[MN] The Big One

[Odinson]

This is an official MN Event for the United States of America. Players who are not directly mentioned are encouraged to reply.

It was 10:23 AM in Los Angeles, California. Arnie Woodworth, a lead scientist at the United States Geological Survey (USGS) was checking over past records after a report of some minor earthquakes along the San Andreas fault. He and his team had been monitoring both the San Andreas and Cascadia faults for about a week to monitor the (while minor) increased activity in the two faults. He was on the phone with the head of the USGS, Dr. Suzette M. Kimball who was currently at the White House in Washington. She had been on a tour with one of President Obama's staff when she got a call from Arnie, who was complaining about how outdated their computers were. Twenty seconds into the conversation, however, he stopped talking. One of the monitors at his desk had a long list of different USGS monitoring stations throughout California, specifically along the San Andreas fault line. One of the stations on the list was blinking: the Salton Sea. Then another started blinking red, Desert Hot Springs. Then another, and another, and another.

Scientific monitoring equipment in the USGS office began to screech and scream as it prematurely detected what was coming. Arnie put the phone close to his mouth, "Director Kimball, we're.. we're about to have an earthquake."
Dr. Kimball was currently standing in the East Wing of the White House when she heard it. Before she could speak, Arnie spoke again.
"Yeah, the San Andreas is going. We're about to have a major quake here, I... it's going to be bad, more than a 6. You need to tell the President, I gotta go." Arnie hung up the phone and called his team together. Director Kimball started running with the President's aide towards the West Wing, which was on the other side of the White House grounds.

Meanwhile, the earthquake began. The San Andreas fault was slipping as the USGS equipment had detected. It started near the Salton Sea and was rapidly moving north. At 10:25, people started to feel the trembles of the Earth. Then, the trembles became monstrous. In a matter of moments, thousands of car crashes happened throughout Los Angeles as people slammed on their breaks and tried to avoid one another one the road. Gas and water lines started to rupture and windows began shattering as the ground violently shook beneath the feat of over 15-million people. Within seconds, massive swaths of Los Angeles county were without electricity. People on the upper floors of the U.S. Bank Tower would, if they looked out of the windows, notice to their horror that the building was swaying back and forth as the building's dampers lessened the impact on the skyscraper.

LAX was turning into a nightmare. Four aircraft aborted landing while one Vietnamese A320-200 aircraft touched down and began skidding from left to right on the runway as it tried to slow down in the mist of the earthquake. The back landing gear, now seriously damaged, eventually failed. The jet slammed down onto its belly and skidded down the runway, sending sparks everywhere. One of the wings detached from the aircraft as it made its way down the runway, igniting a small fire that had the potential to become deadly. Meanwhile, hundreds of tons of interstate interloops began to crack, and eventually failed. Some motorists were crushed to death by falling concrete, while others fell to their deaths as concrete bridges crumbled. Some multi-million dollar homes in the Hollywood Hills and 90210 fell victim to landslides that swiped away entire buildings. Hundreds of buildings throughout Los Angeles county have either been seriously damaged, or have totally collapsed, killing most of their inhabitants and entombing some lucky survivors.

Across the city, gas, water, and sewer lines began to rupture as transformers that were still connected to a semi-active power grid began to explode. Several trains within the county derailed as they attempted to engage their emergency breaks. Thousands of small fires erupted around the county - most of which would probably go out on their own or be put out by people - but a very real threat would soon be the city burning to the ground. San Onofre Nuclear Power Station went into emergency shutdown which normally would have sent a large portion of the State into darkness, but that had already been done by the quake itself which was still shaking the ground throughout southern California. One of the more important fires was that of a natural gas facility/refinery west of Longbeach and north of the Port of Los Angeles. Not long after the earthquake, one of the facility administrators activated the building's alarm system to tell employees to evacuate. A massive explosion was imminent.

In the time it took Director Kimball to run from the East Wing to the West Wing of the White House, over one-thousand people were killed.

