Biggest Disasters Waiting To Happen!

“The Big One”

If I say to you the word “earthquake”, your mind would likely go to places like California where earthquakes are not only somewhat common, they are known to be downright devastating. Whether you get an earthquake or not where you live is mostly determined by what “fault lines” you are next to. Fault lines are lines in the ground above or below the ocean that can be traced back to tectonic plates. And when these plates move or collide, they can cause ripples that can result in earthquakes.

In the United States, California is the most “famous” for its earthquakes because it is next to the infamous San Andreas Fault Line, which has caused many earthquakes in the past. Which is fine in context…until you realize that if a certain scientist is to be believed, the fault line is gearing up for something big.

This all got started in 2006 when a paper was written stating that the San Andreas Fault Line was “due” for a “big one”. Meaning an earthquake of incredible strength, not unlike the 1906 earthquake that quite literally rocked California to its core. The reason for this is that it’s believed the southern part of the fault line has been building up “tension” and when that tension is released…well…the phrase “shake, rattle, and roll” feel appropriate here.

Should this earthquake happen, it would cause untold devastation. Deaths would be in the thousands, and the damages would be in the hundreds of billions of dollars.

The worst part about this disaster though is that it’s literally impossible to know when said earthquake will happen. Don’t believe me? Well, in 2019 a series of earthquakes rocked California, and had over 150 aftershocks, which no one saw coming, and no one can real explain. 

We’re not saying flee California if you live there…but it may be a good idea to know where to go and what to do should the ground begin to shake.

The Blackout

I want you to think about your daily routine. From how you wake up in the morning, to how you eat, to what you do for your job, where you travel and how you get there, etc. Now, after you have pictured all of that, answer me this very simple question…how much of that depends on electronics? For example, you likely wake up via an alarm clock in the literal sense, or via your phone, right? If you eat, you likely have a refrigerator that keeps things cooled, right? You drive a car, or take a bus or train to work, and more than likely you interact with a phone or computer at some point during your day…right?

Now I want you to imagine that suddenly, randomly, and quite epically, everything around you powers down…and it doesn’t turn back on. You’ve likely already experienced this before via sudden power outages in your home or city area. These are caused by simple faults in the circuit, downed power lines, and more. It’s inconvenient, but not exactly a disaster.

However, there is one that MANY people are expecting in the form of a nation-wide blackout via a device called an EMP. An electro magnetic pulse is a device that is able to quite literally short out any and all electronics in an area. Some only have short-term effects, but some can be permanent. Meaning that the device will not work unless certain parts are completely replaced, and sometimes even that won’t work.

So imagine a place like the United States being hit with an EMP bomb, let’s say…the East Coast. Imagine New York, Boston, Washington DC, Orlando, and more being completely in the dark, with no clue as to when the lights will turn back on.

It’s not a pretty thought, is it? Not to mention, that kind of panic will cause people to do some really bad things. There are measures in place to try and prevent this, but with technology evolving constantly, it’s hard to imagine that anything will truly block an EMP when it comes.

Oh, and you want to know something ironic? The reason we know about EMPs is because of the atomic bomb tests. Ironic, no?

World War

If we’re talking about a disaster that is truly likely to happen in the near future, then one must consider the human option and state that a world war is very likely to happen, and it would truly be a disaster unlike anything we have seen before.

Now, obviously, we have had world wars before, two in fact. And then there have been other wars that have been “global conflicts” like the Spanish-American War, Korean War, Vietnam War, Iraq, etc. But the difference between those wars and what many people are fearing in terms of “disaster” is that in many ways, humanity held back in the recent wars (everything after World War II). As during World War II we discovered nuclear power, and we were able to make weapons that could wipe out whole cities as we showed on Japan. That was the first and last time that such weapons were used during a war (tests were done afterwards but in places that didn’t have human life).

So if we were to look at this from a disaster perspective, it goes to reason that if the world were to go to war this go around, the destruction would be great enough to warrant a nuclear strike. A singular nuclear weapon could cause untold devastation to an area. And given that the superpowers who are likely to be in this war (United States and Russia) have plenty of these missiles, they could wipe out whole areas with just the push of a button.

But how likely is World War III? Sadly, it’s very likely. The United States and Russia have not been on good terms for many years, and that hasn’t changed with the arrival of Donald Trump as the President, especially after scandal broke out that the Russian government may have had a hand in getting Trump nominated.

People are angry out in the world, many moments are forming to try and change things for the better and for the worse. What happens next? Well it’s hard to say, but the “Doomsday Clock” may be ticking ever closer to midnight.

Nuclear Overload

“Wait, did you just touch on this?” Well, yes and no, we talked about how in the next world war the use of nuclear weapons was more than likely, but this is something else. And arguably, something worse. Because while a nuclear bomb is terrible, a nuclear meltdown is much longer lasting. You likely know the place where it happened once via Chernobyl, and many people across the world have been trying to shut down places like that so that nuclear fallout on that degree doesn’t happen again. Yet…nuclear power plants exist all over the world, which means that the potential for disaster in one of them is still very great.

