Caribbean

In the novel, the Caribbean enters the disaster forecast as a far-reaching destination of a possible mega-tsunami from La Palma. It is not depicted as the site of an observed wave: the danger is presented as a consequence predicted if a large section of the island collapsed into the sea.

The Caribbean in the La Palma scenario

During a briefing on the unstable volcanic slope, Gerhard Bohrmann explains that a collapse could displace enormous quantities of water. His estimates describe a wave initially hundreds of metres high, travelling across the Atlantic at about 1,000 kilometres per hour while flattening as it moves away from its source. The Caribbean is among the distant regions placed in its path.

Predicted impact

The forecast gives the Caribbean a specific arrival window: six to eight hours after the eruption, a wave about fifty metres high could sweep across it. The Antilles are expected to be devastated, while flooding would extend along the eastern coast of the United States from New York to Miami. The Caribbean is thus framed not as a peripheral part of the scenario, but as one of the major regions at risk from a disaster originating far across the ocean.

Narrative significance

The forecast connects a local geological instability to consequences across an ocean basin. Bohrmann stresses that the precise outcome is uncertain, but none of the projected scenarios is reassuring; in the broader account, the prospective wave threatens both coastlines and economies. The Caribbean’s place in this chain makes the scale of the danger legible: distance may reduce a landslide-generated wave’s height, but it does not put distant shores beyond its reach.