To the Editor,
It’s interesting that shills for the nuclear industry get plenty of press to explain why ‘it can’t happen here’ as fallout from the Japanese disaster continues to spread.
Some say Canadian nuclear accidents are less likely because our land is more stable. They should note the coming 200th anniversary of the New Madrid earthquake, which jolted America from December 1811 through May 1812.
Remarkably, it was predicted by the Prophet, brother of Shawnee chief Tecumseh who lead Canadian forces in the War of 1812.
At New Madrid, Missouri, people watched the Mississippi River hump up in the middle, then overflow both banks and flow upstream, wiping out forests on both sides.
For more than five months, quakes shook and demolished buildings from Chattanooga, Tennessee to Chicago, Illinois to North Carolina.
More than 200 quakes were recorded in the newspapers of the time. Geologists estimate more than 30,000 square miles rose as much as eight meters, and an equal amount fell the same distance.
It’s bad enough to leave our children with the huge debts required to build nuclear plants. Even worse to saddle them with the cleanup costs of radiated lands and rivers.
Jim Erkiletian
Nanaimo