Despite the scientific community repeatedly assuring the public that a collision with Earth is extremely unlikely, pieces of the comet's nucleus impact across the Western Hemisphere, with devastating results. The strikes on parts of Europe, Africa, the Gulf of Mexico, and the Pacific and Atlantic Oceans set off volcanoes, destabilize fault lines, including the San Andreas Fault, and cause tsunamis thousands of meters high, destroying major coastal cities around the world, killing billions and initiating long-term climate problems because of the massive quantities of vaporized seawater in the atmosphere.