San Francisco is My Home

25
Sep

72 Hours

Author: kris, Category: News

You’re sitting alone in your apartment on Tuesday. Maybe you’re peacefully watching an old episode of Buffy, or playing Yoshi’s Island on SNES, because you are a professional writer and this is how you spend your days.

Suddenly, a piercing shriek shatters the stillness. And it goes on for fifteen screaming, ear-clapping seconds.

Yes, along with clown school, drag queen nuns, fanciful Victorian architecture and a pack of urban coyotes, San Francisco now has its very own outdoor warning system. Every Tuesday at exactly noon, you’ll hear the wailing din broadcast over speakers positioned around the city, drowning out the honking traffic and the chiming trolley bells.

It’s all part of our new emergency services package called 72 Hours. Here’s a quote from their website:

“Imagine that you have no electricity, no gas, no water and no telephone service. Imagine that all the businesses are closed and you are without any kind of emergency services. What will you do until help arrives?”

Apparently, you will listen to the sweet siren song of, well, sirens.

But seriously folks. Much as I hate the noise — which takes me by surprise every single week, something that probably says more about me than it does about the sirens — there’s nothing wrong with preparing for disasters, and 72 Hours offers a number of helpful suggestions for how to cope. Check it out now, before the earthquake hits and your internet crashes. And hope like hell that disaster doesn’t strike on a Tuesday at noon, or however will we know?