It’s the End of the World As We Know It?

Satellite image of Typhoon Ketsana

I have a friend who is into conspiracy theories and buys into some of those 2012, end of the world scenarios. Every time there is natural disaster or some random event, he points to it as a sign of the impending apocalypse. Apparently the Mayans had all the secrets of the universe figured out and knew exactly when the world is going to end (December 21, 2012 if you’re interested). This dooms day is to be preceeded by an unprecedented number of natural disasters. I don’t buy any of it for a second. If the Mayans were so smart, they’d still be alive. However, this week’s events in the South Pacific sure seem pretty biblical and slightly, maybe, kind of corroborate some of these ‘end of the world’ theories…or not.

It began with Tropical Storm Ketsana dumping over 16 inches of rain in 12 hours on the Philippine capital of Manila killing hundreds. The storm moved out over open waters and strengthened into a category 2 Typhoon and slammed into Vietnam. The area remains active as there are 3 more tropical systems currently lined up east of the Philippines.

Yesterday, a massive 8.0 magnitude earthquake struck near the Samoa Island region. It did form a tsunami that struck nearby islands killing an estimated 100 people. The quake was so powerful it generated a 1.5-foot tsunami on the Hawaiian island of Oahu 2,700 miles away, and a 0.6-foot tsunami on the Oregon coast, over 5,000 miles away.

And finally another powerful earthquake struck western Indonesia yesterday. It measured 7.6 and occurred along the same fault line that spawned the massive 2004 earthquake that killed over 230,000 people in over a dozen countries. I guess the only thing missing is a volcano eruption…or a meteor strike.

Here’s a picture of Typhoon Ketsana making landfall in Vietnam from a friend on Facebook:

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