Volcano could flatten US cities. A problem known for a decade.

[Hoping4Change]

US and Caribbean gov't are not taking this looming threat seriously.


Boston, New York, Washington, DC, and Miami would be virtually wiped off the map and tens of millions of people killed, said Professor Bill McGuire, director of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre at University College London.

McGuire said that close monitoring might at best provide two weeks' warning of the disaster but that despite knowing about the danger for a decade, no one was keeping a proper watch on the mountain


Experts predict that a volcono in the Canary Islands could send a massive slab of rock twice the size of the Isle of Man crashing into the Atlantic Ocean.

The effect would be to generate a monster wave travelling faster than a jet aircraft and with the energy equivalent to the combined output of America's power stations working flat out for six months.

After travelling across 6430km of the Atlantic for about nine hours the tsunami would hit the Caribbean islands and the east coasts of Canada and the United States with devastating effect.

The wave would stretch for many kilometres and would sweep into the estuaries and harbours for up to 32km inland, destroying everything in its path.



--snip--

The Cumbre Vieja volcano last erupted in 1949 and its western flank is highly unstable. It could split apart next time it erupts, which could be at any time in the next 1000 years.


--snip--

A monitoring station equipped to look deep into the heart of the mountain and spot the early signs of an eruption might cost hundreds of thousands of pounds. In comparison, the US was spending $4m (£2.2m) a year scouring the skies for kilometre-sized asteroids which were much less of a threat, Professor McGuire said.




http://www.nzherald.co.nz/storydisplay.cfm?storyID=3583534&thesection=news&thesubsection=world

[Parche]

1. volcano terra

The sky would really be falling
Tom Volcano Terra Ridge

[Throckmorton]

2. Yeah, so?

Great, we can have a few hours to panic first, then drown. I think Prof. McGuire needs to spend a few days in the NYC area traffic during a snowstorm to fully appreciate how impossible it will be to evacuate the affected areas, even with a few days warning, let alone nine hours.

Living is dangerous.

[ramapo]

3. Never heard about this one

Interesting. I know the Northwest cities are vulnerable to eruption of any one of the Cascade volcanos but this is a new one to me.

I live in the Highlands of North Jersey so I would likely be safe from the direct effects (unless fate had me seeing a Broadway show that day). The aftermath would be ugly and I'd guess survival difficult.

[Hoping4Change]

10. I had seen a doc on Discovery Channel a year ago about this

so I was surprised to see in print now. In the documentary scientists were extremely concerned that attention was not being paid to this problem. The huge crack that happened as a result of the 1949 eruption is there for all to see. The article is scary but the documentary is even more chilling.

[ramapo]

19. Do a Google of Cumbre Vieja

Lots of cheery studies and the like. Check out this study:
<http://www.es.ucsc.edu/~ward/papers/La_Palma_grl.pdf>

I'm sure the Discovery Channel show was more entertaining especially if they did some "preenactments" to show the East Coast being inundated.

Well that's life. You never know what Mother Nature has in store for us. We like to think we're running the show, but she will have the last laugh. After all, 15,000 years ago the place I'm sitting right now was under a big piece of ice.

[Eurobabe]

25. yeah and if that one doesn't GETCHA the YELLOWSTONE

Caldera will!! WOOHOO, mother nature, now THAT's TERRA!

[Hoping4Change]

5. Sensitive monitoring equipment would give several weeks

warning.


The reason I posted this is that Discovery Channel had a documentary bout this on the crack is there which is cause ing this alarm. In another article was this comment

"The island came to the attention of scientists in 1949 when its volcano, Cumbre Vieja, erupted, causing a huge chunk of its western flank to drop four metres into the ocean.

Scientists believe the chunk of land is still slipping slowly into the water, and say another eruption is likely to make the entire western flank collapse. "When it goes, it will likely collapse in around 90 seconds," Professor McGuire said."



What all the scientists asy is that this poses a more real threat than does a hit by an asteroid but it is being roundly ignored. Furthermore plans should be made in how to evacute the Eastern seaboard in a two week period.

[Throckmorton]

37. and once again, Yeah So?

9 hours, 9 days, or 9 weeks, warning. Just where to we propose to move the 60, or so, million people, in just the USA, this would affect? Living is dangerious.

I'd rather worry about Asscrack, Crashcart, oxyrush and the shrub cancelling the next election.

