Okay, it may not be inspired by a true story... but is there a chance that it will actually happen in the future?
 |
| Image Credit: Netflix |
Overtaken only by Squid Game 2 in recent days, the disaster series La Palma is the true queen of the 2024 holidays on Netflix. Much appreciated by users of the platform, this story halfway between a survival movie and a family drama tells the story of a Norwegian family on holiday in La Palma, an island in the Canary Islands, where a researcher suddenly detects alarming signs of a volcanic eruption, which soon triggers a natural disaster of colossal proportions. The fact that the Netflix series does its best to provide a scientific framework for the catastrophe depicted has led viewers to wonder if it was by chance inspired by a true story, and above all what the experts' position is on the matter: is such a volcanic eruption really plausible?
First of all, it should be noted that La Palma is based on scientific hypotheses that date back to the 1960s, when Jim Moore, a scientist at the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory, observed for the first time that some oceanic islands such as Hawaii and the Canary Islands experience landslides approximately every 100,000 years. When this happens, a portion of the island slides below sea level, an event that could cause tsunamis with waves of up to 100 m. Inspired by this theory, some researchers in 2001 theorized that La Palma could also suffer a similar fate. An article was then published in which the possibility of a sudden slide of a large part of the island into the ocean was hypothesized, which would have caused a tsunami of colossal proportions. The Netflix film is largely inspired by this theory.
However, this research was later refuted by an article from the USGS Hawaiian Volcano Observatory following the last major volcanic eruption, which occurred in 2021. It was the longest (85 days) and most dangerous ever recorded in the history of the island, although, thanks to the preparation of the population, only one death occurred, despite the extensive damage to the environment and heritage. Following this disaster, the 2001 theory was refuted by new data. Ocean mapping has in fact confirmed that a sudden slide of the land below the water level is highly unlikely: the phenomenon occurs gradually, and the volume of water involved would not be sufficient to trigger a mega-tsunami. Even in the worst case, the island could generate a tsunami of about 1/2 meter, which would certainly be worrying, but far from the "worst natural disaster in human history", as told in the TV series. Finally, scientists have not found events of comparable magnitude in ancient and recent history.
In short, according to the evidence currently available, the possibility of La Palma collapsing under the ocean causing a tsunami of biblical proportions is highly unlikely, if not impossible. We can therefore enjoy the Netflix miniseries for what it is: a fascinating and disturbing disaster movie.
Source: Collider