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00:04Out of need or curiosity, man has learned much about the earth on which he is both guest and
00:11prisoner. Often baffled in his brief journey through time, he has found reassurance in the
00:17order revealed in nature, the recurring sequence of the seasons, the symmetry in storm. Yet nothing
00:26has lessened his terror when nature seems to turn against him, when the earth shudders
00:32and explodes in fire, making rubble of all he has built.
00:4920,000 people dead, anywhere from 50,000 to 150,000 injured.
00:55If that's it, if there's a CCP there, the communication ought to go back because that dam's ready to go.
01:10There's two more in there.
01:13Against the sudden blows of an adversary that often strikes without warning, some have tried
01:19to create defenses. Powerless to prevent eruption or earthquake, they seek to diminish its toll.
01:31Others light candles of faith, seek safety in prayer.
01:57Today, new candles light the dark, instruments whose beams are reflected from distant objects.
02:05Or catch radio signals from outer space to measure the smallest movements of the earth's surface.
02:13Now, man has devised new concepts of the forces altering our planet.
02:20Forces that move the continents, twist the globe's thin crust, build vast mountain ranges even beneath the sea.
02:33Like all living things, earth is in ceaseless change.
02:39Born afire, it too is being transformed day by day.
02:44For more living things, earth is being transformed day by day by day by day by day by day by
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02:54day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by
02:54day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by
02:54day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by
02:54day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by
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02:55day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by day by
03:31Once this was Blank Ocean,
03:34the cold, storm-swept Atlantic
03:36off the southern coast of Iceland.
03:38Then, in fire eruption during the winter of 1963,
03:42the island of Surtse began to emerge from the sea.
03:47Today, its single square mile of ash and lava
03:50forms one of the newer additions
03:52to the land surface of the globe.
03:55Yet, this virgin terrain is no longer wasteland.
04:00Already, life has found it.
04:02Already, seeds born by wind and wave
04:05have taken root in the ash,
04:07and birds have begun to nest along the cliffs.
04:18A closed preserve to casual visitors,
04:21the island has become a living laboratory.
04:24Here, scientists from distant countries
04:26can study the ways by which life tests
04:29and gradually seizes a new domain.
04:33Among them is Dr. Robert Ballard,
04:35geologist from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution
04:38on Cape Cod.
04:42A story I often tell to try to get across the point
04:45that the Earth really is alive.
04:48If you were to interview a butterfly
04:51standing on the branch of a sequoia tree.
04:55Now, a butterfly lives for only a few days,
04:59and a sequoia tree can live for over a thousand years.
05:04And you were to ask that butterfly,
05:05do you perceive the object on which you're standing
05:09as being alive?
05:11And the butterfly would say,
05:14of course not, I've been here all my life, five days,
05:19and the tree hasn't done a thing.
05:22Same problem with a human being.
05:24If you were to ask a human being,
05:26perhaps one that's lived a hundred years,
05:29if they perceive the Earth,
05:31which is over four and a half billion years in age,
05:33as being alive,
05:35they'd probably say, of course not.
05:37I've been here all my life,
05:38and it hasn't done a thing.
05:40But the Earth really is a very dynamic object.
05:43In fact, I think of it as a living organism.
05:46Like Circe, Earth too is an island,
05:50not in the North Atlantic,
05:52but in the vaster sea of space.
05:55In time beyond the measure of man's brief experience,
05:59it too is in slow and ceaseless change.
06:03Some 200 million years ago,
06:05its land masses formed a single continent
06:08scientists call Pangaea.
06:12Then slowly, Pangaea's fracturing plates
06:15began to move apart
06:17like pieces of a vast jigsaw puzzle,
06:20gradually assuming the shapes and arrangement
06:22we recognize on maps today.
06:29Riding upon a semi-plastic layer
06:31of Earth's fiery interior,
06:33the ocean floors and continents
06:35that form its crust, or lithosphere,
06:38are in continuing motion.
06:40Though the continents seem stationary
06:43to living populations,
06:44they move an inch or more each year.
06:48The friction occurring along the plate margins
06:50is often marked by earthquakes
06:52and volcanic eruption.
06:56Sometimes, as in California San Andreas Fault,
06:59the opposing plates grind against each other
07:02in a sideways or lateral motion
07:04called translation.
07:06It is when a section of the fault locks,
07:09builds up tension,
07:11then abruptly releases,
07:12that major earthquakes occur.
07:21In other areas, such as Japan,
07:23in a movement known as subduction,
07:25the edge of one crustal plate
07:27slowly slides beneath another,
07:30causing volcanic activity and tremors.
07:38along the 46,000-mile mid-ocean ridge,
07:41in an action called spreading,
07:44molten rock or magma emerges through fissures
07:47in the ocean floor,
07:48soon congealing in new submerged crust.
07:52Sometimes, as in Iceland
07:53and its offshore islands of Surtsey and Hemai,
07:56the action has created new land above the sea.
08:10Barely 200 miles south of the Arctic Circle
08:13on the fiery seam,
08:15still building Iceland itself,
08:17Hemai is accustomed to change.
08:25Port for the fleet that fishes
08:27the abundant waters nearby,
08:29its only town of Vestmoneer
08:31has seen many a storm
08:33take its toll of men and ships.
