Hell on Paradise Islands: how the strongest volcanic eruption changes Hawaii. In the hall of the academy

Once my friend, who visited several dozen countries, convinced me:

— You know, every country has its own zest. Even in the most backward countries people enjoy life, have fun, hope for the best...

And even in Haiti? I asked.

The interlocutor hesitated, and then cut off:

- Not. Haiti is full...

“To say that the country is poor is to say nothing”

The last word, unfortunately, will not pass censorship. But it appears in the story of Haiti for absolutely all travelers.

In 2014, the famous Russian blogger Ilya Varlamov, who visited this country, wrote: “How to cook Haiti? Write down the recipe. We take the Somali devastation from Mogadishu as a basis and mix it with the mud of Kabul. You add a pinch of Indian stench, two handfuls of Congolese savagery from Kinshasa, a little malice from Côte d'Ivoire. Now add Nigerian plugs. We decorate the dish with painted buses from Pakistan, a couple of drops of Russian corruption ... now we put it on a slow fire and pour sauce from endless natural disasters, famines and coups d'état. M-m-m-m-m! You see? We're getting Haiti!"

If you take a gazetteer thirty years ago and what they write about Haiti today, then both there and there it will be said: "Haiti is one of the poorest countries in the world." Poverty in Haiti is not an economic crisis, it is a condition in which many generations of people in this country live steadily.

Journalist of "Arguments and Facts" Georgy Zotov, who had the dubious pleasure of visiting Haiti, writes on his Facebook page: “In 2008, I fully enjoyed the burden of a white man there. Well, to say that the country is poor is to say nothing. It's simple (the very word that should not be put in the material - approx. AiF.ru). Whoever says that Cuba is suffering under the communists, I recommend a trip to Port-au-Prince in order to see how the people prosper. You go out on the balcony of the hotel with a cocktail, and you see hundreds of people rummaging through the garbage dumps below and fighting for leftovers, and in the neighboring park, crowds of homeless people sleep on the grass. The beauty is wonderful, in general: it is not for nothing that the republic is considered a great friend of the United States.

Christopher, who called you here?

The island of Haiti is the second largest of the Greater Antilles in the West Indies, in the Caribbean Sea. Luxurious climate and picturesque nature of the island were the first to appreciate its indigenous inhabitants, the Indians.

Following them, a navigator named Haiti liked Christopher Columbus, which on December 6, 1492 moored to the shores of the island and named it "Hispaniola". Haiti created the first in the New World Spanish colony La Navidad.

The Spaniards who arrived dreamed of countless treasures, and the local "savages" were perceived at best as servants. When the Indians tried to resist, their methodical extermination began. Murders, slave exploitation of those captured, and most importantly, diseases brought from Europe did their job - the indigenous inhabitants of Haiti simply disappeared.

In addition to Spain, colonialists from other countries claimed the territory of the island. The most successful were the French, who entrenched themselves in the west of the island. Under the treaty of 1697, Spain ceded to France the western third of the island, where the French colony of San Domingo was established.

Christopher Columbus landing on the island of Hispaniola, 1492. Source: Public Domain

"Pearl" created by sweat and blood

By the middle of the 18th century, Saint-Domingue had become the most prosperous overseas possession of France, the “pearl of the Antilles”. The heyday of the colony was associated with sugar cane plantations, which, by the time the French Revolution of 1789 began, were producing 86,000 tons per year. Colonial goods from Saint-Domingue accounted for a third of French exports.

The work on the sugarcane plantations was incredibly hard, and, as you might guess, the French colonialists were not eager to do it. The "economic miracle" of Saint-Domingue was based on the exploitation of black slaves, who were brought to Haiti after the extermination of the Indians. By the end of the 18th century, a third of the entire transatlantic slave trade was connected with Saint-Domingue.

By 1789, the population was divided into three groups: 36,000 whites, 28,000 free mulattos, and about 500,000 Negro slaves.

Under the influence of the revolution in France, the mulattoes began to demand equal rights with the whites, which resulted in an armed uprising. Black slaves joined him, although the mulattoes did not advocate the abolition of slavery.

The confrontation, which lasted for 14 years, ended in 1804 with the victory of the rebels and the creation of a new state, which received the old Indian name "Haiti".

