In the 1950s Centralia was a small town, like many others in the
anthracite region of Pennsylvania. But since the 1960s, it has been
consumed, outwardly and inwardly by a fire that has inexorably
spread in the abandoned mines beneath it. The earth smokes,
subsides, and breathes poisonous gases. No less destructive has
been the spread of dissension and enmity among the townspeople. The
Real Disaster Above Ground tells the story of the fire and the
tragic failure of all efforts to counter it.
This study of the Centralia fire represents the most thorough
canvass of the documentary materials and the community that has
appeared. The authors report on the futile efforts of residents to
reach a common understanding of an underground threat that was not
readily visible and invited multiple interpretations. They trace
the hazard management strategies of government agencies that,
ironically, all too often created additional threats to the welfare
of Centralians. They report on the birth and demise of community
organizations, each with its own solution to the problem and its
diehard partisans. The final solution, now being put into effect,
is to abandon the town and relocate its people.
Centralia's environmental disaster, the authors argue, is not a
local or isolated phenomenon. It warns of the danger lurking in our
own technology when safeguards fail and disaster management policy
is not in place to respond to failure, as the examples of Chernobyl
and Bhopal have clearly demonstrated.
The lessons in this study of the fate of a small town in
Pennsylvania are indeed sobering. They should be pondered by a
variety of social scientists and planners, by all those dealing
with the behavior of people under stress and those responsible for
the welfare of the public.
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