08:37Hardy descendants of the Vikings
08:39who colonized the island
08:40more than a thousand years ago,
08:42its people long have learned
08:44to live with uncertainty,
08:45to meet risk and hazard
08:47with a cheerful face.
08:58Each summer,
08:59by long-standing tradition,
09:01the entire population moves out of town
09:04on a three-day community holiday.
09:07It is a gathering that harks back
09:09to Viking times,
09:10when villagers assembled
09:12to review the spoken laws
09:14by which they lived.
09:18On the grassy floor
09:20of an ancient volcanic crater,
09:21they build a tent city
09:23where the people of the town
09:24rediscover each other
09:26in a quite different setting.
09:39side by side,
09:41they celebrate many things.
09:43Home rule,
09:44one from Denmark
09:45more than a century ago,
09:47the inheritance
09:48of their Viking past,
09:50their survival of dangers
09:52that sometimes rise
09:53from the earth itself.
10:04At midnight,
10:06young men set fire
10:08to a great wooden structure
10:09built on the hillside.
10:11As the flames flare
10:13against the dark,
10:14they summon varied emotions
10:16among the watchers.
10:24To their Nordic forefathers,
10:26fire brought warmth
10:28in a numbing cold.
10:30It was a symbol of life,
10:32of rebirth.
10:33But the people of Heimae
10:35have long known
10:36that it also can bring
10:37destruction and death.
10:47In the winter darkness
10:49of January 1973,
10:51it brought disaster.
10:53Just beyond the town's edge,
10:55a fissure cracked the earth,
10:56abruptly spewing molten lava
10:58and ash hundreds of feet
11:00into the air.
11:01Roused from their beds
11:02by the sudden threat,
11:04most of the population
11:05was evacuated
11:06to the nearby mainland.
11:07But volunteers
11:09would fight
11:10a five-month battle
11:11with the new volcano,
11:13now called Eldfell,
11:15Fire Mountain.
11:22Within a week,
11:24Eldfell had raised
11:25a black smoldering cone
11:26600 feet high
11:28and covered the town
11:29in ash.
11:30More than 100 buildings
11:32had been burned
11:33or crushed
11:34under the advancing
11:35wall of lava.
11:46In early February,
11:47the lava threatened
11:48to block the entrance
11:49to the harbor.
11:51Desperately,
11:52emergency teams
11:53fought to dam the flow
11:55by hardening the lava
11:56with great streams
11:57of cold seawater.
12:03at last,
12:05by heroic effort,
12:06the harbor was saved.
12:08But as the eruption
12:10continued through ensuing months,
12:12the lava would add
12:13almost one square mile
12:15to the island,
12:16while much of the town
12:17lay buried under cinders
12:19and ash.
12:26It would take years
12:27to dig out,
12:28but at last,
12:30the precincts of the dead
12:31are tidy again.
12:33Elsewhere in Iceland,
12:34life goes on.
12:36Under the shadows
12:37of the volcanoes
12:38that remain
12:38a perpetual enigma,
12:40farmers gather crops,
12:42prepare for the winter
12:43to come.
12:44They are doing more.
12:46Boldly,
12:47Icelanders are making use
12:48of the very forces
12:49that threaten them.
12:52In the north of the mainland,
12:53near the Krapala volcano,
12:55they are attempting
12:56to harness the heat
12:57of a great geothermal field
12:58to power homes
13:00and industrial installations.
13:14Recent eruptions
13:15have reminded Icelanders
13:17of the unpredictability
13:19of the powers
13:19they are trying to employ.
13:22With Dr. Heralda Sigurdsson,
13:24volcanologist
13:25from the University
13:25of Rhode Island,
13:26Dr. Ballard
13:27visits a site
13:28where recent lava flow
13:30has threatened
13:30a newly built
13:31electric power plant.
13:40The power plant
13:41below is here.
13:42And if you look
13:43over this way,
13:43you see the recent flows.
13:45Entire caldera,
13:46recent lavas.
13:48Now the flows
13:49that were what,
13:49earlier this year
13:50are down there.
13:51Yes,
13:51you can see the steam
13:53defining the fissure
13:54that's been erupting
13:55during the last five years
13:56and the black lava flows
13:58that have been coming out.
13:59So if,
14:00let's say there were
14:01another eruption
14:02right along the caldera
14:04where we see
14:04the fissures opening up,
14:06the lava could just
14:07come down this valley
14:08and go right around
14:10the corner
14:10to the power plant.
14:13Icelanders invested
14:14in the costly
14:15geothermal power plant
14:16because the field
14:17had lain dormant
14:18for over 200 years.
14:21Begun in 1975
14:22as an alternative
14:24to a hydroelectric dam,
14:25the plant was
14:26almost immediately
14:27threatened
14:28by a series
14:29of violent eruptions
14:30that brought the lava flow
14:32within a mile
14:33and a half.
14:39Trying to discern
14:40a possible pattern
14:42in the crop
14:42of volcanic activity,
14:44scientists keep watch
14:45on the plant
14:46and the surrounding area
14:47for ominous signs.
14:49Here,
14:49one of the monitoring team
14:51checks for any ground tilt
14:52which could unbalance
14:54and destroy the turbines.
15:02In a field
15:03near the plant,
15:04he checks daily
15:05for signs
15:06of subterranean activity,
15:08measures any possible change
15:10in the gap
15:10between two pipes
15:12planted on opposite sides
15:13of a fissure.
