clintonforever
Banned
What if the Yellowstone supervolcano had erupted during Bush's tenure?
How would he respond?
How would he respond?
Yellowstone erupts during Bush's term
- Thread starter clintonforever
- Start date
If it did errupt, what could he do about it?
All I can say for Bush is, he should have plenty of experiance dealing with natural disasters by now. Being there have only been three in recorded history(meaning when civilization was sentient) and the last one was in 1815, it's kind of hard to predict what the consequences would be.
I don't have to be a geologist to know we'll be wanting to get people out of that area for a long time though.
All I can say for Bush is, he should have plenty of experiance dealing with natural disasters by now. Being there have only been three in recorded history(meaning when civilization was sentient) and the last one was in 1815, it's kind of hard to predict what the consequences would be.
I don't have to be a geologist to know we'll be wanting to get people out of that area for a long time though.
He most probably would have died, if he lived then he would only concern himself with his personal safety. Even if he did somehow develop a basic shred of decency there is not much he could do. The eruption of the yellowstone supervolcano would be a global cataclysm.
Look at Katrina,he fucked that up so he would probably fail to handle the worst disaster in a century.The US overnight has basically gone from Superpower to third world country overnight,hed be hesistant and in disbelief during the first few days this could hamper FEMAs response which would lead to millions more dying.Once its over America realises its leadership of the world is gone for good Bush doesn't take this well.
He'll probably fail to keep the US intact after this,many states will split and Bush will be left in control of a weak union of the eastern states.
I made a timeline about this called Yellowstones eruption but Bushes plane crashes due to Engine failure from ash,Cheney takes over but cant stop the US evntually falling ino a second civil war.
He'll probably fail to keep the US intact after this,many states will split and Bush will be left in control of a weak union of the eastern states.
I made a timeline about this called Yellowstones eruption but Bushes plane crashes due to Engine failure from ash,Cheney takes over but cant stop the US evntually falling ino a second civil war.
Er... everyone dies? The president at the time is pretty much irrelevant. Bush, Obama, George Washington VPed by Abraham Lincoln - it doesn't matter. Half the population east of Wyoming is dead within 48h and the rest starve to death in the Winter. Bad shit all around, and everything in anyone's post after "erupts' is pretty much pointless.
@ The Red: What timeline is that? I'd like to read it.
OT: If it erupts then there's not much Bush can do even if he wanted to (look at how he fucked up Katrina). Volcanic ash will completely disrupt the infrastructure. All flights will have to be grounded and cars' engines will get clogged up. Power lines will snap under the weight of the ash and dust thereby cutting off electricity to millions. The sky will be filled with ash and dust for at least a year, causing widespread famines to erupt. Especially third world countries will be hit hard. In short: chaos. This is a cataclysmic event that only God himself can stop.
OT: If it erupts then there's not much Bush can do even if he wanted to (look at how he fucked up Katrina). Volcanic ash will completely disrupt the infrastructure. All flights will have to be grounded and cars' engines will get clogged up. Power lines will snap under the weight of the ash and dust thereby cutting off electricity to millions. The sky will be filled with ash and dust for at least a year, causing widespread famines to erupt. Especially third world countries will be hit hard. In short: chaos. This is a cataclysmic event that only God himself can stop.
ninebucks
Banned
Assuming he isn't outside anywhere in western America, where it wouldn't even be certain that he would survive.
Really though, there's not much he could do. Millions would be dead or dying, the roads would be too covered in volcanic ejecta to be usable, and the skies would be too full of dust to fly through.
Then would come the crop failures. America is going to start needing to import food, which would be much more expensive. People near the epicentre are going to find it very difficult to feed themselves untill the authorities re-establish contact with their communities.
Then, depending on the size of the eruption, the airborn dust either falls back down over the region, (causing a lot of damage), or else is remains trapped in the upper atmosphere where it causing a minor ice age. If the latter, food crops worldwide fail and a global famine strikes. Civilisation as we know it collapses as nations stop playing nice and instead fight tooth and nail to seize as much of the world's rapidly dwindling resources as possible.
If its the former, then global civilisation is probably saved. America will need to bring its military forces home to help restore order to the west, which would probably leave Iraq and Afghanistan in a state of absolute chaos, (which'd suit Iran just fine). However, America's status as a world power won't be destroyed, other powers won't use the worst natural disaster in history to oppurtunistically help themselves - to do that would discourage anyone from ever co-operating with you again - so America will receive plenty of help from its friends, (and even from its enemies).
However, millions are dead. And there are still infrastructures that need rebuilding. American economic power will never be what it was.
Really though, there's not much he could do. Millions would be dead or dying, the roads would be too covered in volcanic ejecta to be usable, and the skies would be too full of dust to fly through.
Then would come the crop failures. America is going to start needing to import food, which would be much more expensive. People near the epicentre are going to find it very difficult to feed themselves untill the authorities re-establish contact with their communities.
Then, depending on the size of the eruption, the airborn dust either falls back down over the region, (causing a lot of damage), or else is remains trapped in the upper atmosphere where it causing a minor ice age. If the latter, food crops worldwide fail and a global famine strikes. Civilisation as we know it collapses as nations stop playing nice and instead fight tooth and nail to seize as much of the world's rapidly dwindling resources as possible.