Oh, and I forget who mentioned it, but where do I get a job developing a method to evacuate masses of people quickly? Sounds like another project that denies human nature.

[Bluebear]

4. Well, that's cheery!

'It could split apart next time it erupts, which could be at any time in the next 1000 years.'

Justification for a Code Orange to this administration!

[Karenina]

21. Lookee heah yung'un

Dem turrists might jes' get dey hands on one o' dem "bunker busting" loose nukes and help Mo Nature along a bit! In the famous words of Judy Tenuto, "IT COULD HAPPEN!" :silly:

[JVS]

6. Will Pittsburgh or Chicago be damaged?

[Swamp Rat]

7. There's also a super-volcano underneath Old Faithful.

There's a hurricane brewing down South that may kill me in my home next week if it hits New Orleans...

I'm more worried that Bush has started WW IV.

[RivetJoint]

8. Hear Hear

You hit the nail on the head!

[Swamp Rat]

12. Welcome to DU RivetJoint!

:toast:

[RivetJoint]

14. Thank you!

[havocmom]

16. So, if the tidal wave hits the east coast and the Big One knocks Calif off

the map, does that mean I can get fresher seafood here in Montana? Of course, I may not have long to enjoy it if the magma pool under Yellowstone blows.

The big giggle for me is that as a society, we think real estate is forever. It isn't.

The small giggle is thinking some vulcanologist is gonna get a great gig for paid island living watching and waiting to yell "she's gonna blow!" Damn, wish Havocdad's degree was in a different natural science than it is. Ah well :shrug:

[SemperEadem]

9. so, for whatever time I have left to live in the next 1000 years

I"m to spend it on being twisted up in a frenzy over something man has no way of controlling?

I've got better uses for my time than to spin myself into either mental insanity or an early grave over this. A tornado, hurricane, or earthquake can come tomorrow and wipe out my home.

Sorry, but I don't need to mainline fear to get my kicks and feel alive.

[SemperEadem]

11. my advice?

buy a surfboard, get a life preserver and ride that biaaatch!

[JustJersey]

13. What good is a warning?

Ok, even if we have a month or two, or six or 18, what good would it do? It's not like we can relocate the eastern seaboard of the U.S.

Where would the people go?

[Hoping4Change]

17. That is why money must be spent of research to determine

how to relocate people. This is a huge piece of land that is going to slide into the Atlantic. At some it will happen so planning should be undertaken. Not to be any planning and not invest in monitoring equipment is immoral.

[JHB]

15. Same thing will eventually happen in Hawaii

http://www.mbari.org/volcanism/Hawaii/HR-Landslides.htm
Volcanic activity and gentle erosion have not been the only forces to shape the Hawaiian islands. Landslide debris has now been mapped off of all the islands. Enormous amounts of material have traveled great distances, indicating that the slides were truly catastrophic. The Nuuanu and Wailau landslides, shown in the map, tore the volcanoes forming eastern Oahu and Molokai, respectively, in half, and deposited blocks large enough to have been given names as seamounts. Tsunamis generated during these slides would have been devastating around the entire Pacific Basin.


The soultion: Move inland and crowd up Tornado Alley!

[VolcanoJen]

18. I swear I had nothing to do with it.

}(

[chiburb]

33. Bullshit!

You've been telling people for years about your Cincinnati "Ocean Front" property.
You are SO busted!

[napi21]

20. I'm not gonna be scared by any of these nuts!

Can this happen, yes! But so can a tornado, a lightening strike, some kind of attack, etc. Sure, I keep my eyeballs open, and if I see or hear something that seems really weird, I'll probably notify somebody. But I'm not going to let these scare tactics worry me. I've lived 60 years on the edge of chance, and made it OK so far.

We're all going to die some day. For me...I want it to be fast!

[Hoping4Change]

22. It costs $60 Billion to maintian US troops in Europe and

SE Asia. $60 billion is enough money to pay the tuition of every student enrolled in all US universities for two years. These countries have enough money to finance their own troops. Money wasted in support of the Military-Industrial complex against non-exstant enemies would be better spent studying massive geological events that are bound to happen. The scientists raising this alarm are not nuts, they are simply stating that prepartions must be made for this eventuality.

[Moderator]

23. Hoping4Change

Per DU copyright rules
please post only four
paragraphs from the
copyrighted news source.


Thank you.

DU Moderator

[Bombtrack]

24. What is this, 1997 ?

remember when those 2 Volcano movies came out at the same time and they both sucked ultra-ass !!!

