President Obama,
NASA Administrator Bolden,
and the members of the Congress
Dear Sirs –
As we watch the devastation cause by the earthquake in Japan unfold, with some
death estimates climbing to near 100,000, I’d like to take a few minutes to
remind you of the threat posed by another natural type of natural hazard, but
in this case a threat we can entirely prevent from harming us.
As we watch the fights against meltdowns of the nuclear plants in Japan, crisis
which were caused by earthquake induced tsunami, I’d like to remind you that
the best evidence is that Tunguska class impactors occur something on the order
of once per 100 years. Any nuclear plant within the blast zone of an event of
this type will face a far more difficult situation than any of the nuclear
plants in Japan are now facing.
As we watch the videos of the earthquake tsunami rolling over the towns and
villages of Japan, I’d like to remind you of the hazard posed by impact
mega-tsunami. Picture in your mind’s eye a tsunami anywhere from 10 to 20 times
as tall, moving 10 to o 20 times faster that the one that occurred in Japan –
that is an impact mega-tsunami. The best current estimate is that these have
occurred something on the order of once per 1,000 years in the recent past.
Initial estimates of the death toll from the earthquake and tsunami are now
approaching 100,000 dead. Current estimates are that there is something like
6,000,000,000 people living on Earth now. As long as man has been evolving,
there have been impacts that nearly extincted him occurring about once per
1,000,000 years.
While the Congress issued clear instructions to former Administrator Michael
Griffin to bring NASA’s resources to bear on this problem, Administrator
Griffin rather deliberately chose to ignore those instructions, and the earlier
Congresses did not prosecute him for doing so.
I hope that a serious mistake of this type is not repeated under the watch of
the current Administration and Congress.
E.P. Grondine
Man and Impact in the Americas
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