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Thread: Feasibility of catastrophic natural disaster

  1. #1
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    Feasibility of catastrophic natural disaster

    First of all, love this part of the forum and many thanks to everyone for posting suggestions, tips, etc. on preparedness.

    No question that preparing for natural disasters like hurricanes, tornado outbreaks, blizzards, floods, and the like are very important...but what do you all think the next large scale (domestic) natural disaster will be? Massive earthquake? Tsunami? Volcanic activity? I lump these into an altogether different category than more 'normal' natural disasters that occur on a fairly regular basis.

    A few news stories today peeked my interest, all of them revolving around the recent quakes/tremors felt across the US.
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/us/24earthquake.html
    http://www.nytimes.com/2011/08/24/us...e.html?_r=1&hp

    These disruptions in our area of the Earth's crust have got me worried because of the Yellowstone Caldera which lies...you guessed it, under Yellowstone National Park. In a word, it's a supervolcano measuring about 35 miles x 45 miles. It's been swelling for years but the recent earthquakes in Japan, Chile, and now in the US, could lead to instability which in turn could be a trigger for this volcano.



    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/travel/ar...oon-erupt.html

    http://news.nationalgeographic.com/n...magma-science/

    So I believe this is the next large-scale disaster to hit our country and it might happen in the near future. While volcanoes swell and contract, hearing about earthquakes throughout the country got me think worst-case scenario. The results would obviously be crippling as ash would fall over most of the nation's farmland, damaging soil and agriculture, 9% of our exports. I don't need to tell anyone that during these economic times something on this scale would be crippiling for the US.

    Scary...thoughts? Anyone else been following this? This definitely puts an emphasis on the importance of food storage.
    Last edited by munch520; 08-23-11 at 13:52.

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    I remember talking about yellowstone being basically a massive shield volcano in my honors geology class my freshman year. Our teacher put it to us like this, geology isn't exact, a few thousand years off is normal in the time line of predicting explosions. Yellowstone's shield volcano is basically in the time period where she's due to blow between now and whenever...but when she does...essentially we're ****ed because she is one big angry bitch of a volcano.

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    Last edited by silviacrazed; 08-23-11 at 19:22.

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    Over my dinner just now I was thinking about starting a thread based on one cataclysmic event in one part of the country and have everyone (rollplay) react and begin posting according to their plans or lack thereof. It fits right in with your thread munch520, but I don't want to start it in your thread. I would like to take recent East Coast events, embellish them somewhat and let it roll. It might be interesting to see where it goes.
    Last edited by LRS143; 08-23-11 at 19:42.

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    I think earthquake is the most likely large scale cataclysmic event we face in the US. Also, I think eventually one of our enemies will figure out a way they feel is low enough risk to EMP us. The technology is already there, it just has to get into the wrong hands and given covert nation support to get them near enough aboard cargo ships. How hard could that be if China really wanted to team up with Al Queda or someone like that?

    Anyway, a massive earthquake on the west coast is inevitable, just a matter of when. And we have more volcanoes overdue (Mt Rainier for one) though that would be localized severe damage than the San Andreas 9.0, unless we got mudlfows that wiped out Tacoma.

    Historically western Tennessee was known as the Quakes, and the Mississippi was rerouted by massive earthquake. A larger one like the 5.9 we just had would devastate the Eastern seaboard from at least NYC to DC or further.

    Worst case scenario is a massive earthquake on either coast and the Chinese decide that is good cover confusion for launching multiple third party EMP strikes. It would make it easy for them to walk all over Taiwan while we have other things on our mind. Our economy would be a shambles and it would take decades to recover.

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    Quote Originally Posted by NWPilgrim View Post
    I think earthquake is the most likely large scale cataclysmic event we face in the US. Also, I think eventually one of our enemies will figure out a way they feel is low enough risk to EMP us. The technology is already there, it just has to get into the wrong hands and given covert nation support to get them near enough aboard cargo ships. How hard could that be if China really wanted to team up with Al Queda or someone like that?

    Anyway, a massive earthquake on the west coast is inevitable, just a matter of when. And we have more volcanoes overdue (Mt Rainier for one) though that would be localized severe damage than the San Andreas 9.0, unless we got mudlfows that wiped out Tacoma.

    Historically western Tennessee was known as the Quakes, and the Mississippi was rerouted by massive earthquake. A larger one like the 5.9 we just had would devastate the Eastern seaboard from at least NYC to DC or further.

    Worst case scenario is a massive earthquake on either coast and the Chinese decide that is good cover confusion for launching multiple third party EMP strikes. It would make it easy for them to walk all over Taiwan while we have other things on our mind. Our economy would be a shambles and it would take decades to recover.

    guess where this thread took a turn for the crazy.....

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    You mean I can come out of my Faraday cage?!

    I'm not saying it is likely now, but all the capability is sitting out there with the Russians and Chinese (and us). I think eventually, with various leaders and economic conditions ahead that sooner or later someone just might think Hey why not? Hopefully not, but the capability exists. I would say an EMP attack is far more likely than the Yellowstone Caldera blowing.

