# 4569
This weekend is the 30th anniversary of the catastrophic – and deadly – eruption of Mount St. Helens in the Skamania County, Washington. An event that would claim 57 lives and destroy 250 homes, 47 bridges, more than a dozen miles of railways, and close to 200 miles of roads.
The USGS has a retrospective look at this horrific eruption, including links to several videos.
Mount St. Helens 30th Anniversary
Eruption forever altered landscape, knowledge of volcanoes
Released: 5/14/2010 5:12:20 PM
Vancouver, Wash. — On Sunday, May 18, 1980 at 8:32 a.m., the bulging north flank of Mount St. Helens slid away in a massive landslide -- the largest in recorded history. Seconds later, the uncorked volcano exploded and blasted rocks northward across forest ridges and valleys, destroying everything in its path within minutes.
Nine hours of explosive volcanic activity ensued, altering the landscape, and what we know about volcanoes, forever.
On Sunday, May 18, 1980 at 8:32 a.m., the bulging north flank of Mount St. Helens slid away in a massive landslide -- the largest in recorded history. Seconds later, the uncorked volcano exploded and blasted rocks northward across forest ridges and valleys, destroying everything in its path within minutes.
The opening minutes of the eruption claimed the lives of 57 people. Prevailing winds carried 520 million tons of ash eastward across the United States, producing darkness during daylight hours in Spokane, more than 250 miles away, and other communities is its path. Water from melting snow and ice mixed with loose rock debris to form lahars – volcanic mudflows – that poured down river valleys ripping trees from their roots and engulfing roads, bridges and houses.
Thirty years later, excess sediment is still moving down those river drainages most affected by erupted debris on May 18, impressing upon all that hazards can persist long after an eruption is over. The eruption left an indelible effect on the regional economy and lives of citizens in the Pacific Northwest and beyond.
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Although a variety of scales are used to gauge natural disasters, CATEGORY 5 has generally become shorthand for a catastrophic or disastrous event.
The worst hurricanes are CAT 5’s, and the new EF-5 scale describes the most severe tornadoes recorded. Even pandemics are measured on a 5-point scale.
Note: There has been talk over the years of adding a Category 6 to the Hurricane Scale, and EF-6 already exists for an `inconceivable’ tornadic event.
Volcanic eruptions use the VEI (Volcanic Explosivity Index), which actually goes up to an 8 (mega-colossal), but Mount St. Helens was a 5 on that scale as well. Earthquakes are measured using the open-ended Richter or Moment Magnitude scales, with `great quakes’ being 8.0 or greater.
Regardless of the official measurement used, CAT 5 has become synonymous with an extreme disaster.
And for most Americans –indeed, most people living in developed countries - the idea that they might be swept up in a Category 5 event seems inconceivable.
They live under the delusion that destructive tsunami’s, `great’ earthquakes, volcanic eruptions, catastrophic storms, and severe epidemic outbreaks only afflict poor, developing countries.
That somehow, our wealth and technology is protective against truly bad things happening on our soil.
Of course, those who were living in New Orleans in August of 2005 might tend to disagree with that assessment, as would the residents of Homestead, Florida in 1992, and those living in and around Oklahoma City during the F5 tornado of May 3rd, 1999.
Disasters happen with considerable frequency in this country, just as they do around the world. And as our population increases, the number of people living in `at risk’ locations – like on barrier islands, or in seismically active areas – grows.
This is something that disaster planners all know, and talk about every year, but few people seem to appreciate.
In fact, the destruction of New Orleans had been called the `mostly widely anticipated disaster in American History’. The levees designed to protect the city were built only high enough to withstand a Cateogory 3 storm, and since their initial construction had settled and fallen into disrepair.
Despite a number of near misses over the years - Camille, a monster Category 5 storm in 1969 and hurricanes Georges in 1998 and Ivan in 2004 - the city and its residents were woefully unprepared for the arrival of Hurricane Katrina.
The yearly admonition to have extra food and water, along with flashlights, lanterns and battery operated radios had been ignored by a large segment of the population.
Many of those who waited and showed up at the Superdome `shelter of last resort’, showed up empty-handed expecting to be provided for.
And lest we forget, Katrina was barely a CAT 3 storm at landfall. Despite the wholesale destruction of New Orleans, she was not the worst that nature can serve up. Not by a long shot.
Most Americans live in places that are subject to natural disasters of one kind or another. Hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, floods, wild fires . . . . the list of threat is long and impressive.
USGS map
As you can see by the map above, most of the United States is seismically active – with Alaska, Hawaii, the west coast, and the mid-west seeing the most – and strongest, quakes.
While we often talk about California, or the Pacific Northwest, of being at particular risk, the mid-west is not immune (see A Not-So Gentle Reminder From FEMA) to great quakes.
Thu Nov 20, 2008 6:42pm EST
KANSAS CITY, Missouri (Reuters) - People in a vast seismic zone in the southern and midwestern United States would face catastrophic damage if a major earthquake struck there and should ensure that builders keep that risk in mind, a government report said on Thursday.
The Federal Emergency Management Agency said if earthquakes strike in what geologists define as the New Madrid Seismic Zone, they would cause "the highest economic losses due to a natural disaster in the United States."
FEMA predicted a large earthquake would cause "widespread and catastrophic physical damage" across Alabama, Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Mississippi, Missouri and Tennessee -- home to some 44 million people.
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While I don’t propose that people live in perpetual fear of disasters (I certainly don’t), I do believe that it is incumbent upon each and every one of us to be prepared to help ourselves, and our community, during a crisis.
And for that to happen, we have to openly discuss the possibilities, and plan for them.
Yesterday fellow blogger John Solomon of In Case of Emergency blog wrote in support of a National Disaster Preparedness day, something I agree with.
If you aren’t reading John’s blog every day, you should.
May 14th, 2010 ·
We need to talk seriously, and often, about dealing with CAT 5 (or lesser) events in this country. Our general reluctance to discuss the realities of living on a volatile and sometimes hostile planet now will most certainly cost lives, and property, in the future.
Hurricane season is just around the corner as is the Western Wild fire season, Tornado alley saw two EF-4 tornadoes this week (and dozens of EF-3s an EF-2s), and it’s always earthquake season.
Disasters happen.
And so you need to have adequate emergency supplies (including a good first aid kit), to care for your family for at least the first 72 hours following a natural disaster.
Good places to get preparedness information include:
FEMA http://www.fema.gov/index.shtm
READY.GOV http://www.ready.gov/
AMERICAN RED CROSS http://www.redcross.org/
As a former paramedic, I can’t stress enough the importance of having a good first aid kit at home, and in your car. And just as important, learning how to properly use one.
Taking a first-aid course, and CPR training, are both investments that could pay off big someday, for you, and for your loved ones.
I’ve written on the necessity to have a `to go’, or bug out bag (BOB), several times in the past, including a tour of my own bag.
And a few of my (many) preparedness essays include:
The next disaster may strike with little or no notice. You and your family may have only seconds to react. Being ready means you can go on with life without worrying obsessively about those things you cannot predict or control.
As I tell people:
Preparing is easy. Worrying is hard.
