[EDITORIAL]Precarious subway safety
A chill runs down the spine in reviewing the Monday morning fire on Seoul's Subway Line 7. It's just a miracle that only one of the 100 passengers suffered light burns in the apparent arson, an exact repeat of the Daegu City subway fire two years ago which left 192 people dead.
A man in his 40s is being questioned in connection with the fire but it could be an aimless random arson incident by a mentally deranged or deeply depressed person. There are numerous such possible causes for disaster in the ever complicating society of this populous country and the only way to protect citizens from such dangers is to improve safety systems in public facilities.
Since the tragic Daegu incident in February 2003, subway authorities in Seoul and other cities have been replacing inflammable interior fixtures with noninflammable ones. But in the case of the Seoul subway system, the work has not been completed yet in Lines 5 to 8. Monday's fire showed us that that particular train on Line 7 still had fabric-covered seats, an insufficient number of fire extinguishers, and no anti-smoke masks.
What was again exposed was ineffective communication between the running train, subway stations and the control center, which resulted in a slow reaction. The train operator reported an alarm from the burning coach to the control center, which, not sure if the fire was on the train or in the station, told the operator to move on. The fire was put out at the next station but not completely since it restarted while the train, now emptied of passengers, was traveling to the nearest depot and two more coaches were burned completely. The sequence of events reveals a dismayingly low level of emergency training on the part of our subway employees.
* Vocabulary*
precarious : 남의 뜻에 달린. 불확실한
arsonist : 방화범
derange : 어지럽히다. 미치게하다
inflammable : 가연성의 <-> noninflammable(=nonflammable) :불연성의
fabric : 구조. 면직물
depot : 창고. 역
chill : 냉기
cast a chill on~ : ~에 찬물을 끼얹다(흥을깨다)
chiil runs down the spine : 등골이 오싹하다
aimless : 목적없는
ineffective : 효과없는
coach : 마차.버스.열차. 기차...... 코치
dismay : 당황. 당황시키다,
*question*
Q1.Supposed that the arsonist is guility.
Do you approve or oppose?
<Group1>
opposition:잼스 짐 써니
approval:챨리 에드워드 리사
<Group1>
opposition:영 제프리 제리
approval:루샤 폴 탐
Q2.As we know, tragic Daegu incident gave us too much shock and grief.
So i'd like to hear your opinion.
If you are the president of this company.
What will you do improve this situation?