[minerva]

clicked on CNN and these were the headlines:

Reports: Indonesia quake kills 75, traps thousands

Tsunami kills 111, flattens villages in Samoa

Typhoon kills more than 300 in southeast Asia

wtf??? mother nature is tired of the health care debate and wanted to take over the headlines I guess.

[JBigjake]

Meanwhile, it's sunny & mild here in NJ.
But, that means I have to mow my lawn! Argh!

[Cascarino's Pizzeria]

That part of the pacific is a cauldron of tectonic & volcanic activity like we saw in 2004 with the Christmas tsunami. I was reading a book about Krakatoa and its eruption was so loud - scientists say it's the loudest sound ever heard by humans - that people thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean report hearing a noise like cannons firing. Simply amazing.

[minerva]

no kidding. it's a convergence of the philipine, pacific, euroasian, and australian plate, with the indian plate not too far off. definitely a geologically active area.

[IMG]http://rds.yahoo.com/_ylt=A0WTb_k2p8NKz08AD9yjzbkF/SIG=12t25kmgf/EXP=1254422710/**http%3A//www.msnucleus.org/membership/html/k-6/pt/plate/6/images/plate2.gif[/IMG]

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by Cascarino's Pizzeria

That part of the pacific is a cauldron of tectonic & volcanic activity like we saw in 2004 with the Christmas tsunami. I was reading a book about Krakatoa and its eruption was so loud - scientists say it's the loudest sound ever heard by humans - that people thousands of miles away in the Indian Ocean report hearing a noise like cannons firing. Simply amazing.

So the people who weren't killed by the pyroclastic flow or buried under tons of ash were permanently deafened?

[Cascarino's Pizzeria]

Originally Posted by Barbara

So the people who weren't killed by the pyroclastic flow or buried under tons of ash were permanently deafened?

Haven't got to that part!

but Krakatoa literally blew itself out of existence. That's how powerful the explosion was. Mt. St. Helen's was heard in its general area. This was heard as far away as Australia & Diego Garcia.

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by Cascarino's Pizzeria

Haven't got to that part!

but Krakatoa literally blew itself out of existence. That's how powerful the explosion was. Mt. St. Helen's was heard in its general area. This was heard as far away as Australia & Diego Garcia.

Is it wrong for me to be sad that Mt. St. Helens didn't erupt during the two year period that I had a view of it from my office on the 40th floor in downtown Portland?

[Dr. Wankler]

Originally Posted by Barbara

Is it wrong for me to be sad that Mt. St. Helens didn't erupt during the two year period that I had a view of it from my office on the 40th floor in downtown Portland?

I had a colleague once who was at Washington State University when Mt. St. Helens blew. He thought it was pretty damn cool watching the darkest cloud he'd ever see move in, but it took quite a while to get the ash off of everything. I think it would've been cool to watch that from Portland: all the advantages and none of the dig-out.

[YankHibee]

Originally Posted by JBigjake

Meanwhile, it's sunny & mild here in NJ.
But, that means I have to mow my lawn! Argh!

Maybe...the coming climate events are expected to be worse nearer the equator. The resulting migrations provide hope that you'll be less burdened by such chores.

[Barbara]

Originally Posted by Dr. Wankler

I had a colleague once who was at Washington State University when Mt. St. Helens blew. He thought it was pretty damn cool watching the darkest cloud he'd ever see move in, but it took quite a while to get the ash off of everything. I think it would've been cool to watch that from Portland: all the advantages and none of the dig-out.

Exactly.

Since moving here I've been interested in the Cascadia Subduction Zone which has the potential to really screw things up from BC down to northern California. On the coast there is a lot of information about and awareness of tsunamis but otherwise around here there doesn't seem to be any more earthquake preparedness than anywhere else.