Could We Survive a Mega-Tsunami?

[Hivemaker.]

After watching this i can understand why the BBKA are building an Ark.

It is going to happen, just a case of when, and how severe it will be.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01s0zqv/could-we-survive-a-megatsunami

 

[Gilberdyke John]

After watching this i can understand why the BBKA are building an Ark.

It is going to happen, just a case of when, and how severe it will be.


http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b01s0zqv/could-we-survive-a-megatsunami

When faced with situations such as this face aft and salute!

 

[madasafish]

If we do have one, Ireland, Wales and Cheshire get flooded before we do...

 

[enrico]

I remember my dad telling me back in the 1960's that it was coming but it hasn't yet! Funny how when you say something like that it happens the next day............RUN

 

[Hivemaker.]

When faced with situations such as this face aft and salute!

The documentary states that 50% of the population (say of New York) would do nothing, they would go into a state of denial, and not believe it was going to happen, even when the Tsunami was many hours away and they still have chance to escape it, as it says, it would be just another day in New York to them, and then ...splat.

Good way of culling the stupid ones i suppose.

 

[pargyle]

.

Good way of culling the stupid ones i suppose.

Well ... perhaps it will be the way that the planet will adjust its growing population ? It won't be just the Tsunami that will wipe coastal populations out - it will be the disease and loss of infrastructure that will do as much damage. Would not wish this on our Earth but I get the feeling that it will take a catastrophe of global significance to bring some people to their senses.

Sadly, all the models that have looked at the aftermath of an event of global proportions seem to predict a breakdown of society rather than a scenario where survivors work together for a common good.

An interesting, thought provoking, sobering and slightly depressing book:

Global Catastrophes and Trends: The Next Fifty Years
by Vaclav Smil (Author)

I picked up an unread copy in the Oxfam bookshop for £1 but there are used copies on Amazon for less than a fiver ... doubt your local library will have it !

 

[jd101k2000]

I started watching it and realised it was one of those documentaries with minimal information. Skipped to about 19 minutes and saw a couple of chaps discussing it and thought to myself, 'but they haven't brought on the scientist with the foreign (normally German) accent'... a few seconds later, one appeared. Grrrhhh.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Watched a few seconds here and there - enough for me, just going to run out to the shops and buy a pair of waterproof carpet slippers but realised I wouldn't be venturing that far from the house in alippers anyway - pitu the poor people down on the vallet floor though - getting saltwater on their car wheel rims.

 

[user 6228]

A few years after the Eastern sea board is devastated it will start being recolonised by wild plants and following the plants will be the bees...I'm sure they will find nooks and crannies in the wreckage to nest in just as they did in bombed out Europe after WW2

 

[wessexmario]

If I had to summarise "how to survive any type of disaster" into one sentence it would be:

"be prepared to survive the first month".

To do that you actually need very little food, what's important is clean water, shelter from the weather, and physical safety (from other people).

 

[drstitson]

we live at 600m.

the tsunami isn't an issue.

1-2m deep snow is more of a problem.

 

[oliver90owner]

Plate tectonics are now well known, but not entirely predictable.

Yes, the UK will suffer from the aftermath of a 're-adjustment' within the crust at some time. The relatively minor effects on our coastline (deaths and damage to buildings, towns, etc) might be the lesser consequence. It is the nuclear installations which may well have meltdowns which would add to the long term problems for the population in the UK.

The question remains as to whether nuclear reactors could, or would, be completely closed down in time. Currently we have 5 or 6 hours(?) warning of the most likely source of a serious tsunami which could engulf large areas along our coastline. 500 years since the last one? Not long ago, really!

 

[user 6228]

Plate tectonics are now well known, but not entirely predictable.

Yes, the UK will suffer from the aftermath of a 're-adjustment' within the crust at some time. The relatively minor effects on our coastline (deaths and damage to buildings, towns, etc) might be the lesser consequence. It is the nuclear installations which may well have meltdowns which would add to the long term problems for the population in the UK.

The question remains as to whether nuclear reactors could, or would, be completely closed down in time. Currently we have 5 or 6 hours(?) warning of the most likely source of a serious tsunami which could engulf large areas along our coastline. 500 years since the last one? Not long ago, really!

add the greater risk of the numerous chemical works and oil refineries on the Severn/ South Wales coast lines. Note only hinckeley point reactors are in the frame for this particular disaster

 

[pargyle]

It happens already, more frequently than you think ... There are a number of potential candidates within an area that could create massive Tsunamis which would affect our coastline (La Palma volanic activity, Various geological fault lines). The Earths crust is under massive compression loads and these stresses eventually give way to movement which, generally, results in earthquakes. In 2014 there were 13 recorded earthquakes in the UK - there have already been 3 in 2015. Whilst these are relatively minor there is the potential for such minor events to trigger underwater landslides that would create tsunami of a magnitude disproportionate to the original fault line movement. The difficulty has always been that these movements are very unpredictable ... in terms of both scale and when they will occur.

The biggest potential threat is the Las Palma volcanic activity .. if/when this occurs a huge slippage could occur that may generate a tsunami of proportions that would make the recent Asian tsunamis look like a puddle splash. If it occurs the UK would be seriously affected with Cornwall and South Wales taking the brunt of it although the effects would be felt all around the UK and Northern European Coastline. The wave would take about 4 hours to reach the UK but I very much doubt that there is the sort of warning system in place and an organised plan for evacuation that would allow the coastal populations to get to places of safety. (Well, there probably is but I suspect that evacuation plans are limited to the 'great and good' - in their minds at any rate !).

If you live in lowland Southern England I would suggest that you have your own personal evacuation plan .. we are looking at a wall of water 30m high and approach speed of 150mph !!

It might not happen this year though ...

 

[Ely]

If it does happen. I hope I'm still in Derby still the time! The city the furthest away from any shore.

 

[jonnybeegood]

If it does happen. I hope I'm still in Derby still the time! The city the furthest away from any shore.

Dont forget we have nuclear plants on the coast, not that they could ever be flooded of course? Mmmm, now where have i heard that before?

 

[madasafish]

If it does happen. I hope I'm still in Derby still the time! The city the furthest away from any shore.

You'll get covered in the flotsam from Wales. Not a fate I would want

 

[bontbee]

I wouldn't be too keen on it either...

 

[sussexbaker]

If you live in lowland Southern England I would suggest that you have your own personal evacuation plan .. we are looking at a wall of water 30m high and approach speed of 150mph !!

I always stand on top of the Devil's Dyke/South Down's Way and look out and imagine a wall of water sweeping up and across the countryside. Would be stunning to watch.

Happily I always seem to live on top of hills, even in Lincolnshire I managed to live at the top of the one hill!

 

[Ely]

Apparently south coast will bear the brunt of the damage. I think that is acceptable. Can't imagine what is down there anyway