Hilo destroyed in 1984 Mauna Loa eruption

[acgoldis]

Hmmm. Look what I stumbled into. Move to ASB if it's seen as a geologic POD.

Mauna Loa, the World's Largest Volcano, May Be Waking Up

Mauna Loa is stirring. More "swarms" of small earthquakes shook the Hawaiian peak, following an increase in seismic activity on the summit for months.

www.themarysue.com

The Mauna Loa eruption in 1984 was massive and intense, with lava flows threatening the largest population center on the Big Island, the city of Hilo. The lava stopped only 7 miles from the city, which was lucky.

What if the city is partially or totally destroyed in the eruption?

 

[overoceans]

What if the city is partially or totally destroyed in the eruption?

Can you maybe narrow down the range of outcomes you'd like to consider? Obviously, a lot of people would die, unless they were evacuated in time. Tourism on the Big Island would be impacted, possibly long term, but that island is probably a distant third in the hearts of most travelers, and I wouldn't foresee the blowback spreading to Maui or Oahu.

That said, the fact that this happened in Hawaii, the state of the union most consistently associated with fun, probably accentuates the grief felt nationwide, even if it didn't happen on quite the most popular island. Lots of sombre newspaper cartoons involving memorial leis, a hula girl with a single tear trickling down her face etc.

 

[overoceans]

I was hoping James Watt was still SOTI at the time of this proposed apocalypse, so he could generate outrage by making some stupid joke about all the carnage. But alas, he left office in 1983.

 

[overoceans]

I'm thinking if the tragedy hits the American psyche with a big enough impact, you might see some sort of televised Concert For Hawaii fundraiser. Maybe broadcast from Honolulu(assuming the Big Island is still a mess), featuring a line-up of artists more popular with the older, middle-class crowd: Sinatra, Dean Martin, Tom Jones etc. Don Ho could emcee(not that anyone really cared about him otherwise).

 

[Unknown]

Tom Selleck and the cast of Magnum, PI will play a big part in the concert, methinks--Mangum, PI was set in Hawaii and would probably have several episodes about Hilo's destruction...

 

[overoceans]

Tom Selleck and the cast of Magnum, PI will play a big part in the concert, methinks--Mangum, PI was set in Hawaii and would probably have several episodes about Hilo's destruction...

Thank you! I was trying to think of other people to co-host with Don Ho, and all I could come up with was Jack Lord. But Tom Selleck would be better for that era, bringing in teen and twentysomething viewers.

 

[overoceans]

I'd also see Ronald Reagan phoning in his sympathies to the concert. Maybe televised on closed-circuit TV.

"...we stand with you, America's island paradise, where the imagination of this great country reaches out to the far waters of the Pacific and beyond..."