A note of appreciation to the National Emergency Management Agency for scaring the living shit out of me with a civil defense drill today.
UPDATE: I see from Andy’s and Shelton’s posts I wasn’t alone.
Thanks, guys
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And here I thought I was unreasonably paranoid. The secretary in my office assured me it was a drill, and told me with a magnanimous giggle that I shouldn’t be afraid.
I should note, she called me (to talk about something totally unrelated to the tests), and not the other way around.
If you do not hear the tearing arcs of incoming shells, then you know it is a drill.
Didn’t you read the manual?
Yeah – I was a little worried there too. I suddenly heard fighters scream overhead ( I am in Mokdong) and then heard the sirens. It seemed too surrealistic because last night I was chatting with Oranclay and asked him about the situation in the States. He said that California was having more drills but he thinks they concern possible earthquakes (which – speaking of earthquakes – Hawaii had one as we talked). My brother in Washington State said the EBS (Emergency Broadcasting System) was having a lot of drills lately – something he doesn’t remember – and they were also testing the air raid sirens. I laughed at him and told him that it seemed the Americans were more concerned than the Koreans – until now – now that they are doing tests here again.
You have got to love being in the ROK
That’s weird because even though we didn’t hear them out here today (kind of rural where we are), I’ve heard them before in the past and no one gives a flying hoot about them. Traffic stops as civillian moderators come into the streets and the radio issues the warning as well, but other than that, it hasn’t been so alarming.
I take it Seoul doesn’t regularly do tests up there? I remember last year being stuck in traffic a few times because of them. The first time was a little weird I’ll admit but it has happened more than once down here so I’m surprised Seoul doesn’t issue them regularly…
That alarm went off as I was looking out the window at a damned noisy ‘demo’ at MBC. Together, they reminded me of PJ O’Rourke’s observation in 1988: “Now that’s f**king foreign”
My co-worker’s complacency stems from the fact that most in this office don’t believe the North really has an A-Bomb in the first place.
The white flags were out over the weekend but this one is the first drill I’ve actually seen taken seriously as they broadcast the evacuation procedures into my school’s sound system.
I’m in Bucheon. They test every once in a while, though I don’t know what happens with traffic. (I’m usually on campus when it happens, far from the madding streets.) While the tests seem more regular here than they were in Jeonju and Iksan (at least, from what I could hear in the part of town I lived in) I didn’t know they’re usually at 2pm.
Ah, the joys of living here…
Was logged onto the market. Didn’t twitch and the fact it is mid month gave me some relief.
Still spooky, darn spooky.
I guess that is the idea and the pitch of the sirens is supposed to be bothersome.
A coworker text messaged me at home this morning about another matter and she mentioned it. Otherwise, the air raid sirens (or what sounded like them) probably would have scared the living daylights out of me. Although I hope that I would have paused mid-freakout to notice that no one around me was giving it any mind whatsoever other than the shops closing, which is what they were supposed to do.
My coworker said that all power was supposed to be shut off and no vehicles were supposed to be on the streets, but it didn’t look like this happened at all to me. I was in Myeong-dong when it happened.
I called my husband in Gangnam and he said they had neither heard about the drill nor heard any sirens. Do they think the North can’t hit Gangnam or is it just going to be offered as a sacrifice?
Heard them twice down here in Yeosu too.
In four years in Korea, that was the first time I’ve been outdoors when it’s happened.
I couldn’t get two blocks from my university before the police insisted on halting me on my bicycle. Even pedestrians were stopped from crossing the road!
As I stood there watching the light sequence go round in circles and not a person pass through the intersection, while police whistled at delivery guys to stop, and bus drivers read newspapers, I wondered how much of this tranquil calm order there’d be if missiles were flying.
R. Elgin can you give some advice?
Upon hearing the loud tearing arcs of incoming shells, should I run towards the sound before I duck and cover OR should I run away from the sound before I duck and cover?
If I remember correctly there is a certain amount of skill on what to do and what not to do during artillery attacks. Example, with the V1 buzz bombs you never had to worry until they stopped buzzing.
My grandfather always told me the most important thing at a time like that was, “Whatever you do don’t let yourself go to pieces.”
“Duck and cover” only works for atomic bombs, or it did back in the 1950′s.
