I stumbled across this article online and followed it up with a google search, which confirmed it’s veracity. It concerns a potential land slide in the Canary Islands set off by volcanic eruption that would send monstrous tidal waves around the Atlantic, including 300 ft waves into Africa. It’s so beyond imagining (except in movies) that one hardly worries about it really happening. The other interesting aspect is how governments are ignoring scientists warnings to at least pay attention. It doesn’t pay politically to get involved. (I live right in earthquake country and have heard that if a real one hits, well, you just don’t want to be there.) I’ll mostly forget about this news after some time, except way in the back of my head, and, if I hear of volcanic activity in the Canary Islands, I’ll certainly follow the news closely.
It just points out to me how precarious our existence is and how complacent we are in our comfort.
Tony
Saw that one about the Canary Islands on cable, and the computer model based on the calculations and the why and how of it were pretty disconcerting. I think I’ll stay in Minnesota as much as I can help it. Can’t live forever, though…
I must say that when I read “Natural Disasters”, I thought that I might qualify, myself.
There was actually a cable TV program on this some time back. Not sure where, but given my watching proclivities, it was probably either Discovery or National Geographic.
I think “out of sight, out of mind” is a natural ability, perhaps even a hardwired genetic defense, on the part of humans to allow them to concentrate on the present instead of worrying about a {until now) mostly uncontrollable future. “Sure, that snow MIGHT fall in an avalanche, but if I spend all my time sitting here worrying about it, my family WILL starve for lack of my hunting.”
Everything we know about the New Madrid fault in the Missouri/Southern Illinois/Eastern Arkansas are says that if it releases catastrophically it will make most earthquakes to date look like minor shudders. Despite that, and a flurry of earthquake ‘planning’ (just sitting around talking about it, really) back in the early '90s, not a single danged thing has been done. The Midwest still makes no effort to design earthquake-proof buildings or bridges or to harden infrastructure.
I forgot about the New Madrid fault. Out of sight, out of mind for sure. What else can I do but live the absurd beauty of making music while balanced on a razor, so to speak…
Then, of course, there’s the always real possibility of a cataclysmic asteroid hit. I’m not being facetious, we really are “due” for one if you consider the BIG calendar. Bill Bryson, in his recent book with the cosmic dust jacket (I forget the title,) points out that anything directly below (meaning a multi-mile point) the point of impact would be sizzled to ashes in seconds, even before impact, because of the enormous pressure. Everyone one else would die off uncomfortably, due to earthquakes, tidalwaves, and climatic change.
Guess building things earthquake-resistant won’t help with that situation, but it seems a good idea otherwise.
Y’know, it seems I’ve lived my entire life in the shadw of !DOOM!. From being a kid taught to cul up in a more-or-less fetal position in a halllway as ‘protection’ against the dirty Commies’ A-bombs, to tornadoes and earthquakes. to AIDS an th West Nile Virus, to now terrorists and their bombs, disaster has always lurked just around the nearest corner.
Is it any wonder we’re desensitized to Bangladeshi typhoons and Canary Island landslides that, whatever else they do, can’t kill US?
I saw a wildlife show once where they showed a wide-angle view of the Serengeti and zillions of wildebeasts grazing. The narrartor said none of them would die of old age. (I guess they die of running slower, a consequence of advancing age.) I was always impressed, also, with how these herd animals would take off running from lions or hyenas and then settle down to grazing again when the immediate threat was over. Now, that’s living in the present. I envy them that capacity.
Tony
Gloooooom, despair, and agony on me; Deep dark depression excessive misery; It it weren’t fer bad luck I’d have no luck at all; gloooom, despair, and agony on me.
This stuff isn’t just basd on computer models. Recently on another thread we discussed how Thera/Santorini periodically gets redesigned when it’s volcano erupts or explodes. I also mentioned Krakatoa.
What I didn’t mention about Krakatoa was that, in the 1883 explosion, the resulting tsunamis killed 36,000 people in coastal areas of Java and Sumatra. The toll would be very much greater today. As people in California are well aware, the Pacific is rimmed with active volcanoes and tsunamis are a fact of life. Apparently there is a very serious tsunami about once every 500 years in Wollongong.
Apparently there is a very serious tsunami about once every 500 years in Wollongong.
So, like, when was the last one?
I have this spooky image of someone saying, “Tony, come look at the news. This is unbelieveable.” Ok, I’ll stop. I’m beginning to sound morbid to myself.
Tony
Cheer up Tony, when the big one hits everything east of the Sierras is going to slide off into the Atlantic!
I was living out in LA when they quit the coring operation that was studying the big fault that runs right under Big Bear dam because they were afraid they might actually trigger a quake. When (not if - it’s already something like 200 years overdue for a big shake) that one lets go all the houses they’ve built from Hesperia to Victorville and Apple Valley, right in the bed of what was a river before they built the dam, are going to get real damp, real quick.
