The chances against Panama being selected as the location for a canal over Nicaragua are reportedly 100 to 1, until what two events occur?

The chances against Panama being selected over Nicaragua as the location for a canal are reportedly 100 to 1 until the following two events transpire. First, Theodore Roosevelt reads accounts about how an audience of civil engineers listening to Irving M. Scott unanimously rally in favor of Panama. Second, on May 2, 1902, Mount Pelye explodes on Martinique, 1,500 miles from Nicaragua, wiping out St. Pierre in two minutes and killing 30,000.