If its the former, then global civilisation is probably saved. America will need to bring its military forces home to help restore order to the west, which would probably leave Iraq and Afghanistan in a state of absolute chaos, (which'd suit Iran just fine). However, America's status as a world power won't be destroyed, other powers won't use the worst natural disaster in history to oppurtunistically help themselves - to do that would discourage anyone from ever co-operating with you again - so America will receive plenty of help from its friends, (and even from its enemies).
However, millions are dead. And there are still infrastructures that need rebuilding. American economic power will never be what it was.
Here it is: http://althistory.wikia.com/wiki/Yellowstones_Eruption ,beware though its not finished ,feel free to contribute.
a full scale eruption of yellowstone would be...apocalyptic
all life larger than single cells within a few hundred miles of yellowstone would be wiped out. the blast, ash and pyroclastic flow, which would cover thousands of square miles would wipe humans out of much of North America. The coasts, Northern Canada and most of Mexico would survive. At first
Because the eruption of a supervolcano such as Yellowstone would be far worse than the worst nuclear war you can imagine. The amount of material ejected into the atmoesphere would massively reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the earth. Crops would fail, an ice age would start. And that's very bad. With a world population of about 6.7 billion we can't survive by hunter gathering. Think of the collapse that happens in DtF. It wouldn't be unrealsitic to expect a slow burn version of that. This eruption could well cause the collapse of civilisation, and there's absolutely nothing any Presidant can do, assuming of course he survives the initial disaster
all life larger than single cells within a few hundred miles of yellowstone would be wiped out. the blast, ash and pyroclastic flow, which would cover thousands of square miles would wipe humans out of much of North America. The coasts, Northern Canada and most of Mexico would survive. At first
Because the eruption of a supervolcano such as Yellowstone would be far worse than the worst nuclear war you can imagine. The amount of material ejected into the atmoesphere would massively reduce the amount of sunlight reaching the earth. Crops would fail, an ice age would start. And that's very bad. With a world population of about 6.7 billion we can't survive by hunter gathering. Think of the collapse that happens in DtF. It wouldn't be unrealsitic to expect a slow burn version of that. This eruption could well cause the collapse of civilisation, and there's absolutely nothing any Presidant can do, assuming of course he survives the initial disaster
The eruption of Tambora in 1815, which is rated a VEI-7, threw out approx. 160 cubic km DRE (Dense Rock Equivilent) of ejecta was quite large as compared to the VEI-5 Mt. Saint Helens 1.2 cubic km DRE in 1980 and the VEI-6 Krakatoa with 25 cubic km DRE in 1883 it is still nowhere near the VEI-8 eruption that a supervolcano such as Yellowstone would put up. VEI-8 means there is at least 1,000 cubic km DRE of ejecta.
There have only been 2 of these super eruptions in the last 100K years:
The eruption of Toba, in Sumatra roughly 75K years ago which through out ~2,800 cubic km DRE of ejecta and caused a genetic bottleneck that Modern Human's barely squeezed through
and more recently
Taupo, on the North Island of New Zealand roughly 26.5K years ago and through out ~1,170 cubic km DRE of ejecta
First thing he does is finish coloring his pooh bear goes to a picnic book. Then crys in the fetal position while cheney become emperor of the destroyed world HAHAHA!!!
Come on there is a new President cant we all just imagine Bush 2 never existed
The poster was more interested in how G. Walker Bush (i.e. the president who presided over FEMA's epic failure, etc. etc.) would handle the crisis, not in the consequences of super-eruption and cataclysmic death and destruction that would end civilization, nor in how Barack Obama (whom has yet to be tested on a Katrina-type thing before we can accurately rate his response) would respond.
While no fan of the Bush Administration I have a question. Why is that Mississippi which got hit far harder than Lousianna did by Katrina manage to get itself back together with federal help. But Lousianna is still screwed up to the fare thee well when they have the same level of help. Could it have something to do with the corrupt pollitics of Lousianna? Bush didn't decide where and how to spend money on leeves. Bush didn't decide to leave how many school busses that could been used to evacuate people sitting in parking lots to get flooded. And Bush certainly didn't block the proposed flood and tide control gates that were proposed for Lake Poncitrain (sp).
In terms of an eruption of Yellowstone, I siupect Bush would of shown far more resolve than a lot of the people here give him credit for. There ain't much he could of done to prevent a lot of the suffering in the imediate aftermath but then I'll bet he'd do better than the newly Annointed One. When bad things happen you have to make decisions, for good or ill, not sit on the fence or take time to have polls taken.
In terms of an eruption of Yellowstone, I siupect Bush would of shown far more resolve than a lot of the people here give him credit for. There ain't much he could of done to prevent a lot of the suffering in the imediate aftermath but then I'll bet he'd do better than the newly Annointed One. When bad things happen you have to make decisions, for good or ill, not sit on the fence or take time to have polls taken.
I really don't understand many people's fascination with apocalyptic disaster scenarios. Assuming Yellowstone erupts tomorrow I really don't believe that it would be the end of civilization, or even America. The western US and probably western Canada and Mexico are screwed, but of course the rest of the world's gonna pitch in, except a couple radical America-hater states. It would be pretty bad, but I think humanity is too resilient for this too be the end of more or less the existing world order. Feel free to argue with me if you think I'm wrong, though.
I think geologists were going by what the previous eruption did 640,000 years ago, covering much of North America in at least a centimeter of volcanic ash.
However this fact sheet put out by the USGS says that a lava flow, which is much less catastrophic, is more likely.
Global crop failures for several years... yea its the death of our civilisation.