Deep Impact

[VT45]

Currently watching Deep Impact which is a great movie. And I figure that since a 7 mile wide comet didn't smack into the Outer Banks in the late 90s, it now counts as alternate history. So I'm wondering something. Morgan Freeman makes reference to other countries creating contingency plans for themselves similar to what the US is doing, but we don't hear about them. So what do you think other countries are doing to prepare for the impact? And what would the aftermath of the movie be?

As a refresher, here are the passages from the movie that detail what the US plan is:

Ever since the comet was discovered, we've been hoping and working for the best but we've also been planning for the worst. Our strategy has been two-fold. First, our strategic missile command is preparing to coordinate with the Russians in a massive strike of Titan missiles to intercept the comets. If we can deflect these comets enough, they will bounce harmlessly off our atmosphere and head on out into space. Unfortunately, the Titans cannot be launched until the comets are only a few hours away, and while we are confident that the missile attack will succeed, it is only prudent that we now take cautionary steps to ensure the continuation of our way of life. To guarantee that there will be enough of us left to rebuild a new world in the unlikely event that the comets do strike the Earth. So, in the soft limestone of Missouri, we've been preparing a network of immense caves, and they're almost finished. And we can put a million people in them, and that million people can survive there underground for two years, until the air clears and the dust settles. Now the cave is more than a dormitory; it's our new Noah's Ark. We're storing seeds and seedlings, plants, animals, enough to start over. On August 10th, a computer will randomly select eight hundred thousand Americans to join the two hundred thousand scientists, doctors, engineers, teachers, soldiers, and artists who have already been chosen. Other countries are preparing similar caves along the lines they believe are best to preserve their way of life. This is ours.

Those of you that have been pre-selected will be notified within the next few minutes. For the rest, on the night of August 10th, those whose social security numbers have been randomly selected by computer will be notified. While some Americans over 50 years of age have been pre-selected for the Ark due to their expertise in a necessary field of study, no men and women over 50 in the general population will be included in the lottery. The evacuation for those who have been selected for the Ark will take no longer than two days beginning on August 12th. During this two-day period, no unofficial travel will be permitted. Those selected will be taken by bus and train to the underground Ark site by military personnel. Civil defense teams have been in every town with a population over 5000. They will distribute supplies and organize group shelters in underground parking facilities and other appropriate sites. Construction plans, equipment lists, and locations for securing the necessary provisions, along with instructions on how to grow your own food underground and how to purify water are now available on government websites. All phone services will be turned off beginning on August 9th. The only phones that ring will be those of the people that have been selected.

 

[Historyman 14]

Russia has the Ural Mountains ans likely a ton of Cold War era stuff to fall back on, China has the Kunlun Mountains and the Western half of the PRC, Germany, Italy, France, Austria, and Switzerland has the Alps, the Nordic States has many an mountains and caves to hid in.

As for the aftermath...its going to be bad. The East Coast of North America been hit hard, along with Eastern South America, and Western Africa and Europe. All of NYC outside the tops of the World Trade Center got cover, so just think how the rest of the affected areas would look like. Western Africa and Western Europe may not be as bad, but it won't look good at all.

 

[VT45]

I’d think there might be a joint EU shelter because several member countries were at risk of disappearing completely under the tsunami. Or at least I’d hope the Dutch shelters were absolutely waterproof and airtight.

 

[lordapocalipsis]

it will be interesting to see a map, post impact;
i assume almost all the Caribean nations would be destroyed completely

 

[WILDGEESE]

Currently watching Deep Impact which is a great movie. And I figure that since a 7 mile wide comet didn't smack into the Outer Banks in the late 90s, it now counts as alternate history. So I'm wondering something. Morgan Freeman makes reference to other countries creating contingency plans for themselves similar to what the US is doing, but we don't hear about them. So what do you think other countries are doing to prepare for the impact? And what would the aftermath of the movie be?

As a refresher, here are the passages from the movie that detail what the US plan is:

Personally I love DEEP IMPACT . . . much better story and more realistic than the popcorn driven ARMAGEDDON.

Well for the aftermath! . . . this is where Hollywood science diverges from ACTUAL SCIENCE!