We have gained freedom! It's time to cut out all the whites

The world's first republic of former slaves who threw off their chains sounds beautiful and romantic. But in practice, things were not so rosy. The victors began by committing a massacre of the white population - those who did not have time to escape and did not die earlier. From the beginning of February to April 22, 1804, about 5,000 men, women and children were exterminated.

The massacre of 1804 spoiled the reputation of Haiti for a long time and complicated the international position of the young republic - most countries did not want to deal with the Haitians. In addition, France tied the recognition of Haiti's independence to the payment of compensation in the amount of 90 million gold francs. The Republic of Haiti paid this gigantic amount until the middle of the 20th century.

Haiti founder Jean-Jacques Dessalines, who proclaimed the new republic "a country only for blacks" and ordered the extermination of the white population, in the autumn of 1804 proclaimed himself emperor. He did not rule for long - on October 17, 1806 he was killed during a new coup d'état.

Since then, an endless series of coups d'etat, conspiracies, assassinations has been stretched, which accompanies the entire history of Haiti. In 1844, the eastern part of the island, the former Spanish possessions, seceded, announcing the creation of an independent Dominican Republic. In this republic, however, there was also neither political nor economic stability.

Massacre in Haiti 1804. Source: Public Domain

Occupation period

In 1915, in order to protect the interests of United States corporations, by order of US President Woodrow Wilson 330 marines landed in the capital of Haiti, Port-au-Prince. Thus began the 19-year occupation of Haiti by the United States.

The occupation caused massive protests by Haitians, and Charlemagne Peralt raised an armed uprising, which was crushed by the Americans, who destroyed about 13 thousand inhabitants of Haiti.

In 1934, the American occupation officially ended, but the influence of the United States in Haiti never ceased.

Its political elite was made up of cadres brought up by Americans. One of them was Francois Duvalier, which was destined to determine the history of Haiti for several decades to come.

Duvalier, being a physician by profession, played a significant role in the fight against typhus, thanks to which he created a good reputation for himself.

Few people guessed that the good doctor dreams of unlimited power.

Francois Duvalier. Photo: www.globallookpress.com

The good doctor comes to power

In 1956, after a new series of coups, in Haiti, for the umpteenth time, they tried to return to building a state on the principles of democracy.

Four candidates ran for the presidency: Senator Louis Dejoie, lawyer Clement Jumel,mathematics teacher Daniel Fignole and Dr. Francois Duvalier.

The doctor, considered an outsider, suggested to prevent " civil war» Appoint Daniel Fignolet as interim president. Fignolet accepted the offer of a competitor and on May 25, 1957 became the temporary head of Haiti.

Meanwhile, Duvalier was able to win over General Antonio Quebro, who was engaged in the formation and training of combat detachments from the supporters of the doctor.

Fignolet, who formed the government of national unity, appointed General Quebro as chief of the General Staff. Thus, he himself launched the mechanism of his own overthrow.

Just 19 days later, General Quebro, right at a government meeting, arrested the president and expelled him and his family from Haiti.

When outraged supporters of Fignolet took to the streets, they were met by military units and militants trained by General Quebro. During the dispersal of protests, about a thousand people were killed.

The military junta formed by Kebro declared its loyalty to the ideals of democracy, announcing that new presidential elections would be held on October 22, 1957. They, as expected, won Francois Duvalier.

François Duvalier (left). Photo: www.globallookpress.com

Papa Doc's hut: how hell was built on earth

The era of the rule of François Duvalier, nicknamed "Papa Doc", is the worst of nightmares, even in the midst of the nightmarish history of Haiti.

Duvalier did not just plunder the state budget and suppress the opposition. "Papa Doc" declared himself a voodoo sorcerer and leader of the dead, causing a truly mystical fear among the poorly educated population. He relied on the Tonton Macoutes - volunteer formations that, in exchange for the right to rob and kill, destroyed anyone who was seen as politically unreliable. The Taunton Macoutes burned people alive, stoned them to death, and displayed the remains of the victims in public places to intimidate them.

At the very "Papa Doc" in presidential palace there was its own torture chamber, where, among other things, there was a “human squeezer” - a box studded with blades, in which the victim was closed and gradually squeezed, subjecting him to a painful death.

"Papa Doc" did not disdain racketeering - all businessmen of the island had to pay "voluntary donations" to his fund. The citizens of Haiti were obliged to buy a book of Duvalier's best sayings.

