Carol on Mon Jan 03, 2011 12:07 pm
One Second After by William Forstchen
It is one second after an electromagnetic pulse attack on the United States, and America is changed forever. William Forstchen gives us a glimpse into a future that is too frighteningly real and possible, leading us through the breakdown in civilization and the deaths of thousands as we follow the plot through the eyes of a professor and military veteran at a Christian college in a small North Carolina town.
I read this book and was very depressed and how stupidly the characters behaved in this as it was clear the author has no real graspe of how to deal with disaster from a public health perspective.
One prime example was just in disposing of bodies which should have been done through cremation for these reasons.
1. Why does anyone want to waste human energy when there isn't much food to go around to dig holes for hundreds who have died.
2. They took land that should have been used to grow food and turned it into cemetaries.
Next
3. Outsiders were viewed as expendable because they would use up food rations rather then viewed as a resource just in labor to help create gardens for future food sources. Those who did have food were cooking up all the frozen meat rather then smoking it so it could be rationed and used in stews and soups when food was scarce. Also they viewed animals (horses) as food rather then as a valuable resource (manure for gardening) and transportation.
4. The outlook of the prime character was one of a military perspective as compared to a humanitarian. His daughter was diabetic and needed meds for survival. Yet there is no good info on how to deal with diabeties from a wholistic perspective. As I have relatives with this disease I've seen them change diet to help maintain health. This book could have been used to help educate many people but only illustrated the worse case scenario.
5. A lot more could have been done with respect to creating effecticve communication systems.
Of course, in disasters those people elected into office don't often make the best leaders as they are not trained on what to do, or how to organize resources understanding everyone/everything is a resource.
What is life?