15:23Like a serpent's back
15:25rising above the sea,
15:26the steaming crest
15:27of the mid-ocean ridge
15:29stretches across Iceland.
15:31Here,
15:32Ballard and Sigurdsson
15:33visit the site
15:34of the recent lava flow
15:35that is still cooling.
15:37Come onto the lava.
15:51We are in the fissure
15:53that erupted
15:54six months ago.
15:56So everything
15:56we're walking on
15:57is less than
15:58six months in age.
15:59That's right,
16:00and it's still cooling off here.
16:01That's why it's still
16:02like a sauna bath.
16:03It's about as fresh
16:04as you can get,
16:05short of having it red.
16:06Yes.
16:07Take this thing.
16:09If you can sit
16:11without cutting your pants.
16:15Oh.
16:17It's even warm.
16:23Now, I understand
16:24that when this eruption
16:26began to take place,
16:28a tourist from Denmark
16:30or something
16:30was standing right
16:31where the fissure opened up,
16:32and it was quite close
16:34to the area
16:36where the crust split
16:39and rifted apart,
16:40and the lava started
16:42to squirt up.
16:43So he just took off.
16:45And actually,
16:46I understand that the lava
16:47was moving quite rapidly here.
16:49How fast?
16:51Up to 10 meters per second.
16:52So you'd have to be a...
16:53Let's see,
16:54that's the world's record
16:56for the 100-yard dash is...
16:589.8.
16:59So it's running
17:01about as fast
17:02as the world's record.
17:03Hope the Dane
17:04was a fast runner.
17:05He got away.
17:07So far,
17:08there have been
17:08no casualties.
17:10Before this took place,
17:11this area had been quiet
17:12for a long, long time,
17:13and this is why
17:13they thought it was safe
17:14to build the power plant.
17:16This area has been
17:17without volcanic activity
17:19for about 250 years,
17:21and therefore,
17:23there was the general feeling
17:25that there wasn't
17:26an imminent danger,
17:27and there was
17:28a worthwhile risk
17:29to take
17:29to start construction
17:30of a geothermal power station
17:33in this central volcano.
17:35And they've invested what?
17:37Oh, probably about
17:3960 million dollars.
17:40So 60 million dollars
17:42is really in peril, then,
17:44if another major eruption
17:45occurs here,
17:46and this time it does
17:47go over that pass
17:49and down into the basin.
17:50Well, that's always
17:51a possibility,
17:52but in Iceland,
17:53there's a...
17:54Iceland is a country
17:55where you have to live
17:56with the elements.
18:11In patient calm,
18:13Icelanders accept
18:14the gamble
18:15nature has imposed
18:16upon them,
18:17the frigid climate,
18:19the sweeping storms,
18:20the hidden threat
18:21beneath their feet.
18:25Even as they keep
18:27a wary eye
18:27on a dangerous giant
18:29who has built
18:29the very island
18:30on which they live,
18:31they use his heat
18:33to warm their cities
18:34and homes,
18:35even their indoor gardens,
18:37a kind of compensation
18:38for the risks
18:39they philosophically endure.
18:44In winter darkness,
18:46they take light
18:47from the subterranean depths.
18:50Warmed by the hidden furnace
18:51of the earth itself,
18:53vegetables ripen
18:54in the Arctic cold.
18:58In the volcano's fiery breath,
19:01flowers bloom.
19:13Yet the risk remains.
19:15Hardly a year
19:16after eruptions
19:17threatened
19:18the power installation,
19:19Sigurdsson returned
19:20to Kropla
19:21as the restless giant
19:23stirred
19:23and became active.
19:25Once more,
19:26the lava flow
19:27approached
19:28within one and a half miles
19:29of the electric turbines.
19:50Though the fiery fountains
19:51gradually subsided,
19:53the eruption
19:54raised the ground level
19:55to provide a slope
19:57for future lava flows
19:58to travel toward
19:59the power plant.
20:14For the present,
20:16the Kropla installation
20:17is secure,
20:19but Icelanders know
20:20that eventually
20:21they may have to pay
20:23the price
20:23of living
20:24on the edge
20:25of creation.
20:39Sometimes the action
20:41of the mid-ocean ridge
20:42brings surprisingly
20:43opposite effects.
20:45In Iceland,
20:46its slow spreading process
20:48over millions of years
20:49has created
20:50the great island
20:51on which the people live.
20:53far southeastward
20:55along the nearly
20:563,000 mile furrow
20:57of Africa's
20:58great rift valley,
20:59the spreading action
21:00is slowly
21:01but inexorably
21:02opening the heart
21:04of a continent.
21:05In measurable time
21:07to come,
21:08eastern Africa
21:09will be detached
21:10from its mother continent
21:11and this dusty
21:13desert landscape
21:14will be an ocean floor.
21:23already in the Afar
21:25triangle at the
21:26Horn of Africa,
21:27the process has begun.
21:29The sea
21:30is invading
21:31the land.
21:37At Djibouti's
21:38Rubet al-Harab,
21:40an inland extension
21:41of the Gulf of Aden,
21:42the sea
21:43is temporarily
21:44delayed
21:44by a narrow barrier
21:46of small volcanic hills
21:47sealing off
21:48Lake Asal.
21:54But as magma
21:56seeps through fissures
21:57in the Earth's crust
21:58and the seven-mile rift
22:00widens and sinks,
22:01the sea
22:02inevitably
22:02will pour
22:03into the lowlands
22:04beyond.