Even the blood of compatriots "Papa Doc" turned into income - twice a month, 2,500 liters of donor blood were sent to the United States from Haiti. Of course, the population handed over it exclusively voluntarily. For those who did not want to, the helpful tontons-macoutes helped to donate all the blood at once.

Voodoo Master, or Why John F. Kennedy Died

In Washington, Duvalier's art was well known. But since the "son of a bitch" was loyal to America, he was given all kinds of support, using Castrov's Cuba as a counterweight. In addition, "Papa Doc" created ideal conditions for American companies that pumped out of Haiti everything that could be pumped out.

In the days of Castro in Cuba, Soviet specialists actually created medicine from scratch, built industrial enterprises, hospitals, schools, prepared Cuban specialists at Soviet institutes.

The Americans in Haiti did not do anything like this - such charity is not at all in their style.

There were, of course, squeamish - John Kennedy, unlike other representatives of the American government, Duvalier did not feel delighted and made it clear that he was not going to tolerate "Papa Doc".

In response, Duvalier built a voodoo doll and publicly pierced it with a needle, promising the American president a terrible death. "Papa Doc" was laughed at until John F. Kennedy was shot dead in Dallas. After that, Duvalier's influence on fellow citizens increased significantly.

Before and after Duvalier

In 1971, “Papa Doc” died, but nothing fundamentally changed in Haiti, because the son of the deceased, 19-year-old, became the new president Jean-Claude Duvalier, known as "Baby Doc".

In 1986, the United States considered that Washington was getting more problems from the Duvalier family than benefits, and Baby Doc was overthrown in a coup d'état. Duvalier Jr. fled, taking hundreds of millions of dollars with him.

During the reign of the Duvalier family, at least 50 thousand opponents of the regime were destroyed, more than 300 thousand were forced to emigrate.

The economy was destroyed, and it was necessary to restore it practically from scratch.

But there was no one to do it. The Taunton Macoutes, who lived by terror and robbery, did not give up their habits. Citizens who got rid of the dictatorship, following the example of their ancestors who made the revolution of 1804, considered that freedom is an excellent reason to slaughter or burn alive the supporters of the former government, and at the same time rob them. Those who were more politically literate took up arms and began to find out who was the most democratic.

In 1991 he was elected President of Haiti Jean-Bertrand Aristide, a priest who seemed progressive to the international community. In Haiti, he was famous for teaching his supporters to burn political opponents with a gasoline-drenched tire placed around the victim's neck - Aristide's fans called it the "necklace".

The priest was soon overthrown as a result of another coup, but the Americans again returned him to power with the help of military force. The game "Aristides - not Aristides" continued until 2004, when all the same Americans, tired of the fact that their protege was mired in corruption and repression, forcibly sent him to the Central African Republic.

Subsequently, Aristide, who abandoned his political career, returned to his homeland, and was soon placed under house arrest on charges of corruption.

Jean-Bertrand Aristide. Photo: www.globallookpress.com / Peggy Peattie

No exit. And will not

In 2010, Haiti suffered a new big trouble - but now the inhabitants had nothing to do with it. As a result of a powerful earthquake, more than 220 thousand people died, more than 300 thousand were injured, 3 million people were left homeless. Material damage, according to the most conservative estimates, amounted to 5.6 billion euros.

For a poor country with a population of 10 million, such a catastrophe was a real "end of the world."

Representatives from 50 countries have promised that a total of about $10 billion will be allocated for the reconstruction of Haiti.

Money did come out, but miraculously disappeared, as everything disappears in Haiti. Even the buildings of state institutions in the capital have not been restored, to say nothing of the rest.

Haiti today is a country of slums, garbage that is everywhere, crime and begging. Absolutely everyone is engaged in the latter - from the authorities who beg from the international community, to ordinary residents who beg from careless tourists or from each other. Haitians are accustomed to humanitarian aid, the distribution of which has also become a source of corruption.

The elite of Haiti today are those who are associated with the distribution of all kinds of international aid. According to journalists, even representatives of the UN are involved in criminal schemes. Organized crime, in particular, groups involved in smuggling and drug trafficking, feels great in Haiti.

Perhaps the main source of Haiti's income is the remittances of former compatriots who managed to get a job in other countries, primarily the United States. According to sociologists, there are about 1 million of them. To return home, as you can guess, they have no desire.

In the Republic of Haiti today there are all conceivable and unthinkable problems at the same time. How to solve them - no one really understands. The international community continues to supply Haitians humanitarian aid, which allows them not to die, but does not answer the question, what to do with all this?

