Not looking good.. (Haiti / Caribbean earthquakes)

[draggar]

In the past hour a 6.1 magnitude earthquake (aftershock) just hit Port Au Prince, Haiti.

If that wasn't enough:

Last week there was a 5.5 off the coast of Venezuela
In the past 48 hours:

5.8 in the Cayman Islands
5.8 off the coast of Guatemala / El Salvador
4.9 in southern Mexico
4.7 in Panama near the border with Costa Rica
4.7 in central Columbia

The whole Caribbean plate is on the move.

[Cat]

Shit....I didn't hear about the Colombian one....my bf has family there.

Earthquakes scare the hell outta me.

[Amina516]

So sad.

[AdminAssistant]

Quakes scare me, too. I recently saw something on the History Channel about the likelihood of a major quake on the New Madrid fault line (goes from Northeast Arkansas to Illinois) in the next century or so, and the fact that it would be pretty much the worst natural disaster we've ever faced. It scares me, because my family lives so close to the likely epicenter in a rural area, and I know they would go a long time before getting any help. Very scary.

[draggar]

Quakes scare me, too. I recently saw something on the History Channel about the likelihood of a major quake on the New Madrid fault line (goes from Northeast Arkansas to Illinois) in the next century or so, and the fact that it would be pretty much the worst natural disaster we've ever faced. It scares me, because my family lives so close to the likely epicenter in a rural area, and I know they would go a long time before getting any help. Very scary.

East of the Rockies the ground is a lot more solid than the west coast which means an earthquake would travel a lot further. A repeat of the 1811 / 1812 New Madrid earthquakes would shake everything east of the Rockies into Massachusetts. Taking coding into fact, you're not looking at the destruction of one city but many as well as tens of millions displaced.

I think there could be only three disasters that could be worse (that right now have the potential to happen - as little as that may be):

1) The Yellowstone supervolcano erupting. This one is clearly obvious.

2) A major subduction earthquake in the Cascadia region (north-Pacific coast) This could trigger a tsunami that could devastate the entire Pacific coast from central California though Alaska (and down eastern Asia and possibly even Hawaii).

3) An eruption in one of the Atlantic volcanoes (I forgot which one - Cape Verde or the Azores?). This could be the equivalent of the Krakatoa eruption but the landslide form it would trigger a "mega tsunami" that would make any tsunami we've seen over the past 1000 years (including 2004) look like a small splash of water. Everything form the Florida Keys to norther Maine (and futher) would be destroyed.

It's great living here, isn't it?

[HYHYBT]

This is why I quit watching "Mega Disasters." Something will happen sometime, and in most cases there's not a thing we can do about it so why worry?

[Jester]

Everything form the Florida Keys to norther Maine (and futher) would be destroyed.

Greeeaaaattt. Just freakin' fantastic. Well, until then, I am just going to have to enjoy living in the Keys. I think I can manage.

[Food Lady]

I grew up in SoCal with a mom who kept stuff in the car. I always had a pair of shoes by my bed and all that. And yet now I don't even keep a snow shovel in the trunk. I've slacked off.

[tropicsgoddess]

Wow.....Haiti has been going through hell and back. Just hearing about the earthquakes in South America is unsettling to me since I have family there.

[Cat]

This, my friends, is why looking into survival kits and packing away non-perishable foods are probably something to be thinking about at this point. Doesn't matter where you are, you should always try to be prepared for an emergency. Same goes for having an emergency kit in your car.

Thanks for the links. I do store away canned goods (hoarder) and I always know where flashlight, lanterns are. I don't let my gas get below 1/4. I don't get crazy, but ya never know.

[Jester]

Quick positive note about Haiti.

Some people I know who have medical training (EMT's and such) are planning on going there to volunteer their time. I think that is awesome, and would do the same, if I had any skills that would benefit the people there. Frankly, I think I would just be in the way, and from what I understand, they are only letting people with certain skills in anyway. Which is probably a good idea.

Also, my company is donating to the Red Cross relief effort in Haiti in a big way. Specifically, they are taking any donations from customers and employees that the customers and employees are willing to give, and matching every single one of them dollar for dollar. It's not just because our kitchen staff (like many around here) is almost all Haitian. It's because I work for some really awesome people that want to help, not just our staff's families there, but Haiti in general. Naturally the fact that so many employees are Haitian has something to do with that, but I dare say my boss is going above and beyond.

3) An eruption in one of the Atlantic volcanoes (I forgot which one - Cape Verde or the Azores?). This could be the equivalent of the Krakatoa eruption but the landslide form it would trigger a "mega tsunami" that would make any tsunami we've seen over the past 1000 years (including 2004) look like a small splash of water. Everything form the Florida Keys to norther Maine (and futher) would be destroyed.

Interesting, the free weekly newspaper down here ran an article on this very thing this past week, and using information they got from the local office of the National Weather Service, basically showed that a tsunami of any significance coming to the Keys is so unlikely as to be negligible. Any that might come would cause flooding less than we had in Hurricane Wilma. Interestingly, parts of the geography that make this area conducive to building hurricanes also make it not conducive to a major tsunami. So while bad, any such event would not be as utterly destructive as the Indonesian tsunami was. At least, not to us. The Atlantic seaboard above Florida, though, could be rightly fucked.

In other news, while various parts of the country deal with hurricanes, tornadoes, floods, blizzards, mudslides, earthquakes, and other natural disasters, back in Phoenix they only have to deal with...heat. And still people wonder why I want to go back there.

[Sunsetsky]

Thinking about some of these natural disasters make me want to go hide under my bed. Earthquakes scare the shit out of me. When my dad was stationed in California I remember there being an earthquake at 4am that collapsed some bridges. The thought of an earthquake scares me more then thinking about the super volcano in Yellowstone. I hope everything turns out okay for everyone in those regions where the earthquakes hit. I'm going to have to go read the news now.

[Cat]

Well, my bf's family wasn't even aware of the Colombian quake, so that is good. My company is doing the donation matching as well.

I just hope things can quiet down, one of my friends is thinking about going over to Haiti soon to help out (she's a nurse and has been to Haiti several times before)

[blas]

Correct me if I'm wrong but I thought subductive plates formed volcanoes and diverging plates caused earthquakes? Just the prediction of the Cascades potential disaster had me a bit confused.

[CaroPhoenix]

The speech therapy office I take my daughter to is looking for supplies and such for the Haiti people.

Right now, I'm seriously of trying to get in touch with whomever is in charge of the children and adopting at least one or 2. (I'd take more, but right now we live in a 3 bedroom townhouse with 3 peoples and 2 cats - can't get more peoples into our house at the moment).

I'm going to be going through my linen closet and pull stuff that can be donated.