In case of fire

How many fire/tornado/disaster/lock-down drills do schools have a year? I remember doing them in New York, often all in one month to meet the quota for the year. Most schools in Minnesota had lock-down drills as well that involved pulling the shades, locking the door, hiding in the corner of the room, and sometimes a SWAT team for "practice" ( are you kidding me?? Guns in schools? Even New York security guards aren't allowed guns because it is more of a hazard itself, but one Minnesotan high school had a tall plain clothes policeman with a gun hanging loosely from a holster on his hip. He often stood with his arms folded and I would just wonder about the day some kid would be tempted enough to slip the weapon out before he could unwrap his thick arms.) After the tsunami in southeast Asia, my New York students were convinced a tsunami was coming to New York as a result of a New York Post article that published the hypothetical scenario of an event ever washing out New York. My students all agreed that we'd be fine on the fourth floor of the building.

Turkey is prepared for these dangers as well. Security guards stand guard at all mall and parking garage entrances. The garage attendants have under carriage mirrors, 3D glasses that are supposed to pick up suspicious residue I guess. X-ray machines for bags.

But, I don't think they really are looking. . .

Today, in school, we had our first fire drill. I think it was the first drill, ever. We had a meeting about it last week. We were taught how to stop-drop-and roll. We were also told to use an A-type extinguisher for a C-type fire and a D-type extinguisher for a B-type fire.

When the alarm went off today, several things happened: The worker pushing the button was enjoying it, and kept pushing it. Smiling. And, offering the button for me and and the two with me to push for fun too. We all did. Two, I looked up to see a teacher running ahead of her class. The children were skipping after her. Everybody was laughing and there was some screaming. We lined up outside . . . eventually and only a few meters from the building. Laughing, counting off - it was like a holiday.

And, I decided we're all going to die.