Forums > Social Chat > natural disasters

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
well, I've been in loads of floods, a few hurricanes, a few serious droughts, been around a couple tornadoes (but never actually IN one thank god), and even a minor earthquake. So what am I missing..., volcanoes? what else?



anyway, I used to think I wanted to see what an earthquake was like, but last year there was a minor one while I was in Tokyo - barely enough for the locals to notice, and Holy bejesus man, no thank you! That is some scary stuff when the ground moves like that! I mean it doesn't just shake, but it swirls and sways and all sorta stuff! I was up on the 9th floor of a building and the damned thing kept swaying for like another 30 seconds afterwards. I wanted out! (and the Japanese were almost completely unpeturbed by this).



Droughts are just plain dull any way you look at them. Tornadoes are fascinating but terrifying. I kinda think floods and hurricanes are fun. Small hurricanes anyway. big ones suck and get pretty scary and you have to clean up so much afterwards. So I guess I'll pick flood (still a lot of clean up though). I like walking around in them. But on the plus side of hurricanes, there are few experiences in life as totally surreal as walking around in the eye of a hurricane (plus you get all the fun of floods with hurricanes as well, even in the eye). But then after a hurricane comes by you have to put up with no electricity or running water for days and days, which is pretty sucky too.



maybe I'll take the volcano just to round out my experience. the moster attack might be cool to if one could be arranged...

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
raaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!

there you go......

.

HOW TO FLY 101:
step 1. Throw your self at the ground.
step 2. Miss.

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
i count myself very lucky to live in a part of the world that experiences relatively few natural disasters.

the most you might experience here in ireland is perhaps the tail end of a hurricane from across the atlantic. we're not near any fault lines so no earthquakes, no volcanoes, never gets hot enough for a drought, and you don't find tornados on this part of the globe. the occasional flood, but nothing in comparison to other parts of the world

i've experienced severe flooding whilst living in holland though, and it's not nice. approximately 75% of the country in actually below sea level and is protected by a network of dams & dykes built along the country's coastline.

one year (1995-1996-ish) the rhine and it's tributaries burst it's banks & 250,000 people had to be evacuated. dead animals floating about, peoples livelihoods being washed away before your eyes..... no thanks

i did experience a minor tremor in near san francisco a few years ago though. unlike vanize i was outside. my uncle and i were drving down the road when next it felt like we were driving over bumps in the road (like an irish road with potholes ) and next thing i could see the tarmac ripple ever so slightly in front of us. it was scary but exciting, though according to my uncle it was "no big deal"

i would LOVE to experience being in the eye of a hurricane though.... is it really as eerie as they say?

My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely

Posted: 1st Sep 2004

Written by: Fabergé

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i would LOVE to experience being in the eye of a hurricane though.... is it really as eerie as they say?

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probably eerier since I would be hard pressed to do a good job describing it. I rate it second in surrealism factor only to a total eclipse of the sun. I count myself to have been very fortunate to have experienced both more than once.

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 1st Sep 2004




thanks!



that'll keep my blood flowing for a while.

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
Actually, you do have faults running through Ireland, but none of them have been active in a while.

Sorry, I am a geologist by trade, and faults are one of my favorite subjects.

With that in mind, I wouldn't mind experiencing an Earthquake, but I want to be outside, away from tall buildings. Vanize is right, the ground doesn't just shake. *Geology Geek Moment* There are three types of waves with most earthquakes...one type moves the ground back and forth, another actually rolls the ground...think about two people holding a rope and moving their hands up and down....you get an S shape...that's what the ground does...*GEOLOGY GEEK MODE OFF*

I'm fascinated by tornadoes, and wouldn't mind seeing one...but don't want to be IN one....

I'm also fascinated by volcanoes, but want to view one from a safe distance. Some volcanoes are "safer" than others...Hawaiian volcanoes aren't super explosive, so you can watch them fairly close. Volcanes in and around the Pacific Rim tend to be quite violent...the volcanoes in the Pacific NorthWest would be very unpredictable with regards to how and where the main part of the eruption might go. Look at Mt. St. Hellens, for instance. Volcanoes down in Central and South America are also quite violent...as are the Italy volcanoes. (GEEK mode slipped back on...sorry).

Hurricanes...so long as they aren't HUGE...flooding...I hate clean up after flooding...let's stick with the geological disasters and tornadoes.



Fryed, stay safe....I wish you were in Daytona...so you could check on my grandmother...

Solitude sometimes speaks to you, and you should listen.

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
Don't get me wrong, I hate the way natural disasters ruin so many lives, but it can't just be me who has a little something at the back of my mind wishing they were a whole lot bigger? Purely for the visuals like.

I want to see more video footage of huge tidal waves, and volcano eruptions, you don't get enough of those.

And when there are like three twisters in the same place, thats cool.

And hey, which film is it where Paris gets the shoite kicked out of it by meteors or something? I thought it was Deep Impact, so watched the whole thing, only to be left in dismay when it finished without the cool ass scene I was waiting for.

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
oooohhhh, that's one of the things on my 'list of things to do before i die'!! the closest i've ever got was a partial eclipse of the sun (about 80%) and that was indeed eerie. i couldn't beleive how quiet and cold it was. yeah, one of these days i'm going to travel to a total eclipse, definitely!

My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
and i wasn't aware that we had any fault lines near ireland, thanks for letting me know. more trivia, excellent !

