VOLCANOS: Cumbre Vieja violence

Geologist David Johnston was killed by the eruption of Mount St. Helens on May 18, 1980. He was 6 miles away from the volcano. His last words were, “Vancouver! Vancouver! This is it!”

The La Palma Island volcano, Cumbre Vieja, began erupting on Sept. 19, 2021.

Potentially the Canary Island volcano is more dangerous than Mt. St. Helens, because the volcano faces the North American continent. Should the western flank of the volcano collapse — a 2.5-mile fracture was caused by a 1949 eruption — and cause a large marine landslide, it would set up tsunamis in the North Atlantic Ocean. South and North America coasts could be hit by waves ranging more than 50 feet in height?

The Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami killed an estimated 228,000 people in 14 countries.

The Mount Tambora, Indonesia eruption of April 1815 caused at least 71,000 deaths. The August 1883 massive explosions of Krakatoa, Indonesia resulted in some 37,000 deaths. Krakatoa was four times more explosive than the most powerful nuclear device ever detonated by mankind (Tsar Bomba hydrogen bomb, USSR, Oct. 30, 1961).

Can mega-tsunamis cross oceans? Geologist Brian Atwater has evidence that a 1700 Pacific Northwest offshore earthquake caused a destructive tsunami in Japan on Jan. 26, 1700.

We spend billions on mankind’s global climate change, when the greater need is unfunded instrumentation and understanding needed for nature’s catastrophic events that effect millions.

Psalm 2:1 “Why do the nations rage, and the people plot a vain thing?”

JIM PEARL

Hayden Lake