The highest - red - level of alert has been declared, write vesti.ru. The US Geological Survey warns that the activity of the volcano could increase at any moment. This is fraught with new emissions of ash and lava, explosions near the crater and the formation of volcanic cracks.

19 volcanic fissures have already been recorded on the island. A narrow stream of lava flows to the edge of the ocean at a speed of 20 kilometers per hour. On Saturday, May 12, three new deep cracks, the height of the heaps of solidified lava reaches the height of a four-story building. The eruption is accompanied by emissions of poisonous gases.

The Pune district, near which the volcano is located, has been declared a natural disaster zone, 2,000 people have already been evacuated from there, and a command has been given to start a full evacuation east coast largest Hawaiian island. Large factories have begun draining flammable liquids for safety reasons.

Donald Trump issued a statement warning of a possible national danger as neighboring islands also began to be covered with a network of cracks from which magma erupted.

Hawaii is located in the so-called Pacific ring of fire: 12 more volcanoes are connected with Kilauea, which can begin to erupt. One such volcano in the chain is St. Helens, which is located in the US state of Washington. On May 18, 1980, dozens of people became its victims.

Exactly 40 years ago, on March 27, 1977, at Los Rodeos Airport on the Spanish resort island of Tenerife, a biggest disaster in the history of world aviation. Due to the collision of two Boeing 747 airliners belonging to the Dutch airline KLM and the American Pan American, both aircraft burned down, killing 583 people out of 644 on board.

Mutual misunderstanding of the crews of both aircraft and an air traffic controller, superimposed on complex weather. It all started with KLM's Boeing taking the starting position at the end runway, and an American Boeing was moving towards him from the opposite direction, having received an order approximately in the middle of the way to turn onto side taxiway No. 3. However, the crew commander did not understand the dispatcher, who spoke with a strong Spanish accent, and decided that he should turn onto the next track number 4, located much further. Instead of asking again, he continued to move in a straight line.

Meanwhile, the commander of the Dutch crew requested permission to take off. The controller in response gave instructions for climbing and the subsequent occupation of the air corridor. The pilots took this as a command to take off. The commander replied to the dispatcher "We're at take off". The Spaniard thought that this phrase meant "We are at the starting position" and answered "OK". However, the pilot meant "We're taking off!", and he obviously understood "OK" as confirmation. Deciding that the "American" had already cleared the runway, the crew switched the engines to afterburner mode, released the brakes and extended the flaps. The huge car began to accelerate. The pilots did not see the American "Boeing" rolling right at her, because there was thick fog over the airfield.

Airline crews noticed each other only when the distance between them was reduced to 700 meters. At this point, it was too late to interrupt the run. The American pilot turned sharply to the left in order to move off the concrete road, and the Dutch pilot tried to “blow up” the car and jump over the obstacle, pulling the steering wheel with all his might. But the speed was still insufficient.

"Boeing" KLM only "jumped" a dozen and a half meters up, slashing the fuselage of the Pan American airliner with full throttle engines and extended landing gear, and cutting off its keel with the tip of the left console. From the impact, the engines caught fire and the flame instantly spread to the fuel tanks filled "to the eyeballs". Having flown only a hundred meters, the flaming Boeing crashed heavily onto the runway, demolished the landing gear and "plowed" another 300 meters on its belly, turning into a huge fire. Of the 234 passengers and 14 crew members, no one survived, all were burned alive.

The rammed American Boeing was doused with burning kerosene and it also flared up. 326 passengers and nine crew members were killed on impact or burnt out of the fuselage engulfed in flames, but 61 people who got seats in the forward cabin still managed to escape by jumping out through the front doors and escape hatches.

The investigation placed the main blame for the incident on the crew of the Dutch Boeing who died in full force, obliging the KLM airline to pay compensation to the families of all victims of the crash.

No more tragedies of this magnitude have occurred either at airports or in the air, since the probability of the simultaneous death of two overcrowded superliners at once is extremely low. However, collisions and crashes of aircraft occurred many times in the future. Of course, this is not a reason to refuse flights, you just need to remember that you can’t escape fate, but completely safe species transport does not exist.

"Boeing-747" of KLM airlines, which died on 03/27/77 at El Rodeos airport in a collision with the same type of American car.

The remains of a burnt-out American Boeing.