Televisions inside the West Wing started showing breaking news logos as NBC, ABC, CNN, FOX, and PBS began interrupting their normal broadcasting.

BREAKING NEWS

Director Kimball then, if allowed, rushed into the Oval Office and, after catching her breath, informed President Obama that there was an earthquake ongoing on Los Angeles. It took maybe ten minutes for the DowJones to begin to slip. Within twenty minutes, it was in a freefall towards -3%.

::::::::::

Phone calls to and from Los Angeles on landlines or cellphones was now a virtual impossibility as cell towers were jammed by literally millions of people trying to call and text at the same time. Thousands fiberoptic and communications lines were destroyed from the earthquake, meaning that it would be virtually impossible for anyone outside of the higher-ups of the government and military to get in touch with anyone in Los Angeles county. A number of officials, such as the mayor of Los Angeles and the leaders of first-responders were not injured, but the same could not be said for California Governor Jerry Brown who fell down a flight of stares during the earthquake. Luckily, the only injury he had was a broken arm at the moment. As of now, the White House is not fully aware of the damage that has been done (and is still being done) to Los Angeles county, or the extent of the damage to basic utilities.

Nearly 20-million people are now without electricity, communications, drinking water, or a functioning sewer system. Gas lines around the city have been broken, leading to a powerful explosion being heard in the distance every few minutes. Some five-thousand people are now either hurt or fatally injured throughout the city.

@John

 

[John]

After Director Kimball barged her way into the Oval officer, where President Obama was sat with his National Security Advisor, Thomas Donilon. They were in the middle of a conversation, but would abruptly stop when the director forces her way into the room. "Sorry to barge in sir...but there's a situation in California, they're current-" she'd be cut off as the Presidents phone rang on his desk. He stood up, and walked towards his desk. Picking up the phone, he'd place it to his ear. "Hello, Obama speaking." On the other end of the phone would be Dianne Feinstein, the Senator from California. She'd fill him in on the details before Kimball had a chance to, since California was her home of course. He'd put the phone down, and without uttering a word, he'd pick it back up again and place a call to the Secretary of Homeland Security, Janet Napolitano. He'd sit down in his chair and begin discussing the situation. He'd soon come off the phone, after about a minute or two, and looked at the two in the room. "It looks like the earthquake has stopped, plans are being made now to respond the situation"

---

The Earthquake had indeed stopped, as most earthquakes last between ten and thirty seconds. However, minor aftershocks could still be felt around the faultline. The centre of the earthquake would, of course be LA, as stated by Odin. Luckily, due to the high possibility of earthquakes happening around LA, the majority of Fire stations in LA have a system, than once it detects an earthquake, the overhead doors are opened in the event the earthquake causes a power outage. Before long, the ground would stop shaking and multiple engines, trucks and rescue trucks would be out on the streets of LA, lights and sirens blaring out. They would of course each have their own zones to deal with and would try to prioritise the worse effected areas of the zones i.e the main roads, large buildings that have been damaged etc. There would also be a large number of BLS and ALS ambulances out to support the fire crews in their attempts to rescue and aid people. A large number of LAPD officers would also be out on the streets attempting to help people to navigate out of the worst effected areas. The CA-TF1 or Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 1 would also be deployed, in full gear with medical supplies and rescue dogs. Whilst some of them would aid the LAFD in helping with civilians, quite a large detachment would head to the: Rose Bowl, Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum and Dignity Health Sports Park. Dodger Stadium would have been the priority third choice, but it was damaged in the Initial Earthquake.