The one that is most likely to go nuclear is the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant, and not for the reasons that you might think. It’s not that it’s designed poorly, but rather that it is very old. It’s one of the earliest designs of nuclear reactor that was designed during the days of the Soviet Union. So there is inherent risk in that. But, as you no doubt have noticed, it hasn’t gone nuclear despite its age. So where is the issue?

That would be with something we’ve already talked about, earthquakes. The region the Metsamor Nuclear Power Plant is in has tons of earthquake activity. And should a big one hit the area in just the right way, it could cause many problems.

Speaking of which, the problem with just shutting down the plant to ensure safety is that this plant powers 40% of the country it’s in! So that’s not an option until they make another plant that can resist the earthquakes.

So if you’re looking for a ticking time bomb…this would be it.

Breaking The Dam

No, I didn’t swear! I’m talking about actual Dams! You know, the things that help power various countries through hydroelectric power? Over the years, the idea of destroying Dams has become very popular in fiction, and the “little boy in the dyke” is a classic example of how people misconstrue the dangers of dams breaking.

You need to remember that Dams not only power various cities and states, but they hold back an enormous amount of water. So if that dam breaks…all that water has to go somewhere, right? Think about this as well, there are many dams all over the world that were built in the early 1900’s, including the legendary Hoover Dam. Granted, they were built to last, but do we really know the “life expectancy” of a dam? I didn’t think so.

Should one burst, even a small one, any and all areas of land, including towns and cities, would be flooded, crops would be wiped out, and people would be caught in a torrent of water that seemingly has no end until it stops flowing.

Not something you’d want to be caught in, right? Oh, and one such collapse happened in 2019, and 40 have happened since 2000. Food for thought.

Skynet

Come on…you know it’s going to happen! Judgment Day is inevitable! Just like the bombing of Terminator Dark Fate. Zing!

Seriously though, many people feel that when it comes to Artificial Intelligence taking over the world, it’s truly just a matter of time. Not the least of which is because AI is becoming more and more advanced every single year. Technology is making them smarter, faster, able to react and interact with humans in a way only movies (like Terminator) thought possible.

If we hit the “boom” like certain shows predict, it may not be too long before a program like Skynet comes along and thinks that humanity is the biggest “threat” in the world.

Epidemic

Another popular thing in movies and TV shows is to show a disease getting “released” into the world that starts taking lives all over the place. Usually the hero finds the cause and stops it, or a cure is found and distributed. But in the real world, that’s unlikely to happen, while an epidemic is most definitely plausible, if not downright likely to happen.

The reason for this is simple, countries across the world have various medical practices and foundations. What’s more, the genetic creation of things like medicine, viruses, vaccines, and more are done every day. Plus, there are militaries who deal with “bio-weapons” meant to hurt the human body.

So all it takes is for one of these things to go wrong and spread and the whole world could become infected. And given how fast a sickness can take hold of a human body, by the time a cure is likely to be found, it would still mean the deaths of many.

Meteor Impact

By and large, the biggest “disaster” that people both fear and think won’t happen at the same time is that of a meteor impact striking the Earth and wiping out all life like it did with the dinosaurs millions of years ago.

But how likely is that to happen? Technically speaking, both not very likely, and yet very likely. I’ll explain. As we understand it right now, there are no meteors that we can see that are in the path of, or have a chance to hit, Earth. Which is great! But, there’s also the fact that space is unpredictable, and we can’t see everything. Case in point, a meteor once missed Earth by a timeframe of six hours! One small delay and it could’ve hit us.

Another time this happened unpredictably was when a meteor barreled into the Earth’s atmosphere and exploded a few miles above Russia. Thankfully, it was in an unpopulated area, but that was still too close for comfort.

And it could get closer as time goes on.

Cyber Attack

“Wait a minute, didn’t we already talk about Skynet?” Yes, we did, but that wasn’t a disaster involving computers per se, but rather an AI program based within a computer. What we’re talking about in regards to a “Cyber Attack” is a disaster in which either a deadly virus is spread throughout all computers in the world, or, a collective is able to hack into every computer in the world and capture a ton of sensitive information.

Given that we live in a big technological age, this is arguably one of the biggest dangers that we could face. Hackers are very clever and creative, and they can do things with computers that can boggle the mind, so imagine if they were able to get into a government server and leak a whole bunch of documents? Or get into a military system and cause havoc with ships and missiles? It’s a real threat, and that’s why there are “Cyber Divisions” all over the world that are meant to prevent such a thing from happening.

Yet that doesn’t mean we’re safe, because when an obstacle is put up, someone rises up to knock it down. Thus, there is always a threat of a cyber attack because we honestly don’t know when it would come, who would launch the attack, and we won’t know until it’s too late what their plan is.

And you thought computers were scary enough, huh?