Coffins with bodies dead passengers and crew members.

American film actress and fashion model Yves Meyer is one of the victims of the Tenerife plane crash.

In the ducal alcove

When the Middle Ages ended, it was time to think about the islands in the same perspective in which the ancient Greeks thought about them. Take Andros - it is also in the Aegean Sea, not too far from Patmos. But it was inhabited, judging by the pictures, by people of a completely different way of life! The great Titian painted this canvas for the private quarters of the Duke of Ferrara, so that one could not be embarrassed by nudity.

Titian. "Bacchanalia on the island of Andros". 1523-1526 National Museum Prado

The painting depicts a feast arranged in honor of the god Bacchus. This patron of winemaking and wine drinking will arrive on the island any minute with his bride Ariadne - the sails of the ship can be seen near the coast. It is striking that this is not just Titian's personal variation of an ancient theme, which happened a lot in the Renaissance. Everything is much more serious: Titian took the book of the ancient Greek writer Philostratus of Athens "Pictures", which described 65 works of ancient artists. I opened the 25th chapter and tried to reproduce the image according to the verbal description. An unprecedented example of virtual painting.

On the church wall

Christian paradise is described in the Old Testament - a book invented by nomads and pastoralists. Therefore, for us, Eden is a beautiful garden with full-flowing rivers, fertile land and many birds and animals. No islands. However, in the New Testament there was a place for the island, and a very important one.

Master of female half-figures. "Saint John on Patmos". Around 1540 London National Gallery

In exile to Patmos - a small piece of land in the Aegean Sea, the Romans sent the Apostle John. It was there that he was visited by such inspiration, such amazing visions that their echoes catch up with us to this day. We are talking about the book “Apocalypse” written by him, where both the four horsemen and the Babylonian harlot come from. Artists constantly painted St. John on Patmos, a piece of land in the midst of green waves. And often in the sky you can see visions of a saint - a red dragon-Satan and a wife clothed in the sun.

In the hall of the academy

For centuries, until the Romantics and Pre-Raphaelites introduced the fashion for Scandinavian and Celtic mythology, art continued to feed on ancient Greek legends. This masterpiece of the Rococo era depicts the Aegean Sea and the island of Cythera, where the sanctuary of Aphrodite was located. But, of course, with Watteau this is already a frank game, a carnival - the courtiers of Versailles do not even bother to dress up in antique costumes, but only follow the ancient customs of free love.

Antoine Watteau. "Pilgrimage to the Island of Cythera". 1717 Louvre

While working on the painting, Watteau was inspired not only by the description of how pagan pilgrims sailed to the temple of Aphrodite. But also the motive from the popular comedy "Three Cousins", which told about wonderful island from where no girl returns alone. By the way, this is a truly innovative canvas - Watteau managed to change the seemingly unshakable rules that prevailed in the French Academy of Arts, and get the title of academician not for a plot with gods and heroes, but for depicting real people, his contemporaries. Real life more and more began to invade art.

In an ordinary house

Surprisingly, the landscape as an independent genre appeared very late, somewhere towards the end of the Renaissance. Prior to this, artists had to write on the picture either saints or mythical characters in order to justify its very creation. And only in the XVII-XVIII centuries it became possible to simply enjoy the views of nature, without any excuses. A landscape by Guardi depicting a view of the Venetian island of San Giorgio Maggiore is one such painting.

Francesco Guardi. "View of San Giorgio Maggiore". Around 1760 Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum

Venetian artists were among the first to create purely landscape views. However, what's so surprising? Their lagoon city is more beautiful than many miraculous natural wonders. Another important aspect for the growth of the popularity of such city views is the tourism industry. For some Englishman who took this canvas home, the depicted Venetian island was like a sunny paradise.

As a gift to mom

Sometimes islands are just islands. For example, the canvas of the famous pointillist Georges Seurat depicts the Seine and the beach in the suburbs of Paris on the island of Grande Jatte. Parisians in full dress, in top hats and bustles... The artist's contemporaries saw the painting at the exhibition for the first time and saw a lot of meanings in it.