22:11Already,
22:12seawater
22:12from Rubet al-Harab
22:14has begun
22:14to work its way
22:15downward
22:15through cracks
22:16and subterranean
22:17channels,
22:18undergoing
22:19substantial chemical
22:20change
22:20as it penetrates
22:22the heated rock
22:22layers below.
22:31With Dr. Jean-Louis
22:32Cheminet
22:33of the French
22:33National Center
22:34for Scientific Research,
22:36Ballard descends
22:37into a recently
22:38active fissure
22:39through which
22:40a small flow
22:40of seawater
22:41reaches the distant lake.
22:48So this is the sea
22:50coming in, right?
22:51Yeah,
22:53by a system
22:54of fissure,
22:55of gare.
22:56But this is where
22:57the water that we see
22:58on the other side
22:59of the rift
22:59going into Lake Asal
23:01originates from?
23:02Yes.
23:03So it comes in
23:04from the sea
23:05from the sea
23:06and across
23:07the rift
23:08by the fissure
23:11of the gare
23:11inside the mountain
23:13and out the other side.
23:15Now was this fissure
23:16in existence
23:17in 1978?
23:19Yes, yes.
23:20It just widened
23:21in?
23:21Just widened.
23:22Because a lot
23:23of these rocks
23:23look just perched
23:25as if they're ready
23:26to come down.
23:27Now.
23:28Yes,
23:28and the gare
23:30here,
23:31just near.
23:31Right.
23:32Well,
23:33we should move
23:33the car.
23:43So we'll go
23:43across the,
23:44uh...
23:45Not across
23:45exactly like this,
23:47no.
23:47We go across
23:48this area,
23:48right?
23:50Now,
23:50how long
23:50will it take us
23:51to get to the south?
23:52If we went from
23:54here all the way
23:54across,
23:55went across
23:55that flat,
23:56desert-like area,
23:58how long
23:58will it take
23:58to get there?
24:00Maybe
24:01six hours.
24:02Six hours.
24:02Six hours,
24:03yeah.
24:03Maybe more.
24:04Six hours.
24:05six and a half.
24:16In torrid heat
24:17that reaches
24:18more than
24:18130 degrees
24:20Fahrenheit,
24:21the water here
24:22and in the
24:22Rift Valley
24:23is often reduced
24:24to a caustic
24:25brine.
24:26I'm standing
24:27500 feet below
24:28sea level
24:29near the shore
24:30at Lake Asal.
24:31The ocean
24:32is only six
24:32miles away.
24:34If it weren't
24:34for these young
24:35lava flows
24:36filling the
24:36valley floor,
24:37I'd be underwater
24:37right now.
24:38In fact,
24:39the ocean's
24:39trying to do that.
24:40As rifting
24:41develops in the
24:42valley,
24:42these deep
24:43fissures start
24:44to form.
24:45This lets water
24:46travel beneath
24:47the valley
24:47through the
24:47fissures
24:48and it can
24:48enter Lake Asal
24:49along this outlet.
24:51In fact,
24:51there's several
24:52of them
24:52in the valley.
24:53At the present
24:54moment,
24:54it's so hot
24:55that most
24:56of the seawater
24:57that comes in
24:57evaporates,
24:58leaving the salt
24:59behind.
25:00But as rifting
25:01continues,
25:02more and more
25:03water will pour
25:03through these
25:04fissure systems
25:05until the sea
25:06claims this
25:06entire area
25:07as the ocean
25:09penetrates deeper
25:10and deeper
25:10into the continent
25:11of Africa.
25:24Here,
25:25as in Iceland,
25:26the spreading
25:27action creates
25:28new crust.
25:29Elsewhere,
25:30in compensation,
25:31the distant edges
25:32of an expanding
25:33plate must be
25:34destroyed.
25:42Outpost of Asia,
25:43Japan's island
25:44chain bears the
25:45shock of the
25:46Philippine and
25:47Pacific plates
25:47as they thrust
25:49beneath the
25:49Eurasian plate
25:50in a massive
25:51subduction.
25:52zone.
25:53In the deep
25:54ocean trenches
25:55off Japan,
25:56the aging plates
25:57plunge back
25:58into Earth's
25:59molten interior,
26:00causing powerful
26:01disturbances.
26:02The mists here
26:03are dragon's breath,
26:05the hissing steam
26:06of Japan's
26:0620,000 hot springs
26:08and 40 active
26:09volcanoes.
26:22With a long history
26:24of destructive earthquakes,
26:26Japan has begun
26:27a massive effort
26:27to prepare
26:28for the future.
26:30In Shizuoka's
26:31prefecture
26:32near Tokyo,
26:33school children
26:34take lessons
26:35in reading,
26:35writing,
26:36and catastrophe,
26:37learning the skills
26:39that may save
26:40their lives.
26:47In this temple
26:48to the victims
26:49of a great disaster,
26:50memory and reality
26:52are like the
26:53mismatched faces
26:54of an earthquake
26:55fault.
26:56Here, survivors
26:57come to witness
26:58again the day
27:00a world ended.
27:01Search again
27:03for faces that exist
27:04only in old men's dreams.
27:09Just before noon
27:10on Saturday,
27:11September 1st, 1923,
27:13an earthquake
27:14registering 7.9
27:16on the Richter scale
27:17struck Tokyo,
27:19shaking the earth
27:20for a full five minutes.