At the stadiums, the rescue workers would set up a water station, food station and a blanket station, whilst an authorised text would be sent out Via the Commercial Mobile Alert System, which overrides all calls and texts being used. It'd read: "ALL CIVILIANS IN THE LOS ANGELES AREA, IF YOU ARE NOT ABLE TO EVACUATE THE WORST AFFECTED ZONE, PLEASE HEAD TO: ROSE BOWL, LA MEMORIAL COLISEUM AND DIGNITY HEALTH SPORTS PARK" Meanwhile, FEMA with the aid of the USAF in Travis Air Force base would begin to load pallets of supplies and equipment onto eight of the C-17s from the 21st Airlift Squadron. There would be eighteen pallets loaded onto each and before long, they were fully fuelled and taking off to head to LA to paradrop the supplies around the stadiums.

At LAX, crash tenders would speed out of their housing as they rush towards the downed A320. Upon arrival, they would instantly begin to squirt any fire with foam in order to put them out, whilst some fire fighters begin escorting people from the aircraft and too safety.[/b][/i][/hr]

 

[Lavenderdame]

The South African Consulate in Los Angeles would be hit hard from the earthquake as the power and city water shut off in the building. Everyone was fine, shaken perhaps, but none injured. Except James Ngidi, a young aide who was balancing his chair on two legs just before the earthquake hit. At the direction of the mobile alert system, the Consul's staff would pack up their personal identifying documents and any essentials they can carry and make the jouney together to the Rose Bowl.

Hurrying through the packed streets, following the flow of the crowd as they made their way. Although they had all been fortunate enough to survive the initial earthquake, the journey towards the stadium would prove arduous. Explosions around the city flared, sending debris up into the air and raining down on the Consul's party. As the consul covers some members with his arms to shield them from the detritus, he is struck on the back of the head with a heavy piece of concrete.

Bleeding and barely breathing, the consul wakes up inside the relative safety of the Rose Bowl. He spits up blood onto the turf field and looks around at the huddled masses who have managed to make it inside. "Thank God, I am still breathing," he says hoarsely, "Thank God."

Members of the staff would try to contact officials at the stadium to send word to Pretoria that they are bruised and battered but alive.

 

[NagandEmerald]

Much like the South African consulate, the German consulate-general in Los Angeles was also hit hard. Several members of the delegation were injured by shattered windows and from falling among many cluttered objects such as desks and the like; mainly scrapes and scratches for the latter, and several deep cuts from those who were near windows. As sirens blared in the distance, the consulate staff did what they could to make their way to the stadium after the first quake had stopped. The consul, upon arriving, would see the human suffering at what was arguably its worst for the first time in her life. Upon taking a seat with his staff, she began to shake uncontrollably as her mind tried to process what just happened: an earthquake of massive proportions, screaming, running around, hit and cut by glass shards from shattering windows...it was a catastrophe and a half, and she couldn't really do anything to stop it. She shut down emotionally and mentally from her compatriots as she was surrounded by the massive suffering.

 

[Odinson]

Immediately following the earthquake, the skyscrapers in downtown Los Angeles began to empty, along with other businesses, as hundreds of thousands of parents began trying to get from their jobs to their children's schools. Reports of the destruction across the city were transmitted via radio - which was now the only viable form of communication in the metropolitan area. Combined with the accidents that happened during the quake and the collapse of interstate bridges and off-ramps, traffic was horrid throughout the area. Eventually, some people who were stranded in the middle of multiple lanes of dead-stop traffic had no choice but to abandon their cars as some started to run out of gas, or others were desperate to check on loved ones. Several aftershocks were felt, the first being the most powerful, which managed to do some more damage to the city. Most significantly, however, the first aftershock put the nail in the coffin for the natural gas facility near the Port of Los Angeles.

By now, most of the personnel had evacuated or were still seen running for their lives after being told that a major failure within the plant was imminent. During the second earthquake, a spark somewhere in the facility ignited natural gas leaking from a broken pipe. The explosion was so massive that the fireball from it was brighter than the sun itself for about half a minute. Over one-hundred buildings in the Lower Westside were ingulfed in fire while hundreds more had their windows blown in as a shockwave rushed over the area. The fireball could easily be seen from Long Beach - the shockwave was actually strong enough to knock people over. Some people in downtown LA mistook the explosion for another aftershock.

