SAN FRANCISCO, California (Reuters) — More than 1 billion people live in low-lying areas where a sudden surge in sea level could prove as disastrous as the 2004 Asian tsunami, according to new research presented on Thursday.

New mapping techniques show how much land would be lost and how many people affected by rapid sea level rises that are often triggered by storms and earthquakes, a U.S. Geological Survey-led team determined.

E. Lynn Usery, who led the team, said nearly one-quarter of the world’s population lives below 100 feet above sea level — the size of the biggest surge during the 2004 tsunami that pulverized villages along the Indian Ocean and killed 230,000 people.

I’m worried about sea level rise, too, but there is a somewhat unseemly threat “arms race” going on here. Latest bid, in the words of Dr. Evil, one BILLION people at risk.

The other 5.3 billion are at risk, too, from the GIANT ASTEROID HEADING STRAIGHT FOR EARTH that we’re not looking very hard for, either.

To be fair, the 500-year probability of gradual sea level rise is probability far higher than the 500-year probability of being hit by a dinosaur-killer.

Unless the chevron people are right…

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