27:22Ignited by hot coals
27:24thrown from stoves
27:25against paper walls
27:27and straw matting,
27:28the city burst
27:29into flame.
27:30As the people
27:31fled into the streets,
27:32they converged
27:33on the river.
27:37From opposite banks,
27:38refugees started
27:39across the wooden bridges
27:41only to meet
27:42head on
27:43in mid-span.
27:45Surrounded by walls
27:46of fire
27:47with no escape,
27:49the fleeing mass
27:50was locked
27:50in panic
27:51and chaos.
27:53Next day,
27:54two-thirds of Tokyo
27:56lay in smoldering
27:57black ash
27:57and more than
27:59140,000 persons
28:00were dead.
28:11Today,
28:12the Japanese
28:12are building
28:13more than
28:14temples to the dead.
28:15Fearful of a
28:16predicted recurrence
28:17of the great
28:18Kanto quake,
28:1913 million persons
28:21in the Tokyo
28:21and nearby Tokai areas
28:23participate
28:24in a vast drill
28:26in which every citizen
28:27is learning
28:28to play a role.
28:31Public communication
28:33center during
28:33a crisis,
28:34NHK television
28:36relays information
28:37from the Japan
28:38Meteorological Agency
28:40or JMA.
28:41Here,
28:42a vast warning system
28:43keeps constant watch
28:45through scores
28:45of seismic stations
28:47and a 125-mile line
28:49of seismic monitors
28:50along the floor
28:52of Tsuruga Bay,
28:53probable epicenter
28:55of the expected quake.
28:58At the first sign
28:59of unusual activity,
29:01JMA instantly alerts
29:03the head
29:03of a six-man committee
29:04of seismologists.
29:06Known as the
29:07Han Tekai,
29:08this team quickly
29:09evaluates the information
29:10and the prime minister
29:12is notified.
29:16While police,
29:17firemen,
29:18and other public
29:19employees take their posts
29:20to prevent general
29:21confusion or panic,
29:23there is a delay
29:24of 30 minutes
29:25before a warning
29:26is broadcast.
29:28Each of the Tokai region's
29:30cities and towns
29:31has a municipal
29:32disaster plan,
29:33and through drills,
29:34most people have learned
29:36the precise steps
29:37required after such
29:38a warning.
29:40Turning off gas
29:42and electricity,
29:43citizens secure doors
29:44and cabinets,
29:45then take up
29:46the earthquake kits
29:47and march off
29:48to join the general
29:49exodus
29:49through predetermined
29:51escape routes.
30:08In the street,
30:10a rope helps maintain
30:11unity and order,
30:12wards off panic
30:14by providing a sense
30:15of common security
30:16within a group.
30:18Guided and patrolled
30:20by emergency forces,
30:21a swelling flood
30:22of people
30:23from home
30:23and factory
30:24moves toward
30:25assigned refuge areas.
30:35To escape the giant
30:37sea wave
30:38or tsunami
30:39which often follows
30:40a quake,
30:40the harbor fleet
30:41sets out to sea.
30:43The drill has been
30:44a costly effort,
30:45but the price
30:47seems small
30:48compared to the
30:49threatened loss
30:49of life
30:50in one of the most
30:51heavily populated areas
30:53on earth.
30:58Eastward across the sea,
31:00this tree-shaded oasis
31:01near California's
31:03Mojave Desert
31:03offers deceptive sanctuary.
31:06Like Japan's
31:08thermal cauldrons,
31:09it too is part
31:10of the ring of fire
31:11that circles the Pacific.
31:13Here,
31:14along the 700-mile
31:15San Andreas Fault,
31:17the Pacific plate
31:18grinds slowly northward
31:20against the
31:21North American plate,
31:22sometimes locking,
31:24building stress,
31:25then suddenly releasing
31:26an earthquake.
31:31Whether exposed
31:32as a naked scar
31:34crossing the Carrizo Plain
31:35near Los Angeles,
31:36or pleasantly disguised
31:38under grassy slopes
31:40and a chain of
31:41sag ponds
31:42near San Francisco,
31:43the fault
31:44stretches like
31:45a taut line
31:46of danger
31:47between the state's
31:48two most heavily
31:49populated centers.
31:50In times past,
31:52each of the cities
31:53has felt its power.
31:58Once the fabled
32:00gateway to the gold rush,
32:02its hills
32:02crowned with ornate
32:04palaces of mining
32:05and railroad tycoons,
32:06San Francisco today
32:08soars in a dazzling
32:09array of skyscrapers
32:11along its
32:12embarcadero,
32:13daring evidence
32:14of a city
32:14that refused to die.
32:21Dr. Ballard recalls
32:22a fateful morning
32:23at the beginning
32:24of the century.
32:28On the 18th of April,
32:301906,
32:31the San Andreas Fault
32:32suddenly snapped.
32:34The city of San Francisco
32:35felt the brunt
32:36of the blow.
32:37Some 700 people
32:39were killed
32:39and most of the city
32:40was destroyed by fire.
32:42Today,
32:43people think of it
32:44as an event
32:45found in history books.
32:47Yet to geologists,
32:48the fault
32:49is very much alive.
32:50We are monitoring
32:51the fault system,
32:53attempting to
32:54understand its behavior
32:55and predict
32:57its next move.
