I saw everything

Chapter 395: Troubled times
2032 seems to be a year full of disasters.

Apart from the slowly rising sea level.

Southeast Asia, Java Island in the South Pacific islands.

This small island was once one of the most densely populated areas in the world.

Its area is approximately 13.26 square kilometers. According to the Asia-Pacific Statistical Yearbook, the region had a population of approximately 1.569 million in 2024, with a population density of approximately 1183 people per square kilometer.

However, Java's population during the Platinum Era declined to only about 3200 million.

The reason for this situation is that the island's elevation is too low, especially its northern coastal plains, which are mostly below 10 meters above sea level. Faced with a sea level that has risen by about 11 meters, these low-lying coastal plains naturally could not survive.

In addition, Java is located in an active tectonic zone, so earthquakes are very frequent, and there is also an active volcano on the island.

Therefore, in the past six or seven years, the local population has rapidly migrated to Australia, Borneo, Irian Jaya, and Sumatra.

1 month 28 day.

Amidst the swirling snow in southern Inner Mongolia, Jiang Miao inspected various projects, factories, and research laboratories.

That evening, as he was preparing to work in his study, he noticed that the tea in his teacup was trembling slightly.

The smartwatch on my wrist immediately beeped.

Drop drop…

"Boss..." The security personnel rushed in immediately.

Jiang Miao waved his hand: "Don't worry, it's just an earthquake."

It wasn't that he was truly fearless, but rather that the internal hotels of the Hailufeng Group were all integrated buildings, so unless it was a magnitude 10 earthquake, there generally wouldn't be any major problems.

Running out recklessly now might result in being hit by falling objects, so he and several security personnel stayed in the study, but kept away from bookshelves that could collapse.

He took out his phone, and soon the official website of the Asia-Pacific Earthquake Observatory sent a notification text message to all citizens.

【2032年1月28日19时37分，亚联—东南亚大区—爪哇岛中部发生里氏9.3级地震，请东南亚大区各沿海地区、澳洲西北沿海地区、东亚东南沿海地区注意防范海啸…】

"Level 9.3?" Jiang Miao's eyes widened involuntarily.

Clang clang clang…

Li Zixuan knocked on the door and entered: "Boss, the Java branch of the South Pacific Islands branch has sent an internal letter."

Jiang Miao took the still-warm letter and skimmed through it.

the other side.

The new Surabaya city on Java Island.

Because the epicenter was located near the city, less than four kilometers from the city center, this was the first city to be damaged in this major earthquake.

The city's asphalt roads were riddled with cracks, some as wide as five or six meters and stretching for kilometers.

However, there was no large-scale collapse of buildings in the city; some were just leaning precariously.

"No one should leave the house..."

"All personnel in low-rise buildings, immediately move to higher ground in case of a tsunami..."

The city's emergency services forcibly took control of vehicles, mobile phones, computers, and other equipment in the city.

These devices can be used to issue commands directly to people nearby.

Although many people were caught off guard by the powerful earthquake waves and had just come to their senses, this did not cause them to lose their composure.

The main problem is that the people inside the building are not seriously injured. Even if there are problems, they are caused by items falling from the building or food splashing in the kitchen.

This is the advantage of integrated buildings.

Even if the entire building lies on its side, its overall structure is difficult to destroy. As long as the overall structure of the building remains intact, the people inside will not have any major problems.

This is why the local emergency services notified everyone to enter high-rise buildings.

Because it is safer inside an integrated building than in an open-air environment, this is almost the complete opposite of previous self-rescue measures in response to earthquakes.

Soon, those who regained consciousness, carrying some portable items, quickly entered the high-rise building.

"Honey, how much longer do we have to walk?" a middle-aged woman carrying a child called out breathlessly as she climbed the stairs.

"Almost there, we need to get to at least the fourth floor."

Suddenly, the ground beneath their feet began to shake again, as if they were walking on cotton.

"Quick, hold on tight to the stair railing."

"Ahhh..." The child cried out in fright.

"Huhuhu..."

The aftershocks stopped quickly.

Those who had already reached the fourth floor did not stop but continued to climb upwards, because they wanted to make room for those who came up later.

