I don't think audiences back in the seventies were that naive back then. I have no doubt there were many who wondered why an emergency relief station would be established below a damaged building after a massive quake. However disaster relief and emergency response is something that is partially based on experience. We all now know what really happens when a massive skyscraper crashed to the ground thanks to 9/11 and mass media. However there were some practices in place that have changed since 9/11 because they were part of the problem on that day. The big one is that fire and police were on different radios and couldn't talk to one another. I've been a police officer for fifteen years and I've experienced some serious changes since that day.
I recall reading about a sniper in downtown New Orleans in 1973. He was on the roof of a Howard Johnsons and killed several people and also set a few fires in the hotel. Guess where the New Orleans PD set up it's command center. In the lobby of the hotel - while the suspect was in the building killing people! The Navy helicopter pilot (the NPD needed air support and they had none back in 1973 so the military was called on) had to run across the street that the sniper had covered in order to meet with the chief of police. Nowdays a command post would be nowhere near that building, but it seemed to make sense at the time. One of the biggest events that started the police SWAT was Charles Whitman in 1966 when he shot all those people from the top of the tower in downtown Austin, TX. The local cops simply had no effective tactical way to respond to the situation. SWAT came about becasue of Austin and NEw Orleans and other crazy situations that arose in the late sixties and seventies.
We simply can't forsee everything that might occurr during a disaster. It's impossible, but for those who hate the government it makes for an easy gripe.
They couldn't resist the hot coffee and sandwiches on shopping levels 2 and 3.
shareThe film is timeless; it's not due to "back then". 1970's was not different regarding building structure, or people being naive about how to escape a fire. At least we knew the definition of "naive" back then
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Mmmmmm, now where can we put all homeless and the injured people. How about in the basement of that big building over there, the one with all the cracks all over it, that looks safe enough even if we do have aftershocks! LMAO my ribs.
No, it was ridiculous.
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