Propose a reliable method of evacuating Manhattan in 24 hours

[ybbor]

Inspired by Narz's comment in the "end to poverty thread"

if you had some degree of control over the people of Manhattan, and there was a hurricane/missle/swarm of giant radioactive moneky's headed straight for Manhattan pop. 1,537,195, do you think it would be possible to get everypne out of there in 24 hours? How?

 

[blackheart]

Swim . You aren't going to get everyone out in 24 hours unless it was a forced evacuation orchestrated by the military with eveyrone walking single-line on the bridges or via airlift, of course there wouldn't be enough planes.

 

[Mountain-God]

Easy.

Impose martial law.
Constant curfew.
Military cordon. exterior and interior.
Evacuate block by block.
Everyone out via subway and organised bus convoys.

The issue is to make publicise the shooting of curfew and cordon violation so everyone knows they have a better chance of survival by waiting for their evacuation.

There's plenty of infrastructure combined with convoys.

Anyone can go without a little food for 24 hours.

Emergency medical care is still available.

 

[The Yankee]

Well, that'd be great. But I would assume if something were to hit Manhattan, you'd want to evacuate Brooklyn and Queens as well (maybe even the rest of Long Island) and the Bronx to the north. So, that'd be quite difficult to deal with. I don't know right this moment, to be honest.

 

[Mountain-God]

Well, that'd be great. But I would assume if something were to hit Manhattan, you'd want to evacuate Brooklyn and Queens as well (maybe even the rest of Long Island) and the Bronx to the north. So, that'd be quite difficult to deal with. I don't know right this moment, to be honest.

A few hours to bulldoze and extra airport

 

[Yom]

Systematically kill off the stragglers and those who force others to be stragglers (i.e. pushing).

 

[Bozo Erectus]

if you had some degree of control over the people of Manhattan, and there was a hurricane/missle/swarm of giant radioactive moneky's headed straight for Manhattan pop. 1,537,195, do you think it would be possible to get everypne out of there in 24 hours?

No, it wouldnt be possible, even if everyone cooperated and everything went perfectly.

 

[farting bob]

Easy. You tell everyone the first 100,000 off the island gets a free coffee, and the place will be deserted within an hour.
Realistically, no, i dont think you could get 1.5 million people off the island in 24 hours, no matter how helpful the people were.

 

[Tomoyo]

Well, considering that Manhattan is not very wide, just tell everyone to walk towards the rivers and jump in. Who cares if they drown, all that cares is they're not on Manhattan, right?

If you count the water around Manhattan as Manhattan, just tell everyone to go into the rivers and they'll follow the current into the NY Upper Bay. Sure, they'll get every disease known and some not known, but hey, they're off Manhattan.

 

[Rambuchan]

24 hours? Easy. Just nuke em .




(I've never got to say anything about nuking anywhere yet, just wanted to get that out my system )

 

[Azadre]

I cannot help be think of the Nazis for this... If they could move Jews 60 years ago, we can move New Yorkers. In essence, I cannot really see a high probability of a million man march out. Instead, I see the army having to come in a forceably remove people into waiting busses and ships. I would close all in traffic lanes except one and that would be for more military personal. The Army Corps of Engineers would establish the portable bridges for the civilians to traverse, allowing more exit points. I would also use helicoptors to fly in and get people like the did in Vietnam.

This isn't an impossible feat, either. If we truly have the greatest, most advanced army than this should already be a contingency plan. If we cannot acheive the above stated, then our nation has already fallen from where it once was militarily. With a budget of conquest proportions, the Defense Department cannot be in any shape other than great.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Part of what makes it impossible to move so many people out within 24 hours is that you have to have somewhere to put them.

Aside from that, how many people fit on the average bus, 30 or 40 people? One of you mathematicians do the math. How long would it take to move a million people out of NYC, assuming we had lets say, 1000 buses, that had to make 10 mile round trips, travelling at 50 miles an hour? Yuck, I feel like Im back in school. Im sure this is easy though for you math whizzes.