One must wait to see where the first shell lands and then run towards it since the following shells won’t land in the same place or you could grab a complete stranger and scream.
Every month on the 15th down here in Songtan. Not that anyone pays them any attention.
In the Army, they always said, if you hear it whistling, it was going over your head, thus you didn’t need to worry about it.
http://www.amtrac.org/1atbn/Incoming/Incoming.asp – This guy sums it up and explains the sound it makes versus where it will likely hit.
I heard the jets flying overhead in Yeouido this afternoon, but no sirens.
Robert… I’m surprised you were caught off guard.
Hehe, my memories of 민방위 are mostly associated with images of fierce 아줌마s trying – and failing, I run fast when required
– to prevent me from crossing a road, usually right after lunch [these things happen at two, usually, right? And I had lunch at 1] while on my way back to the office.
You guys are too funny.
An Irish friend and I were talking about it and he recollected that when he was a kid in Ireland and the US/USSR Cold War was at a warmer point, there used to be articles about how to survive the nuclear blast by hiding under the stairwell and stacking books up to shield you from the radiation. Oh, and they also warned you to be sure to avert your eyes when you caught the first glimpse of the blinding flash.
A cartoon he saw showed two Russians flying a bomber, and the pilot says to his copilot, “We have to go around one more time, Ivan, they’re averting their eyes again.”
The one time I was in Korea during a drill, the Chosun Ilbo had castigating headlines and photos the next day on the top of Page 1 showing offending high school students, etc. blithely crossing the street or otherwise disregarding the drill.
Hah! So I wasn’t the only one…
I was weirded out but calm because, the way I figure it, if it was real everyone would be looting.
Nothing at the Pusan Film Festival today. No way the NK would attack during the world premiere of the latest Daniel Gordon documentary about North Korea.
Btw, it is called “Crossing the Line,” and it totally kicks butt. A profile of the last surviving American soldier defector to NK. Best Daniel Gordon film yet.
Speaking of film festivals, one of the jury members for the just-ended 2006 Vancouver Film Festival’s Dragons & Tigers Award for outstanding Asian film is a certain Robert Koehler…but I’m assuming it’s this Robert Koehler, a Variety film critic, and not the furry rodent who runs this blog.
I bet it is a Marmot version of “The Boys from Brazil”
I recall these drills from 1995, so I knew what was happening. My students were clueless, so I told them that Kim Jong-il was attacking. That got some nervous laughter. About that time, the screaming jets flew over, and actual fear crossed some of their faces. I said, “Those are the missiles,” eliciting more fear.
Then, I laughed and went on teaching.
Jeffery Hodges
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The air raid drills were an annual even before the love the dear leader period that started in 2000. The first one I was in scared the crap out of me. Then they became routine.
As Nomad said, the sirens go off every month on the 15th, even in downtown Seoul. Sometimes the neighborhood is so noisy you can’t hear them.
Jeff, great comedic timing.
Pity you didn’t put your book in your bag, announce “Time to evacuate; I gotta go to the US Embassy”, and walk out the door. It would’ve pushed them over the edge.
Thanks, Seouldout, it was a well-handled moment — if I do say so myself. Of course, I had some help from the ROK Air Force.
But your evacuation scenario would have been even better.
Incidently, I’ve written about the scene at somewhat greater length on my blog, where I discuss The Marmot’s own evacuation route
Jeffery Hodges
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You people are so off the hook hillarious. There are air raid drills every year. I currently work for MOFA and yesterday we had a gas mask demonstration. The paranoid ramblings on this site are more cause for concern than the nuke test.
I guess if you work for MOFA, then you’re an expert on judging paranoiacs’ tendency to perceive patterns where none exist.
Jeffery Hodges
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Didn’t have time to read the comments, but….
this was one of the things that tipped me off real quick that SK’s Cold War experience was a good bit different from America’s. This was back in 1996, and when the alert went off in Wonju, after it was over, I asked the students where the bomb shelters were or what kind of sign to look for on banks and other buildings to see if they had a bomb shelter. They looked at me like I was from Mars and then thought, “Hey. Bomb shelters. Those might not be such a bad idea!”
When I asked what they were supposed to do if it were not a drill – they said, “Stay in side so the military can use the roads.” They left out the “like sitting ducks” part that quickly jumped into my mind.
These were all adults in the 30s and up.
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