They made Deep Impact and Armageddon look like Godfather 1 and 2.

[allalone]

26. yeah it could happen

and big birds could fly out of my butt, but hey life is dangerous.

[seabeyond]

27. next 1000 years

yup, know i would be stressing right now

[Hoping4Change]

28. Actually this is a active volcano.

"the slow collapse -- started by an eruption in 1949 -- would almost certainly be turned catastrophic by another eruption of the volcano, which erupts every 25 to 200 years.


The last eruption was in 1971, and prior to 1949, the previous eruption was in 1712."



http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/NewsStory.aspx?section=SCIENCE&oid=57097

[gauguin57]

29. So, where will we move the Capitol to if the East Coast is gone?

If Washington, D.C., goes bye-bye, what city should be used for the capital? Better be someplace smack dab in the middle of a lot of land, and not near any major fault lines.

How about ... Des Moines? Witchita? Omaha?

[GiovanniC]

30. I Nominate St. Louis

n/t

[Aftershock]

31. I wouldn't worry about this volcano. I'd worry about...

Yellowstone National Park. Yep. That supervolcano could erupt anytime within the next 1000 years also. The problem with Yellowstone erupting is that the Midwest U.S. would probably be in a nuclear winter for years, while Wyoming would be virtually nonexistent.

Yellowstone has a tendency to erupt every 233,000 years or so, according to the rock record. It's about that time again. :(

I should know, I'm a geologist. I've heard about this for the past five years now.

I pray Yellowstone doesn't erupt until 1000 years from now.

[Hoping4Change]

38. Well I just googled that and I can see why you're nervous.

Its unbelievable that billions at being spent on the idiotic missile defense pro-gramme when there is this looming catastrophe. Is there anyone studying if it is possible to reduce the pressure that is mounting underground?

[TankLV]

44. Damn! - got to reset my watch and all my clocks again!

Is it 233,000:01 ir 233,000:02?

[loudsue]

32. The Big Tsunami needs to hit the White House/Congress on Nov. 2.....

If that one DOESN'T hit, we're in FAR MORE IMMEDIATE danger than anything our MOTHER EARTH will throw at us.

Millions of lives are ALREADY/NOW being destroyed by the bush family/CIA drug mafia/PNAC crowd: Africa, Iraq, Israel/Palestine, poverty/starvation in Haiti, So. America, millions of Americans without any health care, millions of seniors who can't afford life-saving drugs. Throw in with that, all the drug overdoses and drug mafia related killings brought about by the bush drug cartel, and we have the "perfect storm" already going down.

So, I repeat: The Tsunami we need to keep our eye on right now is the one we WANT to hit the White House & Congress in November....BRING IT ON!!!

:kick::kick:

[Karenina]

35. You GO, girl!

:toast: :loveya: :toast:

[robpopulace]

34. The Earth is gonna kill us

Let's attack it, and call it the "War On Terra."

Hmmmm...



Edited because of poor English

[tjwash]

36. Like GC said...

...someday the earth is just gonna get sick of us and shake us off like a bad case of fleas.

[CityZen-X]

43. She Is sick Already!

Mother Earth is totally fed up with our crimes against nature. She will eradicate humanoids and their simulators once and for all. Maybe in the spirit of that Texas woman who drowned her 3-children in her bath tub, because God told her to?

[Zynx]

39. And there's also a super volcano underneath Yellowstone. Am I supposed to

be frightened by things I can't do anything about? When the end comes, it comes.

[Hoping4Change]

40. Personally I think that this looming catastrophic events should

be publicized and used in anti-star wars information. So much money is being spent on military defense when other real threats are left hanging.

[noonwitch]

42. I took a geology class where we learned that that is probably true

That Yellowstone Lake and the surrounding plains are actually an ancient caldera, which is why there is all the volcanic activity like the mud volcano, the geysers, the sulfur pools (which smell, but are really pretty). I didn't know all that when I visited the park, but I do remember it being a beautiful area. I was bummed because I didn't see any bears.

[Strelnikov_]

41. What The Hell Good Is All My Plastic And Duct Tape

when a tidal wave gets me before the terraists.

Guess I better go buy some sandbags. I could also use the sandbags to build revetments in case the terraists invade like in that Chuck Norris movie where he kicked their ass like the hero he is.

I bet him and the President are friends.