My mind not only wanders, it sometimes leaves completely

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
don't feel guilty about being in awe of nature!

videos of volcanic erutions are totally awesome - and heck, I love watching waves of any size, but big ones are major cool! I once had the pleasure of spending an afternoon in the middle of a 15 foot swell in Wiamea Bay, Oahu on a surfboard. (that is 15 feet as hawaiians call it - think like 25 foot faces!) That was increadible!

Nature rock! and can beat the hell out of any show mankind can put up.

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
what are we defining as natural disaster, does something have to get ruined? because i'd quite like to see a water spout, but on account of them being so far out to sea, it doesn't affect much...

Volcano would be the another one, but i also love storms - electrical storms, wow! I was in one Belize where the lightening lit up the whole sky and the thunder sounded like a steam roller on your roof Hell, I'd settle for any ol' example of big nature!

I knew about the fault lines, they're all over the UK, in fact I remember there was an earthquake last year (?) here that everyone was talking about, but i slept through it.... when i say earthquake, it was more like a minor tremble compared to the biggies, i think it was only newsworthy because it was noticeable - well not to me...

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if it makes no sense that's because it's NOn-sense.

Posted: 1st Sep 2004

Written by: Fabergé

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and i wasn't aware that we had any fault lines near ireland, thanks for letting me know. more trivia, excellent !

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You don't have active faults that I know of, but you do have faults. Nearly every place on the planet has faults somewhere.

And...While lots of Media types will say fault lines....most of us geologists say faults. There is something called a fault line scarp, which is the topagraphy break caused by movement on the fault. I don't mean to be a stickler. . .just pointing out a nuance in professional language and media misconceptions...

ANYWAY....Faults in Ireland, yes. If you have Mountains there, you'll more than likely have faults. I've not studied the geology of ireland, but I'm making an educated guess.

I'd love to study the geology there, though.

Solitude sometimes speaks to you, and you should listen.

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
you don't have to be out at to sea to see a waterspout - anytime a tornado is over water you get one.



I've seen waterspouts:



while I was out surfing in the gulf of mexico.



out my neighbor's window - I lived across the street from them and they had a lakeside house. When hurricane Alicia hit us in 1983, we were over at their place for a while(trying to help them save as much furnature as possible after 4 foot waves started breaking through what had previously been their panoramic window. In the lake (which isn't really that big) we could see not 1, not 2, but 5 waterspouts!!! Big hurricanes spawn sometimes scores of simultaneuos tornadoes (often doing much of the devastating swaths of damage attributed to a hurricane), and there they were dancing around the lake - for the most part all moving in different directions. That was one of those things you realy can't appreciate at the time because of all the wind and water and everyone contantly trying to make sure everyone else is ok and save as many valuables as possible (funny but everyone chooses to save the photo albums first - maybe that isn't so odd now that I think about it).



Later you can reflect and think, "did I really see that!?!?". You have to double check with others to be sure.



But I tell you what else - it is absolutely amazing to see entire families run out of their perfectly safe house into 120 mph winds to go help a neighbor in trouble.



People aren't always nice to each other, but when you really need help, generally you can count on getting it.



Then the friggin looters come through the next day and try to clean out the houses of everyone who had the good sense to leave before the storm hit and all those good feelings disappear

-v-

Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
I was in a few little tremors here in the sunny iddle of the uk, but, I must say, I'd rather watch any natural disaster from afar and go through non of them....except perhaps that eye of the storm thing, but then I'd still have to suffer getting in there I guess!!

Let's relight this forum

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
I've always lived above some fault (I moved to turkey from Georgia) and I've experienced a few minor earthquakes here and there. luckily, I wasnt here -turkey- for the BIG quake a couple of years ago.

I'd say that earthquakes are the least dangerous IF you are in a suitable place (ie small, low house, or outside). anything else has a high chance of killing you in open ground.

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
I luckily have never lived through any kind of natural disaster (besides drought but I do live in Australia and we are kind of always in a state of drought so I don't think that really counts)....

When I lived in the middle of the desert in South Australia I did manage to live through four different plagues though, the locust plague, the mouse plague, the rabbit plague and the fox plague. None of which were much fun but I am guessing they were a lot more bearable than going through the natural distaters you have listed above.

With that in mind I would have to say that in the list you have given I would rather try to survive the giant monsters mutated by radiological waste (which is kind of funny cause the town I lived in in South Australia mined uranium...hehehe)I mean at least we would have a chance at killing them and stopping their reign of terror before they killed too many people...

Posted: 1st Sep 2004
Of all the natural disasters listed so far, I didn't see blizzard, and I like that. Many people classify them as disasters, I prefer to think of them as 'extra weather.'

I live a stones' throw from Buffalo, NY, which is infamous for it's blizzards. A lot of people who have never been to the area say 'Aren't you afraid of being buried alive in snow?' What they don't understand that a blizzard takes days to happen. I have never worried about getting three feet of snow in a few hours. All that happens is the roads close and you can't travel anywhere, which means no work, no school and lots of hot chocolate. Worse case scenario, your roof collapses from excessive weight, but that only happens to old, decrepit and poorly designed roofs from the '20s. The occassional fender bender, but nothing major. The most blizzard deaths result from old people shoveling snow and having heart attacks!

A blizzard is nothing compared to earthquakes, hurricanes, or floods. A blizzard can't hold a candle to the lethal speed of a mudslide. A blizzard can't relocate your house like a tornado or flatten your town like a tsunami. And I have no compassion for people who deliberately buy property in Hawaii, and then wonder why they have lava in the living room. Let it snow, lt it snow, let it snow...

Although we DO have giant irradiated monsters...comes form being one of the worlds foremost dumping grounds for toxic and nuclear waste.

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