The LAPD, LAFD, and the special response units deployed into the city soon found themselves overwhelmed with the number of injured, trapped, and distressed people now roaming throughout the city. Not to mention, the traffic for firetrucks and ambulances was ungodly. The number of aircraft circling LAX continued to increase as they awaited instructions from the tower which had temporarily grounded all landings and take-offs. The Vietnamese Vietnamese A320-200 had finally come to a halt on the runway. However, a fire had started from the jet fuel that was flowing out of the damaged wings. The pilot had activated the emergency exits and many people had escaped, but fire was already beginning to ingulf part of the aircraft.

Looting began in south-central Los Angeles as some people began to attempt to take advantage of the chaos. Gunshots could be heard as some shop owners tried to defend their property while others tried to steal it. Power was now out for virtually everywhere for the Los Angeles metropolitan area, along with water and sewer.

Information trickling into the White House came in part from secure and reputable sources in the government and Los Angeles County, while other information came in from the press. The entire country was now watching Los Angeles begin to burn along with pictures of people helping their countrymen from rubble and also the insane traffic that now had the city at a virtual stand-still. Video also came in the of the natural gas facility explosion. Chaos was beginning to envelop the city - which is partially expected - but it was nonetheless difficult to witness. First responders had trouble travelling far from their bases of operation, but were nonetheless doing their best. Communications that the White House got from the city of Los Angeles itself were pretty clear: "We need help."

Civilians slowly began trickling in to the places highlighted by the emergency text alert. Slowly, as the hours went by, peoples' phones would begin to die. The vast majority of people had no way to charge them.

@John
@HeadlessSeeker

 

[Moe]

With only a small Embassy in Washington DC, and with our current Foreign Minister in D.C. with his staff of six, they would privately ask the Deputy Secretary of State, William Burns, if there is somewhere the Brazilian diplomats can stay inside the Harry S Truman Building? The bodyguards would also spring into action.


"Annything you need my men to do, they are of your service,"

 

[John]

After a little while, support had began to pour into LA from the surrounding areas. Those areas in the Los Angeles county would that had been the least affected would triage their equipment. Utilising those that they needed within their areas, and would then deploy the remainder of those towards the City of Los Angeles. Cal Fire would also be one of the first agencies to respond, allowing the deployment of twenty three of their Smeal Type-1 Municipal Engines towards the city of L.A.

The FEMA deployment - via the Urban Search and Rescue California Task Force 1 would have began to set up mini cities on the inside and outsides of the stadiums. Complete with medical tents and sleeping areas for those escaping the chaos, great care would be taken to triage those who are at most risk. Direct underground powerlines would begin to come back online as power would be rerouted. They would only be directed towards the most needed areas. I/E the stadiums and hospitals. Firefighters would also begin setting up triage centres in schools and colleges to help ease the load off the hospitals and stadiums. After this had been undertaken, the city would come to a standstill for about thirty seconds as the fireball from the Natural Gas Facility erupts into the air. Soon, calls would go out on the emergency services airwave radio about the situation that has just happened. Soon after, Tanker 910 of Cal Fire would be deployed from Sacramento McClellan Airport, with 12,000 gallons of fire retardent in its underbelly, it would be known that the fire retardant would pose to flood etc, but it would be less risk than letting the fires burn, the DC-10s mission would mainly be the area of the Natural Gas Plant, meanwhile the LACFD would deploy Copters 15, 16 and 17. Each would be S-70A Firehawks with 1,000 gallons of water in their underbellies to fight the building fires around the Natural Gas Plant. Those of the LAFD near the area of the explosion would reroute their Triple Combination Engines, along with Water Tenders and Ladder trucks towards the areas of the fires. Some sixteen Triple Combination Engines, eight tenders and twelve trucks would be able to respond within a couple of minutes, although it would be difficult for them to get there. Luckily enough for the fire fighters, their ear protectors had helped them at the best of times against the explosions, although ears would still be ringing. As stated in the previous post, fire fighters would already be tackling the blaze of the A320 that crash landed and escorting those who had evacuated the plane safely, although it would be too later for twenty three passengers, two cabin crew and the co-pilot. Who would have all been burnt to a crisp as the cabin caught on fire.

