In Medfield I think we lost power for less than an hour today, but it was a reminder that reallly bad weather (even in '78 we didn't lose power, but remember that Quebec ice storm???)normal communications might be disrupted, and we'd be on our own.

Danvers resident Dan Kennedy doesn't get the fire chief's refusal to let federal chemical investigators on the explosion scene:

... Those of us who live in Danvers deserve an explanation as to why the CSB isn't being allowed in.

On Blue Mass. Group, Ernie wonders that the chief might be hiding:

... The report may conclude "Perhaps this would not have happened if the code violations had been observed by local fire inspectors during their routine inspections."

Jenglo is a nurse at a hospital near Danvers, and was on duty when the ink plant exploded. After her shift, she went over to Danvers High School to help care for residents of the New England Home for the Deaf - evacuated after the explosion:

I tried to wheel one man to a spot at a table, and the woman next to him pulled him back. Then, she started pointing at her ring finger where there was a huge, gold band and a solitaire diamond band. I asked an interpreter what was going on, and she said, "They're married. His wife doesn't know where you're taking him."

"Oh, that explains it!" I said. "Could you tell her that I'd just like to get them to breakfast?" So the interpreter did, and they got a spot at the table.

They were all wearing their pajamas. One woman brought her beta-fish with her in a bowl. She even brought its food. That really broke my heart. ...

Andrew Jacob films from within the blast zone, with original music composed the night of the explosion, "The Night Before Turkey Day Explosion:"

Suggestions from the state - money is better than physical goods.

Also:

Danversport Victim Fund
Danvers Bank
1 Conant St.
Danvers, MA 01923

Alfred Nylund lives near the ink plant. He reports:

... My windows were blown in and there was a weird glow outside like dusk, or a solar eclipse, only with an eerie red tinge. Just across the river, where the chemical plant once stood, there rose 300 feet into the sky a mushroom cloud. It's no wonder that people thought that this was the end of it all... World War III, and they ARE nuking small town America, just like "The Day After" said they would! Only no Steve Guttenberg running around like an idiot.

People wandered the streets checking to see if their neighbors were alright. Closer to the blast zone, these wandering people were the walking wounded. It was a surreal experience.

Every house on my street sustained significant damage ...

Michael Agri videos the fire - and captures commentary from other residents watching the inferno:

More video here and here.

Jack Pattishall posts photos taken about 10 minutes after the initial explosion at a Danvers ink plant (including the one above, re-posted with permission):

I woke up to a room filled with red flashing light. I heard the initial explosion and wasn't sure what was going on. The explosions that followed as well as the house shaking got me out of bed, running for my camera. I knew something was going on! ...

Ryan posts photos of the fire, which destroyed several homes and commercial buildings, but didn't kill anybody:

Lubos Motl explains why a particle accelerator under construction in Switzerland won't generate a black hole that will swallow the earth the instant it's turned on next year.

In any event (whether horizontal or not), if you find 32 years' worth of string theory and theoretical physics too dense to follow, he gives a more general theory for dismissing the gravity of the claim and not blowing your retirement fund over the next six months, in words you don't have to be an Einstein to understand:

... [T]he Earth is bombed by a lot of very high-energy cosmic rays and the center-of-mass energy of the collisions is comparable to the LHC energies. So far, these collisions haven't destroyed the Earth, so it is reasonable that some additional collisions we create won't be able to do so either. ...

WBUR had an interesting interview this morning with Carlo Boccia, Boston's homeland-security director (the interview requires RealPlayer).

Boccia says the city's current plan for a Katrina-like diaster is called "Exodus," and basically involves trying to move everybody out of the city. The exodus would be speeded up by making major thoroughfares one way out of town, jiggering traffic-light cycles (I admit it: I snorted at that) and by working with the MBTA to get as many people out as fast as possible. But he added Katrina made city officials realize they also had to prepare to take care of large numbers of people who, for whatever reasons, did not leave in time.

The city already has "a network of hotels and residences" (darn, Oakes did not ask him where) ready for this, but he's looking at a system in which equipment and supplies would be ready to house in-city evacuees for long periods of time - from stocking up on food to having spare dialysis machines in place: basically, turning them into "embellished bomb shelters of the '50s."

Wrong, wrong wrong, says David Stephenson, our very own private-sector homeland-security consultant:

Boston or other cities might be able to do this better (but I think that's extremely unlikely: there are simply too many imponderables, such as damage to the structure itself, inability of trucks to get through to refuel the emergency generators, etc., etc. -- if any one element fails, the whole thing unravels). However, it's the fundamental idea of congregating large numbers of people in a confined area that won't work. Concentrate that many people who are already stressed out in a given area, especially a group with a disproportionate percentage of psychological issues to start with and I'll guarantee there will be serious problems. ...

We don't need large-scale evacuations to a single behemoth facility, but decentralized ones. There's no easy way out of this situation. ...

Note: As mentioned above, I'm curious which hotels and residences would become home to possibly thousands of Bostonians in a diaster. Alas, access to the city's homeland-security Metro Boston Regional Plan is password protected. I've written to the person listed on the page for access - or the reason it's not considered a public document.

Earlier:
What if it happened here?