地铁车厢纵火模拟试验火灾特性研究

在考虑人为恐怖袭击行为情况下,采用地铁车厢实体模型研究了地铁车厢在纵火情况下的火灾场景特性,得出了地铁车厢在模拟火灾中的热释放速率、烟气浓度、温度、烟密度的变化规律。试验结果表明,一节车厢最大热释放速率为5MW左右,如果两侧沙发同时引燃,其最大热释放速率可达10MW。在纵火试验中,火灾发生、发展和蔓延速度明显较快,燃烧较猛烈,高峰瞬时释放出的CO、CO2浓度及试验过程中的总浓度明显较高;NO、SO2、HCN集中在瞬间释放出来而造成瞬时浓度较高。烟气主流是沿着而不贴着屋顶向外蔓延的。因此火灾危险性很高。     

The significance of a small, level-3 'semi evacuation' hospital in a terrorist attack in a nearby town

Terrorist attacks can occur in remote areas causing mass-casualty incidents MCIs far away from level-1 trauma centres. This study draws lessons from an MCI pertaining to the management of primary and secondary evacuation and the operational mode practiced. Data was collected from formal debriefings during and after the event, and the medical response, interactions and main outcomes analysed using Disastrous Incidents Systematic Analysis through Components, Interactions and Results (DISAST-CIR) methodology. A total of 112 people were evacuated from the scene-66 to the nearby level 3 Laniado hospital, including the eight critically and severely injured patients. Laniado hospital was instructed to act as an evacuation hospital but the flow of patients ended rapidly and it was decided to admit moderately injured victims. We introduce a novel concept of a 'semi-evacuation hospital'. This mode of operation should be selected for small-scale events in which the evacuation hospital has hospitalization capacity and is not geographically isolated. We suggest that level-3 hospitals in remote areas should be prepared and drilled to work in semi-evacuation mode during MCIs.     

Nature's impartiality, man's inhumanity: reflections on terrorism and world crisis in a context of historical disaster

This paper compares the terrorist outrages of 11 September 2001 in New York City and Washington to the Lisbon earthquake of 1 November 1755. Both events occurred, literally out of the blue, at critical junctures in history and both struck at the heart of large trading networks. Both affected public attitudes towards disaster as, not only did they cause unparalleled destruction, but they also represented symbolic victories of chaos over order, and of moral catastrophism over a benign view of human endeavour. The Lisbon earthquake led to a protracted debate on teleology, which has some parallels in the debate on technological values in modern society. It remains to be seen whether there will be parallels in the reconstruction and the ways in which major disasters are rationalised in the long term. But despite the differences between these two events--which are obviously very large as nearly 250 years of history separate them and they were the work of different sorts of forces--there are lessons to be learned from the comparison. One of these is that disaster can contribute to a perilous form of self absorption and cultural isolation.