The American authorities have worked out a plan of measures necessary for the implementation of a mass evacuation of the population in Los Angeles and its environs.
The US government has conducted interagency command-and-staff exercises in the event of an asteroid-Earth collision, which could potentially be accompanied by large-scale destructive consequences. This was reported by the press service of the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA).
This training was organized by NASA and the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), the press service said. It was also attended by the Pentagon represented by the American Air Force, the US national laboratories - large state scientific and technological centers that are part of the Department of Energy and involved in the creation of nuclear weapons, a number of other organizations and the California state authorities. It was on its territory, in the town of El Segundo, that exercises took place on October 25.
According to their scenario, they calculated the actions to be taken in connection with the collision of an asteroid with our planet on September 20, 2020, presumably 100 m by 250 m in size. The probability of its fall to Earth was allegedly initially considered equal to 2%. However, in May 2017, according to the legend of the teachings, experts will understand that the collision of this celestial body with our planet is inevitable. By November 2017, experts, as suggested by the scenario of the exercise, will determine that the asteroid will collapse either in the southern part of California, or not far from its coast in the Pacific Ocean.
The American authorities worked out a plan of measures necessary for the implementation of a mass evacuation of the population in Los Angeles and its environs, that is, about 13 million people. This option was chosen due to the perceived lack of time for the implementation of any mission to destroy the asteroid or change its trajectory to prevent a collision with the Earth. The exercises not only studied models predicting the consequences of the described cataclysm, but also made plans to refute all kinds of rumors and information that does not correspond to reality, which, apparently, with such a development of events, can become a serious factor influencing public opinion.
The new head of NASA's Science Directorate, Thomas Zurbuchen, who is Swiss-American, warned that the threat of a disaster like the one seen in the exercise is real enough to raise the question of “when will we take action in such a situation, not whether generally do this. " In turn, the head of FEMA Craig Fugate expressed confidence that the authorities "it is critically important to work out scenarios in the event of such disasters, the probability of which is small, and the consequences of which are significant." According to NASA, the current exercise has become the third in a row of this kind with the participation of the US space agency and FEMA.
Dmitry Kirsanov
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