By now, news of the catastropic tsunami and its rising death toll, as well as the political fallout, has been live-blogged, news-blogged, and reblogged. Nothing that I can possibly muster up can add to the virtual think tank that has responded to news of this natural disaster. Comparisons have been made to the September 11th tragedy, and more than a few of us are waxing slightly guilty over feeling relief that this took place on the other side of the world, not here in our nation. Dollars have been pledged, and arguments for and against federal intervention have been formed and dissected. Politicos, I leave all these semantics to your willing keystrokes.
Instead, I refer you to an article written on August 11th of this year. The author, Gwynne Dyer, reports of a fractured volcano in the Canary Islands that fits the description of the proverbial time-bomb. You’ve heard of that saying, “Not if, but when,” which accurately describes what will happen the next time this volcano erupts. The sequence of events following the initial eruption includes about ninety seconds, whereupon the volcano will collapse, and the western flank will fall into the Atlantic Ocean. Geologists say the resulting splash will create a mega-tsunami that, once unleashed, will travel largely unimpeded across the ocean directly towards the eastern shores of Canada and the United States.
This wall of water will be between sixty and one-hundred and fifty feet high when it hits the mainland, and the crashing water will continue to rush inland for up to fifteen minutes. Want the projected results? Boston, Manhattan, Philadelphia, and Washington DC, with their harbors that funnel this ocean inland, will likely be obliterated. Miami and Havana won’t even be visible due to the severe flooding. Without enough notice and resources to perform a mass evacuation, the number of casualties will be “[a] hundred million people, give or take fifty million.”
Dyers explains why the scientific community has been aware of this impending “global geophysical event” concerning this particular volcano, yet very little has been communicated on the subject–and yes, it’s entirely political. It does give us opportunity to use the current tsunami fallout to at least prepare slightly for this projected mega-tsunami. After all, if September 11th caused Wall Street’s economic erection to fall, what would the result be upon instantaneously losing the economic and political centres of our nation? Indeed beyond my comprehension, but feel free to give it a whirl yourselves.
Crossposted at The Boileryard.
6 comments
Miss Mirth,
To be honest, I wouldn’t spend too long worrying about mega-Tsunamis etc. All these ideas are merely speculation with no scientific backup, a whole load of faulty assumptions and bad guesswork. Essentially, a lot of scientists like to “cover all the bases”. I have no doubt that this scientist tested her theory in her own bath using a pebble.
The Tsunami that hit Asia was caused by one of the biggest ever recorded earth quakes, and the tsunami itself wasn’t very high, it looked like a normal wave but just had a lot of force behind it. A wave like that wouldn’t have left much of a dent on the metal and mortar of NY, although I wouldn’t want to be shopping at the time.
The reason why there is such devastation over there is because so many of these villages are unreachable, the shacks are easily washed away etc. That area of the world is incredibly poverty stricken and construction methods are basic.
So yes, the death toll will be in the thousands if a tsunami hits any shore, but this tsunami did pick a particularly vunerable part of the world to strike.
In short, don’t worry she is probably wrong
Personally, I’m not “worried” per se either, as I don’t live in any of these cities…economically, though, it would devastate our country. And many other countries. I’m not good at making my point on this sort of thing, which is that even though it’s not HERE, it IS our problem.
Oh, and the person who wrote the article is a reporter, not a scientist. She interviewed several geologists. Did ya read the article? I’m not normally one for Notradamus-styled-hysteria, but this is quite convincing. Just saying;-)
I have to be honest, I didn’t read the article
I hate geologists and all their kind. *Proudly displays physics badge*
Very interesting and I did *read* the article.
Skeery, I tell ya. And the landslide that created the Alaska tsunami in 1958 is a pretty good indicator that the geological models for this are quite feasible.
Could New York be Next?
From Fist Full of Fortnights: Instead, I refer you to an article written on August 11th of this year. The author, Gwynne Dyer, reports of a fractured volcano in the Canary Islands that fits the description of the proverbial time-bomb….