Flooding - The Yellow River（1）

       The 6th ENGII Conference——Few people in northern Henan realize that the Yellow River is expected to produce a disastrous flood within the lifetime of the average resident. Few realize that such a flood could kill most people living in northern Henan, on the order of twenty million fatalities. Those who are not drowned in the first wave of water are expected to starve to death. It would take several weeks to bring food and water to the survivors who would be huddled in tall apartment buildings above the flood waters. By that time, everyone who has not prepared for the flood would suffer an agonizing death by starvation or a quicker death by drinking contaminated water. Despite this prediction by all known geoscientists who have examined the relevant data, virtually none of the high-rise apartment dwellers in Henan are taking the obvious precaution of storing a month’s supply of water and non-perishable food. Flood waters from the Yellow River would take a few hours to reach most parts of northern Henan, so there would be enough time for nearly every apartment dweller to reach their home. Unless attacked by starving neighbors, they would be safe there if they had enough food and water. This dire prediction is made for personal reasons. If the author is the only one in his apartment building with food and water, he must expect that thieves will break down his door. If everyone in his building has adequate provisions, he will rest peacefully until help arrives, probably a full month later. The inevitability of flooding is mostly related to variation in monsoonal rainfall but neotectonism also poses a threat, partly through the potential uplift of a small horst, like that with the carved faces of Huang and Yan, and partly through degassing of the Earth along deep-seated faults, resulting in cavern dissolution, e.g., Xuehuadong at Gongyi.