The Barringer Crater aka Meteor Crater was created by a rock 50m ( 164 ft) in diameter . . . so that doesn't seem much does it! . . . but . . . but . . . wait, the flash over from the impact ie where everything gets atomized from the air being ionized into plasma was somewhere in the region of 40 miles across or to put it another way, everything in side the M25 motorway in London. In DEEP IMPACT you're talking about a rock of around 7 miles across so from my best guesstimation (excluding the Scaling Law) you're talking of something 225 times lager which means everything in a diameter of 9,000 miles would be atomized. This is where INDEPENDENCE DAY falls flat on it's arse. If the Aliens wanted to wipe us out all they needed to do was skip one of their space ships off the surface of the atmosphere and everything on the planet would be laid to waste.

The old man here watching Wolf-Beiderman go by with his wife Denise Crosby plus the rest of the stranded in the traffic jam would be atomized brfore they even spotted it.

Area devastated 4,500 miles x 4,500 miles x 3.14 = 63,585,000 miles or 31% of the planets entire surface area

Not a very good outcome is it?

Hope this has helped.

Regards filers.

 

[VictorLaszlo]

Personally I love DEEP IMPACT . . . much better story and more realistic than the popcorn driven ARMAGEDDON.

Well for the aftermath! . . . this is where Hollywood science diverges from ACTUAL SCIENCE!

The Barringer Crater aka Meteor Crater was created by a rock 50m ( 164 ft) in diameter . . . so that doesn't seem much does it! . . . but . . . but . . . wait, the flash over from the impact ie where everything gets atomized from the air being ionized into plasma was somewhere in the region of 40 miles across or to put it another way, everything in side the M25 motorway in London. In DEEP IMPACT you're talking about a rock of around 7 miles across so from my best guesstimation (excluding the Scaling Law) you're talking of something 225 times lager which means everything in a diameter of 9,000 miles would be atomized.

Some nitpicks with your observations: First in Deep Impact is was a comet, not an asteroid about to hit earth, so it's not a rock but a dirty snowball. And second it was only a small breakaway part of the comet that did impact in the Atlantic off the Bermudas, the really big and upon impact E.L.E.ing main part was blown up by Robert Duvall and his crew sacrificing themselves for the rest of humanity.

Of course then Hollywood science kicks in again and the comet's debris, some parts of it likely bigger than the Tunguska impactor, cause no damage at all, as they, according to the narrator, harmlessly burn up in the athmosphere, they do not even seem to massively heat it up while doing so.

 

[CJD]

So given the massive devastation done to the NATO powers does this mean Russia would have an opening to essentially resurrect the Warsaw pack?

 

[lordapocalipsis]

So given the massive devastation done to the NATO powers does this mean Russia would have an opening to essentially resurrect the Warsaw pack?

perhaps, obvioulsy Russia, along with China, and many countries around the Pacific may get a better situation

 

[Petike]

Some nitpicks with your observations: First in Deep Impact is was a comet, not an asteroid about to hit earth, so it's not a rock but a dirty snowball. And second it was only a small breakaway part of the comet that did impact in the Atlantic off the Bermudas, the really big and upon impact E.L.E.ing main part was blown up by Robert Duvall and his crew sacrificing themselves for the rest of humanity.

Of course then Hollywood science kicks in again and the comet's debris, some parts of it likely bigger than the Tunguska impactor, cause no damage at all, as they, according to the narrator, harmlessly burn up in the athmosphere, they do not even seem to massively heat it up while doing so.

Indeed.

Either way, the surface damage would be huge, from the shockwave alone.

I'd rather not contemplate what the Bermudas look like in the aftermath.

So given the massive devastation done to the NATO powers does this mean Russia would have an opening to essentially resurrect the Warsaw pack?

Warsaw Pact.

This is 90s Russia we're talking about, it was only starting to put itself back on its feet by the late years of the decade. In 1998, the country underwent a financial crisis.

The economic impact of the film's disaster on the western nations would also affect the Russian and Chinese economy. China might fare better, but not develop as quickly as it did in OTL. A lot of the newer economic developments required foreign markets and foreign capital.