Georges Seurat. Sunday afternoon on the island of Grande Jatte. 1884-1886 Art Institute, Chicago

For some, it was a merry crowd on a Sunday afternoon (including the author, who gave the work to his mother). Others saw in her the embodiment of boredom, spiritual poverty, a visual reflection of thoughts of suicide. So, although the island is clearly not heavenly, but perhaps it is purgatory or hell? At least it's obviously very hot and very crowded.

in any magazine

The industrialization of society and the constant growth of crowds lead to escapism, to escapes from reality. One of the first ways of such care in the art of modern times was symbolism. In this artistic movement, everything was full of mystical, spiritual, mysterious. The key work of symbolism was Becklin's "Isle of the Dead" - an image of rocks with dark trees, to which a boat sails, carrying what looks like a coffin. The canvas enjoyed tremendous popularity; at the turn of the 19th-20th centuries, reproductions could be found in every cultural house. Becklin himself seems to be tired of this popularity - a few years later, as a clear contrast to his hit, he wrote "The Island of the Living", where couples of newts and nymphs in love bathe in the waves, and people in ancient chitons have fun on the shore. (Note that the ancient Greeks are indispensable here too).

Arnold Becklin. "Island of the Living". 1888. Museum fine arts, Basel

But the picture, despite its positive message, did not receive the same popularity. Spectators, on the contrary, were drawn to a breakdown, to gloominess. It will take a couple of world wars for people to understand: after all, the islands must be a symbol of happiness. The recipe is simple: the sea, the sun, and a comfortable plane.

1946 Hawaiian Islands. On April 1, at the bottom of the so-called Aleutian Trench in the Pacific depths, a giant earthquake occurred, which gave birth to a monster. Those same deadly waves that, breaking into paradise beaches Hawaii, rushed on, rapidly closing, as the then newspapers wrote, the fiery ring of hell.

British seismologist Wood Guthrie, who studied tidal anomalies on deserted sandbanks and miraculously escaped thanks to the powerful engine of an all-terrain jeep, noted a year later: “Spinning funnels formed on the sand of the beach. Part of the equipment, laid out by me at a distance from the tide, was, like a vacuum cleaner, absorbed, and lost forever. Walls of water, like porcupine quills, were seen by me from afar. Realizing that procrastination was like death, I jumped into the jeep and five minutes later was at the top of the nearest hill. From there, I watched as yellow-green waves, with red crests pierced by the sun's rays, ran ashore and, having paused, slightly fell off. I was sure that they were high enough to cover the hill where I took cover under the thin iron of the machine.

I'm lucky. The rounding of the most powerful shaft, like a bucket, dug the deepest pit ten meters from me. The hill-savior was cut from the north side like a razor. And in the pit was a small coast guard boat. When the waves rumbled in my rear, I saw with joy, mixed with horror, that five sailors, pale, but whole, staggering out onto the deck of their vessel.

Angela Weil, the meteorologist on duty in the town of Hilow, shared her observations no less amazing: “Already at night we were informed that the earthquake source, fraught with a tsunami in our region, is located at a distance of three thousand seven hundred kilometers. At seven o'clock in the morning, we watched, not without internal trembling, as a fifteen-meter wave of dirty water mixed with bottom algae covered the nearest bungalows. Waves receded and advanced with the periodicity of a swinging pendulum. And then we saw the corpses carried away by them. Almost no one escaped. They died without having time to wake up from sleep. Those who climbed the palm trees also met with an unenviable fate. They died from electrocution when power poles collapsed. We escaped because we climbed the tower in time, where instruments for measuring wind speed, air conductivity, and launching weather balloons are installed.

The ocean swayed for several more days. Rocked weird. In some places, its surface stood up, almost on edge. The water rustled like crumpled newsprint, and glowed brightly in the twilight, as if in the depths someone was turning fiery wheels. In sunlight, at a small distance from the coast, coal-black, trembling ripples were visible, occasionally showing breakers topped with thick yellow foam.

However, only scientists who arrived from all over America, from Canada and Mexico were interested in these natural anomalies. Thousands of volunteers armed with various technical means did something completely different. He restored energy and water supply systems, built new housing, carried out landscaping work.

To prevent this from happening again, the latest early warning and current warning stations were put into operation. “The equipment is insanely expensive, and, perhaps, it will be able to tell you when to take off your feet,” Hans Studlt, the chief specialist of the Crocus electronics firm, who is involved in testing it, joked gloomily. The equipment, fortunately, did not give any more alarms. But you can apply at any time. Today, tied with the help of artificial Earth satellites into the Global Seismic Monitoring System, she hears and sees very well. Regardless, paradise Hawaiian Islands could easily become hell.