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What if....A Super disaster? Impact on Canada or the world? Napkin speculation

Dude, your racism is showing...

Regardless, there are about a million Canadians in that 'ground zero' area and, as we saw with the hugely destructive floods in the Fraser Valley last November, there is a big gap between what we should have in place to help survive a major disaster (especially on the infrastructure side) and what we actually have in place, IIRC...
We really need our sarcasm emoji back. I was talking about the real estate.
 
With that modelling one can probably predict who would make it out in a timely manner.

So if we look at Canada we would have population movements to safe area in all directions via shortest route. Air evac is a non starter as nothing will be able to fly. CAF would have issues given the location of western forces so we can assume that maybe a third of our available resources would be hindered if not ineffective. We’d be recalling every asset we have whenever they are deployed in the world.

We’d likely have plenty of American refugees headed our way initially as some shorter routes to safety would be towards us. Everything up to the pink zone would likely be a write off and people would be on their on to try and get out. Orange zone would bear the hardest brunt of evacuated people, looting, etc.

Yellow zones would cope better but would eventually become destinations for displaced people.

I would see our military deployed initially to our orange zones but again, without air capability The ability to get to most of it (ie Calgary or Winnipeg). would be a challenge. Road move would be a chaotic with people heading away from those areas. Rail, maybe could be an option but I’m not sure what the status of rail would be.
I don't think ground transportation would be all that effective either. Volcanic ash is essentially pulverized rock and glass particles, so internal combustion engines would struggle, at least until the fuel ran out because power for the pumps is down.
 
I don't think ground transportation would be all that effective either. Volcanic ash is essentially pulverized rock and glass particles, so internal combustion engines would struggle, at least until the fuel ran out because power for the pumps is down.
That’s why I think they don’t get any further than the orange zone and maybe only able to go so far into it. Which is why maybe rail would be better.
 
That’s why I think they don’t get any further than the orange zone and maybe only able to go so far into it. Which is why maybe rail would be better.
Anything with an air-breathing engine will either suck in abrasive ash or have their filters clogged very quickly.
 
So.....the catastrophic volcano event in Yellowstone would turn the breadbasket of America (and Canada) into a pile of ash.

What would it do to the rest of the world? Would they come to our aid, or would they laugh at us, and turn on each other and start a bunch of 'little' wars for their own gain and attempted survival based on scarce resources?

Another deep thought - the focal point of that destruction is actually in the midst of 'flyover country' in the US - where the folks are often the most prepared, most equipped, and least interested in government interference. They also produce most of the food for the folks outside of that area. What happens when the folks in downtown 'Big City #2/3/4/5' in the US have no food delivered anymore...few of them prepare, and to be honest, the reality is that we're less than 3 days from food riots and chaos in most big cities.

That sort of scenario would literally see the deaths of millions in the US.

How do you prepare for that sort of thing?

Makes the 3 days of gas I have for my home generator seem pretty...inadequate. Also makes me want to go back to Costco and re-stock my backup supplies - during COVID, I ramped up to having 3 months of 'staples' on hand. I've cycled a bunch of that into our regular cupboard in the past few months to ensure it doesn't 'age out' in storage...but I haven't done a good job of refilling my backup food supply.

How do you handle a multi-year food shortage, and the high likelihood of power blackouts? It's kind of tough to stock up 3 years worth of food without a lot of planning...and the 'easy' solution for backup power is solar, which would not be a good solution in a post-volcanic situation. I'm thinking I'd have to branch out to hydro power generation...there is a stream near the house that I could probably tap into.

That's a dilly of a pickle....
 
So.....the catastrophic volcano event in Yellowstone would turn the breadbasket of America (and Canada) into a pile of ash.

What would it do to the rest of the world? Would they come to our aid, or would they laugh at us, and turn on each other and start a bunch of 'little' wars for their own gain and attempted survival based on scarce resources?

Another deep thought - the focal point of that destruction is actually in the midst of 'flyover country' in the US - where the folks are often the most prepared, most equipped, and least interested in government interference. They also produce most of the food for the folks outside of that area. What happens when the folks in downtown 'Big City #2/3/4/5' in the US have no food delivered anymore...few of them prepare, and to be honest, the reality is that we're less than 3 days from food riots and chaos in most big cities.

That sort of scenario would literally see the deaths of millions in the US.

How do you prepare for that sort of thing?

Makes the 3 days of gas I have for my home generator seem pretty...inadequate. Also makes me want to go back to Costco and re-stock my backup supplies - during COVID, I ramped up to having 3 months of 'staples' on hand. I've cycled a bunch of that into our regular cupboard in the past few months to ensure it doesn't 'age out' in storage...but I haven't done a good job of refilling my backup food supply.

How do you handle a multi-year food shortage, and the high likelihood of power blackouts? It's kind of tough to stock up 3 years worth of food without a lot of planning...and the 'easy' solution for backup power is solar, which would not be a good solution in a post-volcanic situation. I'm thinking I'd have to branch out to hydro power generation...there is a stream near the house that I could probably tap into.

That's a dilly of a pickle....
You just answered your question. Pickle.