 

[Renata]

50 people per bus, generally. So 1000 busses could evacuate 50,000 people per trip. It'd take 30 trips to get 1.5 million people out. Not fast enough to complete the job in 24 hours, assuming 1-2 hours per trip on average.

Trains and subways would be much more efficient, and I'd bet anything they *could* do the job. Here's a question: how many people commute into and out of Manhattan every day? I bet it's more than the island's nominal population.

Renata

 

[Renata]

Semi-edit: You couldn't do the job 100%, though. Some people would refuse to leave no matter what you told them was coming for them, some people would die or get left behind in the confusion, and some people would be too sick or old to be moved safely.

Renata

 

[King Alexander]

Firstly, you woudln't allow people to take their cars, to avoid traffic: some of the cars would be TAKEN by the military/police to being used as trasports, and of course, each car have at least 5 persons(including the driver).
Buses would also use every seat they had, and some people would sit down on the corridor.
Trains would also be used, as well as any other transportation, as small or big ships.

Of course, I'm talking about a FORCED evacuation, for the plan to work, Whenever doesn't want to leave the place, he'd get cuffed or tied with rope and move along by force.
The thing is to get everyone out of the area first: later you start worrying about water and food: no one will die without a day's food or water, and besides, the goverment would make anything possible to help, EVEN IF this demanded to take by force supplies from big stores.

@BE: Buses would NOT travel with JUST 50 miles per hour! They'd travel much faster, as they wouldn't go to a picnik.

 

[Bozo Erectus]

Renata I think Ive read somwhere that the population of NYC on an average workday is 8 million.

@BE: Buses would NOT travel with JUST 50 miles per hour! They'd travel much faster, as they wouldn't go to a picnik.

I think the last thing we'd want is buses flying out of the city at 100 mph. The faster theyre going, the greater likelihood that there'll be accidents.

 

[farting bob]

The real problem would be if this was a sudden evacuation, so you have the people living and working there. 1.5m would be tough, but if you have another 5+ million people in the city, it'll be a pain. Unless you just ignore those who dont choose to leave and say goodbye to them.

 

[The Yankee]

50 people per bus, generally. So 1000 busses could evacuate 50,000 people per trip. It'd take 30 trips to get 1.5 million people out. Not fast enough to complete the job in 24 hours, assuming 1-2 hours per trip on average.

Trains and subways would be much more efficient, and I'd bet anything they *could* do the job. Here's a question: how many people commute into and out of Manhattan every day? I bet it's more than the island's nominal population.

Renata

Of course. The island itself, while populous, probably has more workers than residents on your average business day (not including tourists!)

If the threat were something like a terrorist attack on a small area of Manhattan or something, it'd be possible to evacuate most (there's always going to be the cabbie not willing to get off duty and will be driving around looking for a fare that doesn't exist). But if it were a huge storm, you'd also have to evacuate everything surrounding Manhattan. And for those in Brooklyn and Queens and Long Island, unless you have the cars to go via Staten Island, it's through Manhattan (by mass transit anyway, as there's no Bronx-Queens subway).

 

[The Yankee]

@BE: Buses would NOT travel with JUST 50 miles per hour! They'd travel much faster, as they wouldn't go to a picnik.

They would do this...how? First off, I don't know what the limit is, but most of the mass transit buses here are governed. Second, there'd be a whole hell of a lot of other vehicles out there too. It's not open road. Third, unless you want buses trying to negotiate the FDR or West Side Highway at 70 MPH and flying into the river, that wouldn't be a good idea.

(Besides, I think some of the overpasses over the FDR are too short for buses. Some time ago, a tourist bus got stuck under one, but it may be taller than a standard MTA bus)

 

[farting bob]

I agree, you can expect the roads to be absoltely packed. You would have a better chance fo walking out of the city. It would take a enormous effort to clear enough of the roads to let buses go at full speed. The underground would be the fastest way to get out IMO, or private helicopter of course.