Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Worst Case Scenario
I hope none of us will ever see a day like this. On the eve of the one month mark since the October 15 earthquake , I decided to embed this National Geographic Video to this blog. The clip is titled "Ultimate Tsunami" and presents a hypothetical worst case scenario where a massive eruption and landslide on the West side of the Big Island of Hawaii triggers the ultimate tsunami. The computer generated clip shows a gigantic wave, taller than Diamond Head rushing into Honolulu and destroying everything in its path, all the way up to Mililani.
Few would surive such a massive wave, much less the huge earthquake that would trigger the landslide. Funny how the video doesn't mention that. Certainly a huge landslide and eruption of Mauna Loa would trigger a quake larger than the 6.7 we had last month.
Once a wave like this happens we have almost no time to move more than a million people away from the coastline and up to the few high elevations left on Oahu. The traffic jam just trying to get out will be impossible to navigate. Many lives will be lost.
Just something to think about and visualize here.
A better video link at the National Geographic Website
1 comment:
And that isn't even the worst case.
Seashells have been found atop the island of Lana'i, indicating that a tsunami of at least 1000 feet has overwashed that island about 100,000 years ago.
If that were to happen today, only people on the upper reaches of Haleakala and Mauna Kea would survive.
They would not get any rescue, since a 1000 foot tsunami would destroy the entire Pacific Rim and the Pacific Basin. It would propagate around the world. Affecting every major coastal city on the planet.
A true global event.
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