    Anyway the thread was about cataclysmic disasters and most of my post was about earthquakes. I think a massive east or west coast quake would be the most devastating. Storms and floods give some warning, quakes don't much. Storms tend to smash what is above ground and not so much the bridges and concrete buildings. Quakes can destroy everything. Look what impact Katrina had on the country as NOLA was wiped out, in some places temporarily and others permanent. How much worse for the country economically if any of LA, SF, DC, NYC were wiped out y a massive quake, or two of them in the same one?
    Last edited by NWPilgrim; 08-23-11 at 20:16.

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    Lightbulb

    Some experts say we are heading for another ice age, a naturally reoccurring event in our planets life cycle, we are due. Others say one of the Earth’s caldera volcanoes like the one at Yellowstone will make us all go the way of the dinosaurs, we are pass due for an eruption from the known dormant ones. The most intelligent minds on the Earth today are more concerned with astronomical threats; coronal mass ejections, gamma ray bursts, super and hyper nova’s, large planet killer asteroids, comets. . .we are on borrowed time.

    All of these end game scenarios are a viable threat as well; no amount of prepping will do anyone a damn bit of good if one of these comes to pass.
    "In a nut shell, if it ever goes to Civil War, I'm afraid I'll be in the middle 70%, shooting at both sides" — 26 Inf


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    Quote Originally Posted by Moose-Knuckle View Post
    Some experts say we are heading for another ice age, a naturally reoccurring event in our planets life cycle, we are due. Others say one of the Earth’s caldera volcanoes like the one at Yellowstone will make us all go the way of the dinosaurs, we are pass due for an eruption from the known dormant ones. The most intelligent minds on the Earth today are more concerned with astronomical threats; coronal mass ejections, gamma ray bursts, super and hyper nova’s, large planet killer asteroids, comets. . .we are on borrowed time.

    All of these end game scenarios are a viable threat as well; no amount of prepping will do anyone a damn bit of good if one of these comes to pass.
    I think Yellowstone erupting is a lot more likely than anything else. If Yellowstone erupts it wont be the end of the world, just the end of the world as we know it. Large amounts of ash in the atmosphere will likely cause a global cooling, possibly throwing us into another ice age (which were about due for). A lot of crops will die off and most of the Midwest will be covered in ash. National and global instability would surely ensue due to a food shortage, economic damage, large amounts of refugees etc. I think if something of that nature happens we could expect to see something close to anarchy in this country.

    EDIT: overall though there seems to be a lot of fear mongering going on in the world. People seem to be infatuated with the end times. I think were headed for a time of national and global instability but people need to quit freaking out about gamma ray bursts and all that BS. A lot of this stuff is theoretical. These scientists change their minds all the time. I think an ice age is far more likely than anything else, and even then... It actually seems like maybe there is a likelihood that Yellowstone could erupt with all this other volcanic activity. I'd like to read more about it.
    Last edited by Mr. Goodtimes; 08-25-11 at 00:48.

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    Quote Originally Posted by Mr. Goodtimes View Post
    EDIT: overall though there seems to be a lot of fear mongering going on in the world. People seem to be infatuated with the end times. I think were headed for a time of national and global instability but people need to quit freaking out about gamma ray bursts and all that BS. A lot of this stuff is theoretical. These scientists change their minds all the time. I think an ice age is far more likely than anything else, and even then... It actually seems like maybe there is a likelihood that Yellowstone could erupt with all this other volcanic activity. I'd like to read more about it.
    It is confusing when they can't seem to agree. The fearmongering has definitely increased, due in large part to 2012 approaching and the media cashing in with their worthless specials on the Mayans. All programs I've watched on the topic omit key details (like how the long count calendar doesn't end...it restarts)

    I prefer to research on my own and draw my own, albeit sometimes unprofessional, conclusions. If you start reading up on recent volcanic activity it gets very scary. Especially since within the last year you have big ones along fault lines in Japan and Chile...leads one to believe one near California will occur soon. Yet more instability near the Yellowstone caldera...
    Last edited by munch520; 08-24-11 at 20:36.

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    Quote Originally Posted by munch520 View Post
    It is confusing when they can't seem to agree. The fearmongering has definitely increased, due in large part to 2012 approaching and the media cashing in with their worthless specials on the Mayans. All programs I've watched on the topic omit key details (like how the long count calendar doesn't end...it restarts)

    I prefer to research on my own and draw my own, albeit sometimes unprofessional, conclusions. If you start reading up on recent volcanic activity it gets very scary. Especially since within the last year you have big ones along fault lines in Japan and Chile...leads one to believe one near California will occur soon. Yet more instability near the Yellowstone caldera...
    To me it all feels sort of zen. It's part of the way the earth works. We can't stop volcanic eruptions, earth quakes or ice ages, all we can do is prepare for them. Man has survived for God only knows how long, I think we can manage a little longer. Many scientists say that man could have been around during the time of the dinosaurs; well man is still here. Although Yellowstone erupting would be a catastrophic, horrible event, if that's what it takes to get rid of some of these gawd awful TV shows like "Glee," "Dancing with the Stars, "The Bachelor Pad" and "Sons of Guns" then maybe it's not such a bad thing.

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