Try 536AD: Worst. Year. Ever. | Radiolab | WNYC Studios
edit: I don’t mean to make it sound like 536 A.D. was a really bad year to be alive and therefore we shouldn’t be concerned about what happens in the coming weeks and months as a result of this eruption. I was more drawing parallels to something I had just listened to on RadioLab (hence the link)
I think Taiwan is pretty well shielded from tsunami, because most the population center is blocked by some mountains.
How big do you think wave would be? That’s Hollywood talking.
Taiwan is mostly spared due to the big underwater trench.
A Celestial was born…
Yes this seems to be the case.
Guy
Once again, I know. 
I used to dive a lot on the NEast coast. You pick up a few things from knowledgeable folks if you pay attention.
I think it’s fair to say that we already face enough challenges here (geological, geopolitical, etc) without adding tidal waves from the South Pacific to the list!
Guy
Historically if Taiwan got tsunamis, houses, temples and shelters in Yilan would have been built on stilts.people ain’t dumb.
But they are sometimes ridiculous, as any sampling of tourism accommodation in Yilan will make clear. 
Guy
New York Times article about the eruption - it was bigger than I realized, biggest since Pinatubo, and what’s actually going on in Tonga is still frustratingly and worryingly unclear.
Key difference is Pinatubo was erupting for a few days, but this one was only for ten minutes.
Some quotes:
Although it appeared to be the largest eruption in the world in three decades, the explosion of the Hunga volcano on Saturday will very likely not have a temporary cooling effect on the global climate, as some past enormous eruptions have.
The shock wave produced by the explosion, as well as the unusual nature of the tsunamis it generated, will have scientists studying the event for years. Tsunamis were detected not just in the Pacific, but in the Atlantic, Caribbean and Mediterranean as well. [WHAT?!]
“We know that the atmosphere and the ocean are coupled,” said Dr. Dengler. “And we see the tsunami in the Atlantic Ocean. It didn’t go around the tip of South America to get there.”
“The evidence is very clear that the pressure wave played a role. The question is how big a part.”
If I’m looking at it correctly, the cloud was multiple times bigger than the entire island-nation.
Has its VEI been calculated yet? (I have yet to see any article mention it.)
This would then make for a decent comparison between it and all the historic eruptions that have impacted the atmosphere.
I’ve looked, and I can’t seem to find anything of which I can be sure.
“The first explosion … .our ears were ringing and we couldn’t even hear each other, so all we do is pointing to our families to get up, get ready to run,” local journalist Marian Kupu told Reuters
“The dust is on rooftops, trees, everywhere,” she said.
“What we are concerned about now is clean drinking water. Most of our drinking water has been contaminated from the volcanic dust.”
Sad situation, too, as underseas Internet cable also disrupted.
I don’t know if it’s enough, but it seems the first flights with much needed supplies have arrived in Tonga.
Guy
flat-earthers will be disturbed by this