Those aircraft circling LAX would be diverted to the following airports: San Diego International Airport and San Jose International Airport. The LAPD would be doing their absolute best during all of the chaos, whilst most of their officers would be out attempting to aid people evacuate and help search for those missing, another large amount of officers would be attempting to stop crimes being committed.

The USS Theodore Roosevelt out of San Diego would now be deployed towards LA, with its full crew of over 5,000 sailors and airmen, rather than aircraft however. The hangers would be filled with supplies such as food, water, blankets and medicine. They were instructed to head direct to LA in order to provide as much relief as they could. Out of Camp Pendelton, the 1st Medical Battalion, 1st Marine Logistics Group and 2,000 personnel of the 7th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division would depart towards LA and the surrounding areas in order to support the LAFD and LAPD

 

[JamieA]

With the current ongojngs within Los Angeles, the Canadian Government has vowed to help the American Government in any shape or form. Civilians in Canada has already begun bringing supplies to centres for the shipments to be sent off to America

 

[HeadlessSeeker]

The crew of the Vietnamese A320-200 would start emergency procedures doing their job to help fire fighters get people off the burning aircraft. Panicked passengers would be told to in a orderly fashion exit through the emergency exits and follow the now arrived fire fighters to a safe area. People that tried to hold up the exit by grabbing their belongings from overheads would be told to move on. The crew doing their best to save people on their end would gradually get more and more people out of the aircraft. The captain stayed at his post to try and help people get out as passengers streamed out of the aircraft following the emergency procedures that had been gone over at the start of the flight. The crew would try and assist people who were panicking with their seat belts and seemingly stuck. With the help of the firefighters who tried to suppress the flames they would evacuate the aircraft and only then would the crew leave their posts once all passengers had exited. On the way out they would check the restroom and do one final look before they themselves exited the burning aircraft. After that they would follow the instructions of the firefighters who were on the scene. The Captain of the aircraft would instruct a head count just to make sure everyone was accounted for once they were at a safe distance.

@John @Odinson

 

[Odinson]

With the shutdown of the nearby nuclear power station, most of the county and a reasonable portion of coastal California remained in the dark. Firefighters would begin to combat buildings that had been set ablaze by broken gas pipes or as an indirect consequence of the earthquake itself, though they had a long road ahead of them. Unfortunately, however, water pressure at fire-hydrants was low because of hundreds or possibly thousands of broken pipes. Thousands of people were streaming towards the stadiums. Meanwhile, in other parts of the city, reports began trickling in that hundreds of people were starting to loot. It wasn't long until shop owners and gangs - or lone criminals - were getting into shootouts. In some of the less fortunate parts of the city, the LAPD found themselves in what felt more like a warzone.

More terrifying than the looting done by average criminals, though, were the large-scale riots that were beginning to take place in and around grocery stores and local markets. Law-abiding civilians were rushing into the stores, trying to hoard and leave with as much food as possible. Videos spread of hundreds of civilians fighting over everything from raw steaks to bags of marshmallows.

The firefighters who arrived to and around the area of the explosion of the natural gas power station found an immediate area that was burnt black, followed by hundreds of small businesses to the north that were ablaze, and dozens of cars that were filled with people who had been roasted to death (luckily in just a matter of seconds). The natural gas facility itself was still burning, and there were a few secondary and tertiary explosions, but none of them were as large as the first. The response by the helicopters, the DC-10, and other fire services appeared to be making the blaze go down.

