Doomsday Scenario

Right in the middle of the Canary Island, with its magnificent size, stands Cumbre Veja, an active volcano. Every few ten years it erupts, and scientists are concerned because the wall of the volcano is weakening. Scientists are worried that when it erupts, one side of the volcano could collapse and fall into the sea. If this happened, it would be a huge catastrophe as it would cause a tsunami- a gigantic wave- the biggest ever recorded in history.

Going into the depth

The volcano is on the island and the water next to the volcano is about six kilometres deep. If the volcano collapsed, 500 billion tonnes of rock would fall into the sea. This would cause a huge tsunami of about 100 metres high

Then what

The wave would be carried away from the Canary Islands in all directions at about 800 km/h, leaving the island underwater. In less than an hour, a 90-metre wave would reach north-west Africa. Europe would not be affected as much, although the 12-metre tsunami would still hit Europe within three hours. After five hours, it would hit Britain reaching the inland in less than an hour and flooding London.

The wave would then travel across the Atlantic Ocean. Eight hours after the eruption, it would be still 30 metres high. Boston would face the wave first, followed by New York. In a couple of hours, it would cause a lot of damage in the Caribbean and Brazil.

What can be done about it?

It seems that we cannot do much to be protected. The scientists believe that it is not a question of if, but when. They believe that the volcano will erupt sometime in the future but it could be hundreds of thousands years from now. Scientists have put better equipment on Cumbre Veja so that they could observe the volcano’s activities and give us an early warning of possible problems.