Gwangnaru Safety Experience Center

In the lobby of the center is a pretty extreme mural that looks like it's out of "Man of Steel" or some other 9/11-influenced literal blockbuster.

I was the last one into the typhoon room, so I held back and grabbed my camera to shoot this picture. In all honesty I've experienced more extreme winds in Korea, coupled with rain.

Next we went to the Anjeon-ho, or Safety Ship.

Tutorial on putting on a lifejacket.

We went into the ship, which moved on several pistons quite realistically, and had interior windows that showed a view of the sea. Then it ran up on some rocks and we had to evacuate. I was the first to go, because I wanted to get back to my camera and take pictures. Sorry, women and children.

There is a special posture they taught us to do, where we put a hand under our chin and use it to plug our nose, and use the other arm to prevent that arm from decapitating us when we hit the water. I've jumped from tower diving boards and would rather risk a little water in my nose than going in this way.

After that we went up a floor to the fire extinguisher room. This was another chance for me to live out something I'd always wanted to do.

They also demonstrated many other fire alarm systems.

Then we got to use fire extinguishers to put out a fire on a projector screen.

After that, we went to the descending line, where we could experience building evacuation. I have a system exactly like this in my apartment, but I had no idea how it worked. Turns out, you don't just hook it up, throw down a rope, and rappel down. You put yourself in this harness and the pulley has a mechanism that sends you down at a controlled descent. And it is two-ended, so once you reach the bottom, the other harness reaches the top for someone else.

At my roof I have a similar arm like this, but it doesn't quite stretch over the edge.

Another guy demonstrates.

A couple other participants go.

After that, we went to what was basically the climax of the day: the earthquake simulator.

Everyone loaded into a kitchen complete with fake boiling water.

One participant got up to dash to the electricity box to turn it off.

They huddled under the table and gradually became more and more of a perfect fit.

The animation showed N Seoul Tower collapsing. It fell and disappeared from sight, and we didn't get to see where it landed.

This building which I think was part of a school rocked back and forth, caught on fire, and fell over.

Simulation over.

He led everyone out, still covering their heads.

Time to go into the collapse evacuation room. When I did this, I relied on some of my own experience, turning on my flashlight app so I could navigate through.

We received certificates from a very kickass female firefighter, in orange, and posed for a group photo in front of the mural.

Then everyone wanted a picture with her.

That is some pretty hardcore stuff happening, almost as bad as the robot apocalypse in my banner image.

She wanted to help fight the fire.

I got to fulfill a lot of wishes here, but a lot of it was stuff that you know to figure out. The one thing that really surprised me was one of the simplest things of all. Ever see this panel before? That red circle is a Korean fire alarm. The black button in that little opening is the button you press to trigger the alarm, and the hard-to-see button in the middle looks like it calls someone. I never, ever would have guessed.

Out front, the center shows off some of the things it promises inside.

After, I went to Jonggak to look for a computer room. I found a building newly demolished.

Building shadow.

In case you want to read the graffiti.