Puerto Rico Earthquakes 2019 - 2020
Although the
island itself was born in fire, Puerto Rico has not had an active
volcano for millions of years. It is very unlikely there will be
anything similar to the birth of Paricutin in Mexico which went from a
cornfield to over 200 meters high during the period 1943 (see images
below) to 1952.
The more realistic volcanic dangers for Puerto Rico are that a Caribbean volcano
(1) ejects a great deal of ash into the atomosphere and disrupts air transportation or (2) erupts cataclysmically like Krakatau in 1883 and launches a tsunami or (3) a very large volcano on a coast has a slope collapse and generates a tsunami wave somewhat similar to Lituya Bay in Alaska in 1958. In this last scenario our simulations suggest none of the current Caribbean volcanoes would be able to put enough rock in the water quickly enough to be a danger.
Puerto Rico and its neighbors need to cooperate on two more or less parallel tsunami buoy networks from Cuba to Trinidad with extensions for the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. The buoy networks are not really enough - they need to be connected to computer systems that can broadcast tsunami warnings via emails and cellular phone messages. There will likely not be much time if the waves are travelling 500 miles per hour.
Recommendations -
tracking volcanic eruptions
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The more realistic volcanic dangers for Puerto Rico are that a Caribbean volcano
(1) ejects a great deal of ash into the atomosphere and disrupts air transportation or (2) erupts cataclysmically like Krakatau in 1883 and launches a tsunami or (3) a very large volcano on a coast has a slope collapse and generates a tsunami wave somewhat similar to Lituya Bay in Alaska in 1958. In this last scenario our simulations suggest none of the current Caribbean volcanoes would be able to put enough rock in the water quickly enough to be a danger.
Puerto Rico and its neighbors need to cooperate on two more or less parallel tsunami buoy networks from Cuba to Trinidad with extensions for the Cayman Islands, Jamaica, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao. The buoy networks are not really enough - they need to be connected to computer systems that can broadcast tsunami warnings via emails and cellular phone messages. There will likely not be much time if the waves are travelling 500 miles per hour.
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