As the USS Theodore Roosevelt approached Los Angeles, they would see a smoldering, crumbling city that had little power. At this point, literally millions of people were trying to leave the Los Angeles metropolitan area by any means. The roads were absolutely clogged, the airports were closed, and the train stations were absolutely packed. Thousands, at this point, resorted to walking or cramming onto public transport to leave the city for neighboring communities or to head for other cities like San Diego which still had power and weren't really damaged by the quake.

The full-fledged response by the firefighters allowed the city to begin working on containing the blazes throughout the city. As it stands, the fire at the natural gas power station and the businesses to the north are about 10% contained and improving. In general, the fires around the city could arguably at 5-10% containment, but the fires were still spreading somewhat faster than they were being put out. The looting of stores and rioting outside of markets were largely unchecked and were bringing parts of the city into total anarchy. By now, most people's phones were dead, and the emergency batteries at the cell towers that still remained were beginning to die. Radio communication remained the best form of communication for emergency and government personnel. Thousands of people continued to pour towards the stadiums as designated by the government.

@John

 

[John]

By now, the marines dispatched from Pendelton would arrive in the city of LA and begin to disperse amongst the populace. Some three thousand marines would now be amongst the city, one thousand of them being medical and rescue personnel. Five hundred of them would divide amongst the stadiums whilst the other five hundred would begin helping the LAPD and LAFD in the rescue of the population from rubble and hard to reach areas. Whilst the remainder of the marines, two thousand infantry, would head mainly towards the less fortunate areas where the riots for food and supplies were taking place. Each marine would be armed with their M4A1 or the M16A4. However, this would be on the sling on their shoulder, the majority of the marines would be carrying either long or short riot shields and be dawning some riot gear over their combat clothing, including helmets with visors, fireproof leg protectors and kevlar gloves. Each would also be armed with a baton. Whilst this was for the majority, some would also be carrying either Benelli M4s loaded with bean bag rounds, Milkor MGL MAR loaded with tear gas canisters and FN303s with impact rounds. The marines, however, would hope not to push the riots further and would slowly approach rather than charging in with shields raised. No rounds would be fired just yet however. With each unit of marines approaching rioters, an officer or NCO with a microphone would be shouting out for rioters to return home if their home is not affected or to seek any other shelter, and that the marines are here to give care if need be.

Meanwhile, in the stadiums, the FEMA rescue units had been given enough time to basically set up small cities inside and on the outskirts of the stadiums, multiple tents with sleeping quarters would be erected along with a medical tent and a food bank to keep people fed, with the steady stream of people arriving, the FEMA agents would be doing their best to accomodate everyone. Handing out sleeping bags to those who can't be assigned a tent etc. The officials from other countries who also had arrived would be tole, quite clearly, that they were to be treated like everyone else as in this situation no one recieves special care.

As the USS Theodore Roosevelt docks and begins unloading supplies, hundreds of sailors would also leave the ship to be able to hand out supplies to those arriving at the docks. As the hangers begin to empty, sailors onboard who were free would begin setting up beds and the doors would begin to open to accept anyone seeking refuge from the situation.

 

[Odinson]

The presence of armed United States Marines were comforting to some and exceptionally intimidating to others, especially those who were looting or rioting. As the Marines arrived in one area, the vast majority of those involved in the looting dispersed, however two regiments of 2000 armed Marines would only be able to cover so much ground at once.

The stadiums were beginning to fill to capacity as citizens continued to stream to them. The presence of the armed forces and FEMA were an incredible help to Los Angeles County officials, though there was still work to be done. Namely, millions of people were still without fresh drinking water or operating sewage systems. Many have resorted to boiling water, while store shelves that haven't been looted have had water bottles bought away.

Fires continued to burn across the city but the blazes were slowly being contained by local and national officials.

:::::::::::

At one of the White House Press Briefings, among the questions about the aftermath of the earthquake, some reporters asked if the deployment of federal troops for riot control was in violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, and if it was President Obama who ordered the deployment.

@John