Terrorism, WMDs

[ewx]

The BBC reports an attack on the South Korean Daegu underground. The lone perpetrator seems to have just used fire, fueled by petrol or something, and killed at least 100 people. It's not reported how many are injured but alive.

In comparison when the Aum cult attacked the Tokyo underground using sarin, a nerve gas, there were many people performing the operation and they only killed twelve people. On the other hand, thousands suffered more or less unpleasant direct and indirect side effects.

I'm also reminded of the once fairly common meme that the best place to be if the cold war went hot was near a target: it'd be over quickly for you.

Perhaps the terror we associated with NBC weapons is to do with what happens when they don't kill you: the debilitation from being poisoned, the radiation sickness, the ostracism ("he's the one from that weird attack").

Comments

Re: Book

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

Nightclubs and football grounds contain high densities of people, and they're also more emotional [1] and sometimes/often drunk, which doesn't help.

I reckon people are a lot more able to cope in emergencies than they give themselves credit for. There seems to be a survival mindset that kicks in (I get this impression from 'I was there' reports as well) where people seem to run on instinct and logic rather than letting the more emotional bits in.

1. Not quite the word I'm looking for - less logical? crowd mindset? Nope, but you may know what I mean.