Crossing the Indian Ocean at speeds over 500 mph, the tsunamis from the Dec. 26, 2004 Sumatra quake carried death and destruction all the way to Africa, 4,000 miles away. Centered six miles under the Indian Ocean’s seabed 155 miles southeast of Sumatra, the 9.0 quake rang the Earth’s core, leading to fresh concerns of imminent polar reversals.

The last time this area shook in 1883, 120-foot-high tidal waves snuffed 36,000 lives as ash reached a height of 50 miles, blocking the sun and plunging the surrounding region into darkness lasting nearly three days. Global temperatures dipped 1.2 degree C, and did not return to normal until 1888. Krakaota’s 535 eruption caused a lingering “global winter” that killed crops and unleashed bubonic plague, derailing civilizations. We were lucky the Sumatra supervolcano didn’t blow again. But if left unchecked, humanity’s volcanic carbon burning will ensure similar catastrophe within decades.

There was no warning.

Around 9 o’clock on a paradisiacal Sri Lankan beach, 5-year-old Adil was making sandcastles with his younger sister, Reeze when the girl ran complaining to her mother Haalima that waves had crushed their creations. The ocean followed Reeze home. “When we looked, there was no shore anymore and no Adil,” Haalima said.

http://www.willthomas.net/Convergence/Weekly/Tsunami.htm


Informant: Di