h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

'A "mega-tsunami" originating from a Canary Islands volcano will one day wreak certain havoc along the eastern coast of North America and much of Europe, researchers say.

"This is not just speculation," Steven Ward, a research geophysicist at the University of California at Santa Cruz, told CBC News.'

http://www.cbc.ca/story/science/national/2005/01/06/tsunami-mega050106.html

For before and after satellite photos of the devastation by the tsunami: http://homepage.mac.com/demark/tsunami/

They've been wibbling about that for years. Most scientists seem to think it's far more likely that there will be several small landslips than one large one.

But then again it isn't really going to abide by a democratic vote is it?

I was sort of joking. It went along with my previous bit about the asteroid.

I noticed this story quite a while ago.



On the other hand, a number of smaller slips might not be much better.

Imagine: a series of 6-10 metre tsunamis crashing into the Eastern United States and Southern Britain. Massive destruction from the first one, desperate survivors, massive outpouring of aid. And then the second one hits, taking half the world's aid organizations out. Who's left for the next four or five waves?

Actually, this brings to mind an interesting point. Why wasn't aid sent to the US after say 911 or the last huricane blitz? Admitedly money wasn't needed since the US is awash in it, but expertise perhaps could be needed. Is there a case of the US receiving warm bodies with willing hands in the past?

Actually, i'm not sure about the hurricanes but I know there were a group of Tokyo firefighters who went to help with the ground zero cleanup and I think there was a contingent of Canadians too.

We send firefighters down to fight forest fires every year. And a whole lot of Canadian firefighters went down to help after 9/11. We send aid down to all the disasters in the U.S., if we're needed, Zoomer.