Within ten minutes, almost all the people outside had run inside the high-rise building.

The only people still active outside are the professional rescue teams.

The new Surabaya city is at a relatively high altitude, about 40 to 50 meters above sea level according to the latest sea level data, so there is actually no need to worry too much about tsunamis.

Especially in its coastal areas, there are special breakwaters.

Soon after, the earthquake triggered a tsunami that struck the dikes north of the new Surabaya city, but only submerged part of the port facilities.

However, one unfortunate container ship, weighing over 10,000 tons, was swept ashore by a tsunami that was over 30 meters high while it was docked at the Surabaya port. As a result, a large number of containers and hoisting equipment at the dock were flattened by the container ship.

The tsunami then struck the 30-meter-high seawall, and due to the existing height difference, it did not penetrate into the urban area of ​​the new Surabaya city.

Coastal areas without breakwaters are essentially abandoned areas, as their original populations and industries have long been relocated.

Tsunamis come and go quickly.

A dozen minutes later, the tsunami subsided.

The new Surabaya port is now a scene of devastation.

The port staff, still shaken, did not attempt to salvage the containers and ships, as there was no need to; instead, they quickly moved towards the city center.

The cities throughout Java suffered severe damage in the earthquake, with concrete roads, asphalt roads, and green belts torn to shreds. However, after emergency services intervened immediately, order was restored in the cities, preventing collapse.

The hospital system quickly arranged for the seriously injured to be admitted to special emergency wards in accordance with the emergency department's request for assistance.

Actually, there weren't many people with serious external injuries in this earthquake; rather, there were more people with burns and scalds.

This is mainly because the earthquake occurred around 7 p.m., when many families were cooking or eating, resulting in more injuries.

Although the major earthquake has passed, small aftershocks continue to occur.

Fearing another major earthquake, emergency services have not lifted the state of emergency, but instead maintained it.

...

Jiang Miao put down the internal letter in his hand.

The Java branch of Hailufeng Group responded very promptly, sending an emergency notification to headquarters almost immediately through internal communication channels.

Currently, communication across Java Island remains uninterrupted. Although some ground-based 4G base stations have malfunctioned, the communication base station airship hovering 2 meters above Java Island has not experienced any issues, thus ensuring uninterrupted local communication.

The internal communication channels of Hailufeng Group include communication airships.

"The facilities have suffered heavy damage, especially the transportation system, which almost needs to be completely rebuilt." Jiang Miao placed the documents on the coffee table and then gave the instructions:

"Zixuan, could you please inform the branch office in the South Pacific Islands for me?"

"Boss, please give me your orders."

"The first thing is to cooperate with the government in sending a medical team; the second thing is to allocate a batch of supplies from our Borneo branch's emergency reserve warehouse to Java Island."

"Ok."

"Also, notify all relevant branch offices to make proper arrangements for the employees who were sacrificed."

"no problem."

Li Zixuan hurriedly left the study.

Although Jiang Miao desperately wanted to avoid any casualties, that was virtually impossible.

For example, someone might be on a rooftop and fall during a sudden earthquake; or someone might be driving when a large crack suddenly appears in the ground, and they and their car plunge into the crack.

There is also the possibility of injury or death among the staff on ships and at docks.

Sometimes these things are unavoidable.

Therefore, Jiang Miao asked the branch management to make preparations, which was to take this into consideration. After all, Hailufeng Group is quite considerate of its employees' funeral arrangements.

However, Jiang Miao's and headquarters' ideas are not always fully implemented, since many middle managers like to deceive their superiors and subordinates.

Over the years, Jiang Miao has been trying to purge bad elements from the management team through various channels, but every year the problem persists.

This shows that human nature is really hard to control.

Even now, despite the fact that the Asian Union has achieved great material abundance, many people still can't change their ways.

Sometimes he couldn't understand why, as a middle-level manager in the Haifeng Group, his annual income often started at 50 yuan and could generally reach millions or even tens of millions of yuan.

However, some people just like to take advantage of small things, or secretly take kickbacks and engage in tricks like collusion between insiders and outsiders.

However, why don't they consider that with technology so advanced now, Jiang Miao wouldn't need to exert any effort to investigate them?

