If 2010 has taught us anything so far, it's the fact that an earthquake, a tsunami or a storm can show up and wreak havoc on an otherwise normal place at anytime. And, while it's crass to think about the devastation that's been inflicted on Haiti and Chile -- as well as what nearly hit Hawaii -- strictly in "What does it mean for me?" terms, we couldn't help but grab the nearest atlas to see how close some of our dream vacation spots lie to the Ring of Fire.
As a service to those concerned that nature might pick their next getaway as a time to show mankind who's boss, we tracked down a few other hotspots that might be at risk of some monumentally bad luck.
Amsterdam
In this town situated slightly below sea level, Al Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" is more horror flick than documentary. The city's survived for centuries thanks to a network of dams and dikes, and thousands of water pumps push the runoff back to the sea. However, as the Boston Globe reported a couple of years ago, if the pumps ever stopped working, the entire city would start to experience severe flooding within six hours, and the place would be a swamp six months later.
Keep reading for three more cities at risk.
MiamiA city whose university defiantly named their football program after the storm that threatens to wipe them out is a city that has the right sort of attitude, and Miami hasn't seen a direct hit from a hurricane since Cleo in 1964. But that fact probably has less to do with preparation and more to do with luck. Shortly after Katrina ravaged New Orleans, Miami was identified as one of America's three most at-risk cities of being devastated by a hurricane by the director of the Chesapeake Climate Action Network.
VeniceVenice has been flooding pretty much since it was founded, but it wasn't until the 20th century that sinking became a real problem -- it averaged a drop of about 7 centimeters a year prior to that, but in the last hundred years, the sink was more than triple that rate. And, despite a bunch of wacky plans to keep things afloat (an inflatable dam!), the math is still not in the city's favor: Venice continues to sink, and water levels continue to rise.
IstanbulIn 1509, about 50 years after the city became Istanbul (not Constantinople), it was hit by an earthquake nicknamed "The Lesser Judgment Day," which saw 10,000 fatalities. Today, Istanbul remains the most populous city in Europe, with almost 13 million official residents. A quake 70 miles away in 1999 killed over 17,000, and the most up-to-date projections claim that a direct shot to the city (which would likely be followed by a tsunami) could have a final death toll of over 120,000.
We want to know: Have your vacation plans changed any after the past couple of months of disasters?


























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Sunday 14 March
By donnasgirl
I have lived in the Caribbean for a few years now and you just can't dwell on the threat of being wiped out. So I wouldn't allow a potential disaster to deter me from traveling somewhere interesting either.
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