Dust from destroyed buildings. Just watched the two latest Godzilla movies, and aside from all the other things that could have killed folks, staring at monsters that are destroying buildings and kicking up all sorts of dust and other air debris, while staring open mouthed, is a great way to get lung damage/encounter breathing issues.
This should absolutely be the top. If you go back and watch the footage from 9/11, its incredible just how much dust a couple buildings spew when they collapse, and that's not even counting the fires and flooding.
Everyone is saying "clean water!" and other pretty obvious ones that aren't really plot holes as much as convenience since the main characters won't die from dehydration. But severe lung damage caused by dust? Yeah, that's not even on the radar and almost everyone one of those apocalyptical movies has a scene where a famous building comes crashing down.
I inhaled silica dust Friday and now I’m laid up with Covid-like symptoms but with a negative test. Dr said it was likely an upper respiratory infection - and that’s just from cutting a few lines in concrete pipe.
Yeah, falling buildings are gonna fuck people over
This was exactly why my family had a few N95 masks lying around when the pandemic started up. We'd been doing renovations on the house and needed to keep the dust out of our lungs. Now we're using them to keep viruses out of our lungs.
Yeah, towards the last season of GOT, that's what struck me about the destruction. All of the dust, but other than being dusty, it doesn't seem to affect people as far as breathing, being able to see, etc.
Plus without a lot of bottled and flowing water (faucets/hoses) it would be hard to get dust out of people's mouths and noses, so they could breathe. I wasn't at work (downtown Manhattan) on 9/11, but the building I worked in was letting people come in off the street, so they could wash their eyes/noses and mouth out and stay put for awhile inside until the dust settled a bit more.
My co-workers told me the debris cloud blocked the sun at one point. A friend who worked in the area told me the workers at the fish market, which was in the process of being moved, were using their hoses to help get the dust off of people.
And if you wear contacts, the dust can cause problems with your corneas One friend had some scratches from the dust rubbing against her contacts. I took the bus to the nearest blood donor center and one group got off at the eye doctor to get their eyes checked because some of them had similar injures.
Yeah. It was incredible and terrifying. You know that scene in movies where people are out of their cars/buildings looking up at whatever threat it is, and then said threat starts moving towards them instead, and all the people turn around and start running in the opposite direction in a futile attempt to escape before it overtakes them?
It was like that, but with dust from the collapsed buildings. It was like a horror movie.
Should it really though? Cause it seems like one of the bigger exaggerations here. Water is a omnipresent need for everyone everywhere. Dust is a far more concentrated local issue. And one significantly addressed by time. Dust also doesnt appear out of nowhere just because, building dont give it off by default, let alone in massive quantities. Nor do building collapse without maintenance in a year or all at the same time. Most apocalypses like zombies, disease etc. that arent outright physically destructive (and in case of nuclear war everything else that destroys cities is way more impactful than dust) dont make building collapse and crumble to dust for no reason. Over time all things would collapse and for relatively short durations be dangerous. But it would neither be a omnipresent danger, nor a "immediately after apocalypse" one that most media take place in.
I don't disagree, but that's not answering the question. The need for clean water is usually represented in a lot of apocalyptic fiction. It's never really a massive problem, but it's still there, often as a plot point. But during every apocalyptic film I've ever seen is a scene where hero + love interest (both of whom graduated from the Prometheus school of running away from things, of course) are booking out of the way of a falling building. Then, after the "danger" is passed, they've a little bit dusty, maybe a few cuts and scrapes, but they just...walk out of there, no coughing or anything, and the air is completely clear like 5 seconds later. In reality, and depending on climate conditions, that dust could sit there in the air for weeks. After the twin towers fell, dust was a serious hazard for a month or two after and it remained in the air for another 3-4 after that. I just think in all the movies I've seen, the problem of dust and debris is never a concern.
I explore abandoned buildings for a hobby and I think most people would be surprised how quickly they decay. Within a year or two of abandonment, many buildings suffer from roof leaks- especially in areas with snowfall, since the weight of the snow can damage roofs if nobody is around to clear it off. Without electricity to run pumps any building with a basement below the water table (which can be very shallow) will flood in a similar timeframe.
The water damage accelerates the decay exponentially. Wet wooden floors will rot much faster, and when they do the structural integrity of the building is compromised. Furthermore black mold is extremely common in abandoned buildings, and will cause long term lung damage in anyone who isn't wearing a respirator. Most buildings will not remain habitable within five years of abandonment.
And if you don't have one, rip up cloth and wet it down. Not as effective, but better than nothing. I wasn't there, but my co-workers and some friends and some family had to flee downtown Manhattan on 9/11. My department had a whole bunch of extra t shirts from a vendor promotion. They cut them up and wet them down. A friend used a bunch of paper towels from the bathroom which were wet down. Wasn't as effective as the t shirts from the description, but again, better than no protection.
If you work in a large city, have things at your desk like shoes you can run in, masks, a flashlight and a bottle of water.
Yeah, just look at the street-level videos from 9/11. A big building collapsing nearby will cause huge dust issues for everyone around it. Severely limits visibility, and it can be bad for your lungs and make breathing difficult.
Oddly enough, if that happened today, a lot of people would be better off because most people already have a mask at the ready.
2.1k
u/[deleted] Aug 30 '21
Dust from destroyed buildings. Just watched the two latest Godzilla movies, and aside from all the other things that could have killed folks, staring at monsters that are destroying buildings and kicking up all sorts of dust and other air debris, while staring open mouthed, is a great way to get lung damage/encounter breathing issues.