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Fri, 13 Aug 2004

Alternative worries for Friday the 13th

Every once in a while, it's important to worry about things other than insane politicians. How about a 12 hour warning affecting (potentially gravely) a few hundred million people?

From the Beeb:

A scientist has attacked the inaction over a threat from a dangerous volcano in the Canary Islands which could send a tidal wave crashing against the US.
Bill McGuire of the Benfield Grieg Hazard Research Centre said no one was keeping a proper watch on the mountain.
If Cumbre Vieja volcano erupts, it may send a rock slab the size of a small island crashing into the sea, creating a huge tidal wave, or tsunami.
Walls of water 300 feet high would travel to the US at the speed of a jet.
Within three hours, the wave would swamp the east coast of Africa, within five hours it would reach southern England and within 12 it could hit America's east coast.
The rock is in the process of slipping into the sea, but the trigger that sends it into the Atlantic is likely to be an eruption of Cumbre Vieja. According to Professor McGuire, Cumbre Vieja could blow "any time".

More here... and the original Slashdot here...

Posted at 12:22 by Randy Kirchhof [Permalink] [Reload all] [E-mail]