At some point, we all got our electricity shut off in our houses But what would happen if that power outage happens in
the whole country at the same time? What if that cutoff remained
for days and days? Up next, some of the consequences
to unexpectedly live without electricity in the 21st century. But first, don't forget to subscribe to
our channel or to activate notifications. On June 16th, 2019, at 7:07 in the morning,
50 million people ran out of electricity in the Southern Cone. The cutoff affected all of Argentina
except Tierra del Fuego, the coast of Uruguay
and some departments of Paraguay. In Buenos Aires an atypical father's day was lived, between the rain, the cold and the traffic lights that didn't work. A sudden blackout. Pup!
A movement of lights ... Look. The whole city is dark. But more striking was in Santa Fe,
San Luis and Formosa. That day there were elections in those provinces, so some had to go to vote
under the candlelight A week from the cutoff, still
the causes were unknown, although it was believed that it was
an isolated fault. Starting at noon, the situation started
normalizing little by little. Unfortunately, news of this kind come
very often from Venezuela. On March 7th, 2019, for example, there was
a blackout that affected almost the entire country. There you can see it: people grabbing water.
This is getting more complicated every day. In Maracaibo, the second largest city,
it lasted for four days. If we go back in time, there are others
very remembered. In 2017 and 2018 Puerto Rico was without electricity
after hurricanes Irma and María. In some areas the blackout
lasted up to 137 days. In India, in 2012, the record was set
as for the quantity of people affected: 620 million
of inhabitants without electricity. That is, 9% of the world's population. The cutoff lasted between one and two days according to
the region. And if we go back a few decades, in 1977 New York was 26 hours without electricity, 10 million were affected and the cutoff
produced total chaos in the city. Looting, robbery, repression and detainees in
a city that was already hit by a fragile financial situation back then. But obviously, from that time until today
the technology has advanced a lot and we have become even
more dependent of electricity in our daily lives. That's why we wonder what are
the consequences of, from one moment to another, the whole electricity of a country going cutoff. To do so, we set aside the more pessimistic hypotheses, as the risks of possible robberies or looting, and we focus on unwanted effects
even under the law. First of all there are instant consequences. For example, street lighting and traffic lights
stop working, except for the few exceptions in which the lightbulb
have batteries with reserves for a few more hours. One of the big complications is the
transportation. The subway and the trains, being electric,
will be out of operation. Not even locomotive trains can
continue to provide its services, since the signaling and the barriers do
use electricity. The buses will be able to provide service,
as long as they have fuel. They will not be able to recharge, since the gas stations
will remain automatically out of play. The pumps, to extract the fuel to the public use electricity. In the case of private vehicles,
same: you'll be lucky if your tank is full, because while the electricity is off you will not be able to load fuel. What can withstand a few hours is the
running water service. Actually, you can consume the accumulated water
in tanks and deposits. But no more than that, since companies
that provide water cannot put into circulation more water than the amount that
is already on the network at that time. Under normal conditions, this would be enough
up to about 6 or 8 hours. The issue is that in atypical situations like
these, there are many people that want to secure their share, so they accumulate
and reserve water and that decreases the reserves. For that reason, it is that
at 4 hours there may be no more water. On the other hand, I imagine you will be wondering what's up with mobile phones. Well, obviously, it will vary depending on how much
the battery lasts and what level of charge did it have when the electricity was cut. To recharge it, there are some options. The simplest is if you have a power bank available. On the other hand,
there are some tricks to recharge a smartphone at home, like
using a battery or even a potato. Well, assuming that we have a
mobile charged then, what is it for? In principle, we will not have wifi, of course.
Mobile networks will be available, since the antennas have an autonomy of
about 12 hours without light because they have batteries. During that time,
we can connect us to the internet by 3G or 4G. However, it is likely that the
networks collapse, since everyone will be trying to connect that way.
After those twelve hours it will begin a more chaotic situation, since we will not be able to
access mobile networks either. I already imagine some melancholy imagining
what can we communicate, in that situation, by land line. While it is true that they used to work normally
without electricity, in recent years cables began to be replaced by new technologies, so we can't even resort
to the land lines. This is as long as someone has one available
and, worse still: have someone else to call. And what about the food? Well the fridges
they can keep well the food for about 3 or 4 hours. What is
in the freezer it can be kept up to 48 hours, if the freezer is full,
as long as it stays closed. For cooking, the gas network would not be affected
at first, so those who have this service can
keep using it. An option that some will launch
to continue with electricity are the electric generators, which work
with fuel. Depending on the use that is given and the fuel
that is available can last, on average, about eight hours. This alternative is what will allow
several essential services can continue working, such as intensive care in hospitals or police. For them, generators can work
for longer since they can get fuel. In these extreme cases, trucks
that transport the fuel will not take it to the gas stations, but
they will do it directly to those whose provide key services for basic operation of society. Who will also use generators are
the airports, since many planes could be nearby
to land. There, electricity is prioritized for
essential services, such as the control tower, track lighting, beaconing
and the radio frequency. Also, when a plane lands, many
of the vehicles that are on track also use batteries and also
will have a useful life of a few hours. But who will be at serious risk
from the beginning will be electrodependents. That is, those people who need
electricity to continue living for some pathology they suffer. In this
case, they will have to resort to generators or to hospitals that have them so that their
lives do not take risks. So far, some of the effects of a total blackout in one country. But without any doubt there will be many more.
Which would be, at your opinion, the strangest consequences of your
country being without electricity for a long time? Leave your comment below.