32:58One thing we do know,
33:00we will experience
33:01another earthquake
33:02like that of 1906.
33:04it's just a matter
33:06of time.
33:16At dawn,
33:17February 9th, 1971,
33:20an earthquake,
33:21registering 6.4
33:23on the Richter scale,
33:24struck the San Fernando
33:26Valley in Los Angeles.
33:28Twisting railroad tracks,
33:29shattering highway overpasses,
33:32it strewed disaster
33:34across the city landscape
33:35as if by an angry
33:37giant's hand.
33:38Like a silent
33:40accomplice,
33:41flames leaped
33:41through the wreckage.
33:43Great hospitals
33:44and other structures
33:45collapsed.
33:46Everywhere,
33:48the quake trapped
33:48its casual human victims.
33:51When it had passed,
33:52the city counted
33:53the cost.
33:5464 dead,
33:56500 million dollars
33:58in property damage.
33:59Because the water
34:01behind a weakened dam
34:02was quickly lowered,
34:03thousands of lives
34:05were saved,
34:05which otherwise
34:06might have been lost.
34:10In its aftermath,
34:12alarmed public agencies
34:14radically expanded
34:15their earthquake preparations.
34:17Today,
34:18not only standard
34:19surveying methods,
34:20but a wide array
34:21of new instruments
34:22are employed
34:23to monitor
34:23California's fractured landscape.
34:26Using laser beams
34:27and radio waves
34:28from remote stars,
34:30scientists can measure
34:31the state
34:31for crustal changes
34:33or plate movements
34:34as small as an inch.
34:39Along the San Andreas,
34:41a network of seismic devices
34:43reports local changes
34:45in the release
34:46of radioactive gas
34:47from rock strata,
34:48sudden drops
34:49in the water level
34:50of wells,
34:51variations in gravity
34:53or the Earth's
34:54magnetic field.
34:55Other meters
34:56detect the slightest movement
34:58deep beneath the surface,
35:00measure strain
35:01in a locked section
35:02of the fault.
35:06The state of California
35:08also is checking
35:09its basement,
35:10above which
35:1124 million people live.
35:18from hundreds of instruments
35:20scattered across
35:21the length
35:21of the state,
35:23continuous reports
35:24flow into separate
35:25computer centers
35:26for the southern
35:27and the northern sectors.
35:33At the United States
35:35Geological Survey
35:36in Menlo Park,
35:38widely diverse information
35:39is correlated
35:40and condensed
35:41to provide a summary
35:43of seismic activity
35:44during each passing month.
35:47Like scholars
35:48trying to break
35:49an enemy code
35:50or decipher
35:51a lost language,
35:52scientists are trying
35:54to discern
35:55a consistent meaning
35:56in all the signals
35:58sent from the Earth.
35:59of the Earth.
36:03Though the San Andreas
36:05remains an enigma,
36:07a silent threat
36:08of havoc to come,
36:09sophisticated technology
36:11is bringing closer
36:12the time
36:12when man may be able
36:14to predict earthquakes
36:15with reasonable accuracy
36:16and certainty.
36:18Scientists know
36:19that in prediction
36:20lies a major defense
36:22against catastrophe.
36:27Using an instrument
36:28no more complicated
36:29than a garden hoe,
36:31one young geologist
36:32from the California
36:33Institute of Technology
36:34has shown
36:35that the key
36:36to the future
36:36may lie on the past.
36:38At excavations
36:40along the fault
36:40at Pallet Creek
36:41near the Mojave,
36:42Dr. Kerry C.
36:44has revealed
36:44a repeat pattern
36:45of California quakes
36:47hundreds of years
36:48before any recorded
36:49history of the region.
36:52We are on the main trace
36:53of the San Andreas Fault
36:54and the layer
36:55I've just scraped off
36:58has been radiocarbon dated
37:00at 1350 A.D.
37:02The layer right above it
37:03which has the beautiful
37:06orange color
37:08here and here
37:10has a radiocarbon date
37:11near its top
37:12of about 1560 A.D.
37:13or about the time
37:15Michelangelo was painting
37:16the Sistine Chapel.
37:18This layer dates
37:19from about the birth
37:20of Benjamin Franklin
37:221700
37:23and this layer
37:24about right here
37:26was the surface
37:27of the earth
37:27at the time
37:28of the 1857 earthquake.
37:30Now, this is the main trace
37:32of the San Andreas Fault
37:33running up through
37:34these layers
37:35up through about to here.
37:38Here's the 1350 A.D. layer
37:40broken by the fault trace
37:42coming up through
37:43the 1560 A.D. layer
37:45here.
37:46So, here we have
37:48the Pacific Plate
37:48and here we have
37:50the North American Plate
37:50broke only by this
37:52very narrow trace
37:53or plane
37:54of the San Andreas Fault.
37:55And it continues on up
37:56up through the 1700s level
37:58and stopping
37:59at this level
38:00the 1857 level.
38:02In 1857
38:03there occurred
38:04the great
38:04Fort Tejon earthquake
38:05which was the last
38:07great earthquake
38:07to break the San Andreas Fault
38:08in the southern part
38:09of the state.
38:10Elsewhere
38:11at this site
38:12we have exposures
38:13that show
38:13a total of 11
38:14prehistoric earthquakes
38:15and the great
38:17Fort Tejon earthquake
38:17of 1857.
