Posted by guillermo maynez
on 19/7/2011, 18:16:23, in reply to "Re: Journal of the Plague Year"
189.178.7.50
I finished it last night and have several things to say about it. But going to Steven's question, jeeeeez! Mexico City Metro Area has something like 20 million people. A sixth would be 3,333,333 people... 3 and a half million people. Oh my God, I don't think Mexico City would survive in any distinguishable shape. Plus, our institutions are not precisely first world. A couple of years ago, the A-H1N1 flu struck Mexico. The authorities overreacted, by closing every restaurant, bar, galleries, concerts, schools, etc. I remember going out of my apartment, one Friday at 3 pm. I live in a neighborhood called Polanco, a very lively, nightlife-like place full of restaurants and bars and stores. On any Friday afternoon and evening, it is teeming with people driving and walking all over the place. Man! It was terrifying, like a bad sci-fi movie where extraterrestrials invade the Earth. 3 pm and it was totally empty, silent, sad. I walked for about an hour, until I returned home depressed and scared. Nothing like the plague, of course, but a glimpse of it.
Now, returning to the question, Mexico is in severe danger of flooding. The central part was a huge lake, now dissecated. Most water comes from underground sources, so it has sunk several meters. Every year, the marginal slums on the Eastern part of the city get flooded with... ugh... "black waters", since the rainy season overflows canals and rips conductors apart. In those anti-hygienic conditions, any epidemic may thrive. I'm scared now
--Previous Message--
: Still only two of us have finished this short book? Has
: a plague struck our membership?
:
: Here's a question even those who haven't read the book
: can speak on: How would a modern great city respond to
: an incurable plague that killed one sixth of the
: population in a single season? In London in 1665 the
: civil authority continued to function, the sick were
: cared for (after a fashion), the dead buried, the
: living fed. Even though commerce came to a complete
: halt, there was no financial crisis, and, as the
: narrator marvels, the price of food did not even rise.
:
: In the metro area where I live, a plague on the scale
: of London's would result in a million deaths. I can't
: imagine anything less than a complete breakdown of
: social order under such conditions. People aren't
: conditioned to accept such a risk without panic, and
: our infrastructure is too fragile to function with
: such a disruption.
:
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