It's easy to predict the next BP disasters. Why?

How does studying prehistoric disasters help us with today's disasters?

• How does studying prehistoric disasters help us with today's disasters? how does it help us predict and protect against them?

• Answer:

  It gives you an idea of what has happened and what could happen. Most people can't think past their normal lifespan in time. A volcano that erupted 250 years ago most people would not understand the danger now. But that is a short geologic time period. Another problem is that a prehistoric or ancient historic disaster would have an effect on far smaller populations. Today the same disaster could effect thousands or millions. An example would be Mt Vesuvius. The history of the volcano is deadly. Today there is 250k people living on its lower slopes and another 3m in nearby Naples. The Indonesia tsunami killed far more than it should have. People failed to learn from the past.