38:19The radiocarbon dates
38:20show that the earthquakes
38:22occur with a frequency
38:24they occur about
38:25every 145 years.
38:27It's been 125 years
38:28since the great
38:29Fort Tejon earthquake.
38:31The chances are really
38:32quite good
38:33that within our lifetime
38:34we're going to see
38:35another great
38:36Fort Tejon earthquake.
38:41give me the number
38:42of dead
38:43you anticipate
38:44and I will
38:44prove that you're
38:45estimating
38:46and I'll try
38:46to work it out
38:47on this end.
38:48Estimates of injured
38:51range from
38:5250 to 80,000
38:53with an unknown number
38:55trapped in collapsed
38:56structures.
38:57At this time
38:57the numbers of dead
38:58may be in excess
38:59of 10,000.
39:02To train disaster agencies
39:04and to alert the public
39:08I would like to clarify
39:11what's turned out
39:12to be a rumor
39:13of a radioactive
39:15release problem
39:16at Caltech.
39:17Alex Cunningham,
39:19director of the
39:20California Office
39:21of Emergency Services.
39:22The scenario
39:23for this exercise
39:25is that an earthquake
39:27occurred yesterday
39:28in Los Angeles
39:30actually about 30 miles
39:32northwest of San Bernardino
39:33along the San Andreas Fault.
39:35Its magnitude
39:36for exercise purposes
39:388.3.
39:46And believe me
39:47we are very selective
39:48at the state level
39:49on using guard resources
39:51and I recommend strongly now
39:52I can't handle
39:53a delicate issue
39:54like this on the phone
39:55I recommend very strongly
39:56that if you want
39:57the guard for this
39:57that you're going to have
39:58to come through
39:59bureaucratically.
40:00We need to have
40:01an update as of this time
40:03on the number
40:04of injuries
40:05and deaths please.
40:06All the hospital beds
40:07in Northern County
40:09appear to be down.
40:10Southern County
40:11looks like they're
40:12in pretty good shape
40:13but the needs assessment
40:14team will be back
40:15in a half an hour
40:15and give us all the figures.
40:16Hold on a second.
40:18We've got to get this together.
40:20The state of California
40:22is very well prepared
40:23to handle a moderate earthquake
40:25and the citizens
40:26who have been through
40:27these kind of quakes
40:28are reasonably well prepared.
40:30But when we talk about
40:31a catastrophic earthquake
40:32something in the area
40:33of an 8 or an 8.3
40:35no level of government
40:36and particularly
40:37the individual citizens
40:38are prepared
40:39for such an event.
40:41It's no longer a question
40:42of if the big earthquake
40:43is coming.
40:44It's simply a matter of when.
40:46Scientists are telling us
40:47because of recent
40:48seismic activity
40:49and other phenomena
40:50other scientific data
40:51that the great earthquake
40:53will strike
40:54in Southern California
40:55sometime in the next
40:5630 years.
40:58Unfortunately
40:59many people say
40:59well if it's 30 years away
41:01we don't have to worry about it.
41:02It's not 30 years away.
41:03It could happen tomorrow.
41:04It could happen today.
41:05It could happen next month.
41:07But sometime
41:08in the next 30 years
41:09we're going to have it
41:10and people damn well
41:11better prepare themselves
41:12for it.
41:15Distantly aware
41:15of threatened holocausts
41:17most Los Angeles residents
41:19remain caught
41:19in the traumas
41:20and traffic jams
41:21of daily life.
41:23Too few know
41:24the mathematics
41:24of terror.
41:26At the time
41:27of the 1857 quake
41:2911,000 people
41:30lived in Los Angeles.
41:32Today
41:32there are more
41:34than 7 million.
41:35Many remember
41:37the impact
41:37of the San Fernando tremor
41:39but the 8.3 earthquake
41:41which scientists
41:42now predict
41:42will be a shock
41:44800 times as strong.
41:47A natural disaster
41:49without precedent
41:50in American history.
41:573,500 years ago
42:00on the Aegean island
42:02of Santorini
42:02these ruins too
42:05held a civilization.
42:07Here
42:07long before
42:08the Parthenon
42:09the maritime community
42:11of Aquitiri
42:12created a culture
42:13that rivaled
42:14the splendors
42:15of nearby Minoan Crete.
42:18In fresco
42:19artists
42:19painted the sunlit
42:21landscapes of man
42:22in his springtime.
42:23The years
42:24in Eden
42:25when the earth
42:26was filled
42:26with wonders.
42:29Upon the walls
42:31were mirrored
42:31the ordinary
42:32tasks and pleasures
42:33of a small world
42:34in which the simplest
42:35acts of everyday life
42:37held meaning.
42:38And even the gods
42:39often behaved
42:40like noisy neighbors.
42:43Over the wide sea
42:45returning seamen
42:46brought strange gifts
42:48and creatures
42:49from the shadowy lands
42:51beyond
42:51told of odysseys
42:53across a world
42:54still new.
42:56Now they are gone
42:58abruptly vanished
42:59in a great catastrophe.
43:01All that remain
43:02are a half excavated
43:04civilization under glass.
43:06A few amphora's
43:07in orderly array.
43:08Life and death
43:10filed on an index card.
