Addington

Addington with the Silesian Peaks cascading dramatically into the distance behind it.

Addington is a Sayaffallan city on the planet of Banas with a population of 655,210 at the last census that was taken.

History

Silesian Research University

Joseph Addington founded the Silesian Research University in Addington, a small community of researchers, in 1968 with the express desire of mapping, charting and exploring the natural and geological resources of the surrounding area and the entirety of the Silesian Peaks. The university attracted a large number of researches from Sayaffallah who came to Addington not just to study the diversity of wildlife and geological activity in the Silesian Peaks but also to research the significant development of marine ecosystems in the waters surrounding Addington Bay and the oceans outside of it.

Joseph Addington successfully took his university and adapted it to the environment particularly the natural world with the establishment of a wildlife sanctuary in which the natural world outside could be replicated and monitored by researchers so they could both understand and learn from the various animals in the sanctuary. The addition of the sanctuary to the campus increased enrollment and brought the fluctuating population to 36,500 with the year round population at a comfortable 26750 mostly consisting of professionals in the fields of animal and biological and geological sciences respectively.

City Establishment

The City itself continued to grow as the fishing industry took hold and became a major center for the export of seafood to the surrounding communities and with this expansion of industry came an expansion of population rising up to 76,200 year round residents by 1971 and the election of the first mayor of the city being none other than Joseph Addington who served a term of two years and saw the establishment of a city charter limiting mayors to one year terms and a maximum of ten terms after which they would be required to retire or run for city council office in which city councilors only serve a one year term with a maximum of four terms that like the mayoral office can be consecutive or split up on the preference of the individual running.

The Establishment of the City brought about formal recognition from the government in Sayaffallah and also from the regional government in Patras which formally recognized the city as a part of the country. But with the establishment of a city came the burdening question of transportation. Until this point an airport had served to connect the city with the rest of the county as had a seaport but no land connection via roadway had been established neither had a rail connection so the question of what to do became a priority for the city council of Addington.

The city council decided that the best method of reaching other cities would be to create a tunnel network under the Silesian Peaks range and connecting to a highway directly on the other side of the peaks. Funds were raised extensively and preparatory work was conducted primarily the deforestation of the areas around the tunnel openings and extensive work to level the terrain around the proposed tunnel openings and on June 1, 1974 construction began on the tunnel itself.

Tunneling Tragedy of 1975

The first segments of the tunnel were installed by December 2, 1974 with the tunnels progressing approximately 2 kilometers through the mountain itself using a combination of excavation and blasting through set demolition charges. On the evening of December 3, 1974 a crew of 462 workers were inside the tunnel working to excavate the next section when a large explosion caused the entrance to cave in and subsequently the interior portions caved in as well instantly killing those inside of the tunnel. After the initial explosion took place emergency workers converged on the construction site and attempted to extricate the exterior layers of rocks and dirt but were unable to do so and were forced to submit an urgent request for assistance to the government in Patras

The Governor ordered 2000 troops to be deployed to Addington to assist in recovery and relief efforts and they arrived within four hours of the disaster happening by air transport at the nearby airport. The troops were able to remove a large section of the debris using specialized equipment that came on an advance transport flight to be able to jumpstart recovery. Ultimately they were able to make it to the interior sections but found that nobody was alive and indeed that those in the most interior parts were either crushed or so completely cut off that they would be unable to be rescued. Nonetheless for over two week rescuers worked feverishly in around the clock shifts to move rock but as they moved segments within the interior parts more rock showers would begin and the collapse would start all over.

As the collapses became larger and more pronounced the search was called off and transitioned into a recovery effort for the safety of the rescuers. A memorial service was held in Addington Memorial Stadium and private funerals were soon commonplace for the next month in the churches of Addington. The level of grief in the city was so palpable that the city declared itself to be in a state of mourning for the "loss of humanity" that had occurred. On August 1, 1975 a formal memorial park was constructed at the site of the tunnel and the city announced that it would no longer be pursuing the tunnel system as a way of establishing contact by road and rail with other communities. Addington Memorial Park was designed also as a large scaled national park by which the land would always be preserved extending up to the highest points of the Silesian Peak around it.

Instead it was determined that the transportation link would be done in a gradual winding road over the top of the Silesian Peaks connecting to the highway on the other side of the mountain. Construction began January 1, 1976 and crossed over the top of the peak by July 16, 1976 and was completed on February 4, 1977.