http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/newstop ... risis.html


Well we get lots of small earthquakes, but this is a monumental waste of money.

useless pigs lol

+1

Because obviously the training is only useful should there be a powerful earthquake...

Maybe we should train them to cope with herds of wildebeest roaming across Hertfordshire?

Playing devil's advocate, if you take a bunch of people and throw them into a situation they're never likely to have encountered before, perhaps it helps them to think "outside the box" and come up with solutions to problems in new ways.

If it helps people make better decisions when under pressure, surely it's a good thing?

We don't often get tornadoes, but they happen occasionally. I don't see much wrong in preparing for the worst.

We get more than the USA - it's just that they're not usually very powerful.

I've seen a few myself.

We get more per square mile than the US! Big difference, but our tornados barely lift the roof off. The US has probably more over a considerably larger country but they are also much stronger as well. I have seen a couple as well and even a water spout over the sea.

These sorts of events are not worth training for.

They are when one rips an area of Birmingham apart. We do have sizeable quakes in this country, and may even one day be unfortunate enough to suffer one similar to the one that struck Christchurch, NZ.

We have not had any quake approaching 4 for years. I was in Birmingham when the 3.4 hit. Never even noticed it.

Quakes happen here but they are minor and we are a long way from any plate boundary. The worst that will happen is the odd cracked building and falling masonry. That could be caused by a storm. Now floods are something that could happen especially with all the building on flood plains, that is worth training for and even equipping forces with inflatables for emergency use.

of course this training could be useful if there is a castastrophic building collapse, also these officers may be sent out to other countries as part of a relief operation.

It just gives people something to complain about and distract from more immediate worries.


And something to complain about if it happens, along the "why wasn't more done to prepare" lines

That is a much better reason, but that really is a role for firemen, and ambulance crews.

Well most of the crews pictured are wearing firemen's uniforms???