Natural Threat

…Instances of volcanic eruptions are their highest for 300 years and scientists fear a major one that could kill millions and devastate the planet is a real possibility.

Experts at the European Science Foundation said volcanoes – especially super-volcanoes like the one at Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, which has a caldera measuring 34 by 45 miles (55 by 72 km) - pose more threat to Earth and the survival of humans than asteroids, earthquakes, nuclear war and global warming. …The chance of such as eruption happening at one of the major volcanoes within 80 years is put at five to ten per cent by the experts.…

H5N1 avian influenza has killed 60% of the 650 humans known to be infected since it was identified in Hong Kong 17 years ago… Dutch researchers have found that the virus needs only five favorable gene mutations to become transmissible through coughing or sneezing… The altered virus was much less deadly than the natural version. Only two of the ferrets in the study died, but neither death was caused by the flu….

Very few people think of Illinois and its midwestern neighbors as the sites of such disasters. But, records of earthquakes that have either occurred or been felt in the past indicate that Illinois may be just as susceptible to these catastrophes as any other place on the globe.