Therefore, given the severity of this natural disaster, Jiang Miao did not fully trust the management of the Nanyang Islands branch. After Li Zixuan left, he called the heads of the Commercial Investigation Department and the Internal Supervision Department, asking them to send their best personnel south.

Sending personnel from the Business Investigation Department and the Internal Supervision Department was naturally intended to intimidate the management of the South Pacific Islands branch. If these guys did something to damage the company's reputation at such a critical moment, the negative impact would be amplified infinitely, which was not an outcome Jiang Miao wanted to see.

Upon receiving Jiang Miao's instructions, the two departments naturally boarded airships overnight and split into several groups to head to the South Pacific Islands branch.

In particular, the Borneo branch, which serves as one of the group's strategic material reserve centers, is a key target for monitoring.

Hailufeng Group has a total of five strategic material reserve centers within Asia Union.

These are the strategic material reserve center in the vast desert at the junction of southern and northern Mongolia; the strategic material reserve center in the Jialing River Basin of Sichuan Basin; the strategic material reserve center in southern Jiangxi; the strategic material reserve center in Borneo; and the strategic material reserve center in the Great Desert of Western Australia.

The regions where strategic reserve centers are established are carefully selected. They are neither densely populated areas nor far from densely populated areas, and their geological conditions are relatively good.

For example, the Borneo Strategic Material Reserve Center was chosen here.

On the one hand, Borneo is located in the heart of Southeast Asia, bordering the Luzon Islands to the northeast, facing the Spice Islands across the sea to the east, facing the Malay Archipelago across the sea to the south, and facing the Indochina Peninsula across the sea to the northwest.

On the other hand, Borneo has a stable geology and rarely experiences earthquakes.

At the same time, Borneo is large enough, with highlands and mountains in its interior, to accommodate the population and reduce the need for large underground storage bases.

The Hailufeng Group's strategic material reserve center in Borneo consists of four large underground warehouse complexes.

The reserves of substances such as grains, sugar, and cooking oil are enormous. The entire Borneo Strategic Material Reserve Center holds a total of 2000 million tons of grains, 200 million tons of sugar, and 400 million tons of cooking oil.

Of course, the reason why Hailufeng Group dares to stockpile so much stuff is mainly because the group's food processing and chemical industries are very developed, with a complete industrial chain.

For example, storing cooking oil. Even with all kinds of preservation measures, it can't be stored for a year. For an ordinary company, storing such a large amount of cooking oil is simply not sustainable.

However, Hailufeng Group can do this because expired cooking oil can be used to make biodiesel and chemical raw materials.

Grain can be harvested to make animal feed, and sugar can be used to make biodegradable plastics.

As long as a reasonable turnover cycle is maintained, there will basically be no loss.

In fact, apart from Haifeng Group, the real major strategic material reserves within Asia Union are still handled by China Grain Reserves Group. Haifeng Group only focuses on a few key areas, while China Grain Reserves Group has strategic warehouses set up throughout the country.

Although the recent earthquake in Surabaya, Java, might not require the Haifeng Group to provide supplies, he did not let his guard down.

The main problem is the impact of the tsunami on the waters surrounding the South Pacific islands, which can cause problems for some ships. In addition, Java has a population of 3200 million, and the food supply for this population is enormous, consuming astronomical amounts of food every day.

As rising sea levels submerged Java's prime plains and arable land, the local population has almost entirely shifted to industry, indoor agriculture, mining, and services.

The food supply relies entirely on Australian production areas.

Sea freight will definitely be suspended for a few days now, so we can only rely on airships for transportation.

Just as Jiang Miao issued the order, the Asia Union's top management reacted even faster, holding a press conference to reassure people while quickly forming a special task force to support the post-disaster reconstruction work on Java Island.

In fact, with the occurrence of this major earthquake, many debates have arisen among the public regarding the views on the South Pacific Islands, the Japanese archipelago, and the Luzon Islands.

The main point of contention lies in whether or not to completely depopulate these areas, since earthquakes are too frequent in these regions. If a major earthquake of magnitude 8 or above occurs every now and then, it would be better to relocate the entire local population to other areas.

(End of this chapter)