Earth is facing "complex catastrophes" that will forever upend the lives of millions of people

Paul Stockton, who oversees U.S. security at the Pentagon, is making plans for apocalyptic disasters that could change the lives of millions of Americans forever, Newsweek reports. Stockton, the U.S. deputy secretary of defense, calls them "complex disasters" and notes that they will have a "cascade effect," including socio-political ones, journalist Christopher Dickey writes.

Stockton's models feature disasters that could kill tens of thousands of people, cripple the economy, and create a huge breach in national security. "And the terrorist responsible for these atrocities will be Nature," the publication reports.

Stockton and other experts have no doubt that disasters more destructive than Hurricane Katrina are coming. Global warming and rising sea levels are already producing larger, more powerful hurricanes and more dangerous storms. According to Al Gore, some scientists want to add a new Category 6 to the Saffir-Simpson Hurricane Scale. Category 5 currently includes hurricanes with wind speeds greater than 155 mph. Category 6 would include hurricanes with winds faster than 175 to 180 mph. Gore also noted that the U.S. has already seen 10 disasters this year that have cost more than $1 billion, and the U.S. Department of Emergency Management has nearly exhausted its annual budget.

"The problem is not just that nature's juggernaut has become so powerful, but that the areas in the path of natural disasters are densely populated," the paper says. "People are moving into these megacities all the time, and they are located on the coasts," explains Madhu Beriwal of IEM, which studied threats to New Orleans before Katrina.

There are even more dire scenarios than the recent earthquake in Japan, which caused a tsunami and an accident at a nuclear power plant, the publication notes. For example, in the winter of 1811-1812, a series of strong earthquakes occurred in the United States north of Memphis. The Mississippi River flowed backwards, the banks began to collapse, and new lakes appeared. But there were few human losses, since it was a sparsely populated area at the time. American scientists have calculated that if an earthquake measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale were to repeat itself today in the same place, up to 86,000 people would die or be injured, direct damage to the economy would amount to $300 billion, and 15 nuclear power plants could be damaged. 42,000 rescuers would be needed, which means that troops would have to be called in. That is why Stockton is so closely interested in potential natural disasters.

The events of 9/11, Iraq and Afghanistan have given Americans a wealth of experience in dealing with emergencies. Rescuers will also benefit from cutting-edge military and intelligence technology, the article says, but when it comes to flying drones over America, even to save lives, critics are likely to question their necessity, wary of the "eyes in the sky."