Start growing vegetables and start learning to jar. And dry meat.
 
You just answered your question. Pickle.

Start growing vegetables and start learning to jar. And dry meat.

I would add in hunting and fishing as well. Bartering with neighbors and local farmers is also a maybe.

We have a bug out plan in our family. My wife knows what do, where to go and what bring and to hold out for my arrival if I we are not together.
 
And then there's the Cascade Volcano arc, many of which I have climbed and can confirm are 'active'. For example, you can see 'bubbling goo' at the Devil's Kitchen near the summit of Mt Hood, and wisps of steam emerging from many of the others. And Mt St Helen's blew up in 1980.

The lahar threat to Seattle from Mt Rainier is particulalry serious, apparently, and there is a similar threat to the Sea to Sky/ Vancouver area from Mt Garibaldi. There is geologic evidence that some of these volcanoes have erupted over a series of years in the past.

From the summit of Mt Douglas in Victoria you have direct line of sight to Mt Baker and Mt Rainier, amongst others. The blast from a big eruption, like Mt St Helens, would hit us pretty full on.

Cascade Volcanoes​


The Cascade Volcanoes (also known as the Cascade Volcanic Arc or the Cascade Arc) are a number of volcanoes in a volcanic arc in western North America, extending from southwestern British Columbia through Washington and Oregon to Northern California, a distance of well over 700 miles (1,100 km). The arc formed due to subduction along the Cascadia subduction zone. Although taking its name from the Cascade Range, this term is a geologic grouping rather than a geographic one, and the Cascade Volcanoes extend north into the Coast Mountains, past the Fraser River which is the northward limit of the Cascade Range proper.

Some of the major cities along the length of the arc include Portland, Seattle, and Vancouver, and the population in the region exceeds 10 million. All could be potentially affected by volcanic activity and great subduction-zone earthquakes along the arc. Because the population of the Pacific Northwest is rapidly increasing, the Cascade volcanoes are some of the most dangerous, due to their eruptive history and potential for future eruptions, and because they are underlain by weak, hydrothermally altered volcanic rocks that are susceptible to failure. Consequently, Mount Rainier is one of the Decade Volcanoes identified by the International Association of Volcanology and Chemistry of the Earth's Interior (IAVCEI) as being worthy of particular study, due to the danger it poses to Seattle and Tacoma. Many large, long-runout landslides originating on Cascade volcanoes have engulfed valleys tens of kilometers from their sources, and some of the areas affected now support large populations.

 
I would add in hunting and fishing as well. Bartering with neighbors and local farmers is also a maybe.

We have a bug out plan in our family. My wife knows what do, where to go and what bring and to hold out for my arrival if I we are not together.
We have a similar plan. Our cottage is near water, on an island with enough farmland to sustain the island’s population. Plenty of space to hunt. Heating is not an issue.

On a less end of world scenario, the last massive storm we had here in Ottawa (we were hit by a Dericho) I finally managed to convince my wife to invest in a decent generator, a tri fuel thing that can power most of the house from my NG line. I already had varying power packs including some solar and a multi powered radio (solar, electric and crank all in one).

For those that experienced it here we lost power and cell, and gas stations were either out of power themselves or quickly ran out of fuel.

Weird weather events are only going to continue here.
 
A Yellowstone eruption would likely turn into a mass extinction event. Atmospheric ash would block out the sun for quite some time probably killing vegetation and the spiral down from there would accelerate. See the movie "The Road" for likely outcome.
 
Geology Hub on Youtube is a great source of info on volcanoes. I will ruin this thread: he does not think much of the Yellowstone supervolcano theory.

He does a lot of good work on the Cascadia volcanoes, which he definitely thinks will go again at some pont in the future…
 
How do you prepare for that sort of thing?

Lots of good advice here,

 
Geology Hub on Youtube is a great source of info on volcanoes. I will ruin this thread: he does not think much of the Yellowstone supervolcano theory.

He does a lot of good work on the Cascadia volcanoes, which he definitely thinks will go again at some pont in the future…
To be honest from what I read a Yellowstone mega volcano is unlikely. Several small eruptions and shorter intervals is more realistic.
 
A Yellowstone eruption would likely turn into a mass extinction event. Atmospheric ash would block out the sun for quite some time probably killing vegetation and the spiral down from there would accelerate. See the movie "The Road" for likely outcome.
When society takes the big flush, you need to be prepared to hang on to the rim…
 
A volcanic eruption large enough to severely cripple NA is large enough to affect worldwide agriculture. Nations would be too busy struggling to feed themselves and fighting with immediate neighbours to undertake conquering/colonizing expeditions to NA.
 
When society takes the big flush, you need to be prepared to hang on to the rim…

Meanwhile, me during COVID ;)

Hang In There GIF
 
South-Eastern Alberta volcano! Actually a coal seam that has been burning for a few decades near Redciff/Med Hat and breaks through occasionally.

Our contribution to world ending disasters.
54520523_10161421861425307_525633447897595904_n.jpg
 
When society takes the big flush, you need to be prepared to hang on to the rim…
It turns out "The Great Reset" is actually a natural phenomena and not a conspiracy theory after all.
 
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