43:14one of the scientists
43:16trying to decipher
43:17the puzzle
43:17of the past
43:18Dr. Christos Dumas
43:20of the University
43:21of Athens
43:21leads Dr. Ballard
43:23through the remains
43:24of a city
43:24that died
43:2535 centuries ago.
43:27This is an ancient street
43:29leading to the triangle
43:30square
43:31flanked on the left
43:33by the building
43:35delta
43:35and on the right
43:36by the west house.
43:38Now here is where
43:39you found the frescoes.
43:40Yes.
43:41We found frescoes
43:43and other things
43:44which show
43:44that we are
43:45discovering here
43:47a very highly
43:48civilized society
43:50of the bronze age.
43:51The houses
43:53are individual
43:54surrounded by streets.
43:56There are several
43:57stories as you see
43:58and we have
43:59indoor plumbing
44:00connected directly
44:02with the drainage
44:03system of the street.
44:04So you had a
44:06society
44:07of individual
44:09families
44:10living together.
44:11And every house
44:12was an entity
44:13by itself.
44:20And here
44:21we can see
44:22how sophisticated
44:23these houses
44:24were.
44:26The basement
44:27as in many
44:28other houses
44:28was used
44:29for storing
44:30goods.
44:32A variety
44:33of crops
44:34like barley,
44:36flour of barley,
44:38lentils,
44:40various nuts
44:42like almonds.
44:43So they had
44:43a pretty good diet.
44:45I mean it was varied.
44:46And they were
44:46consuming also
44:47seafood
44:48because we found
44:49shells of sea urchins
44:51and remains
44:52of dried fish.
44:57the city
44:58was captured
44:59by the earthquakes
45:00and this staircase
45:02shows that it
45:02was broken
45:03before the eruption
45:04of the volcano.
45:05So this probably
45:06caused them
45:07to evacuate.
45:08Yes.
45:08It was a warning
45:09for the people.
45:10And then after
45:11the earthquake
45:12the major eruption
45:14occurred.
45:15Yes,
45:16it destroyed
45:16almost everything
45:18as you see
45:18and then the site
45:21was covered
45:21with volcanic ash.
45:25Before the great
45:27warning tremors
45:28Akrotiri lay on the
45:29flank of a steeply
45:30sloping island
45:31unaware that miles
45:33below the earth's
45:35crust was in movement.
45:44soon after the quake
45:46the island exploded
45:48in one of history's
45:49prodigious volcanic eruptions.
45:51Suddenly
45:52a mountain
45:53had disappeared.
45:54Its walls collapsed
45:56into a volcanic caldera
45:57now filled
45:58by the inrushing sea.
46:05A vast searing
46:07cloud of pumice
46:08and ash
46:08buried Akrotiri
46:10and surged
46:11over the Mediterranean
46:12with an impact
46:13on history
46:14that still
46:15is being assessed.
46:17We're inside
46:18the caldera.
46:19Behind me
46:20are the layered
46:21walls of the volcano
46:22which record
46:23its long history.
46:24The black layers
46:25are basaltic lava flows.
46:26The red ones
46:27are tephra
46:28ejected from
46:29the volcanic vent.
46:30These prehistoric layers
46:32once formed
46:33a great volcano
46:34over 5,000 feet high.
46:37About 3,500 years ago
46:39the entire volcano erupted
46:41destroying over
46:42two-thirds of the island.
46:44At the top
46:45today you can see
46:45a white layer
46:46of pumice and ash
46:47which records
46:48that great event.
46:50That layer
46:51is over 100 feet thick.
47:00human beings
47:01still cling
47:02to the narrow
47:02rim of cliffs
47:03that now surrounds
47:04emptiness.
47:06Today
47:06several thousand
47:07islanders
47:08live on the heights
47:09and fish
47:10or search for sponges
47:11in the depths
47:12of the caldera.
47:14Steep paths
47:15link them
47:16with the ports
47:16through which supplies
47:17much of their fresh water
47:19and occasional visitors
47:21arrive by sea.
47:26today the centers
47:27of western civilization
47:28have moved
47:29far beyond Santorini.
47:32Insulated
47:32from the rumors
47:33and alarms
47:34of a wider world
47:35it has settled
47:36into the ways
47:37of village life.
47:51upon the cliffs
47:52workmen build
47:53and repair structures
47:54using the very ash
47:56and pumice
47:56of the explosion
47:57that once destroyed
47:58their island.
48:00In the fields
48:01around them
48:02farmers tend vineyards
48:03and reap grain
48:04planted in the volcanic soil.
48:08the pumice
48:09is even sold
48:10for profit
48:10was once exported
48:12for the building
48:12of the Suez Canal
48:13more than a century ago.
48:23Intermittently
48:24strong tremors
48:25still shake the island
48:26but the widows
48:28of Santorini
48:29remain solitary symbols
48:31of the tenacity
48:32by which life endures.
48:35Beneath them
48:36one plate slides
48:37under another
48:38in endless movement.
48:40Even the gods
48:41may change
48:42but prayer
48:43remains a step
48:44in the search
48:45for reassurance
48:46and certainty.
49:04on Good Friday
49:06worshipers are surrounded
49:07by frescoes
49:08that describe
49:09not the joys of life
49:11but its tragic burdens.
49:15Yet for the devout
49:16islanders
49:17faith holds
49:18a triumphant hope
49:19out of death's darkness
49:21life returns
49:23a flame
49:24passed
49:25from candle
49:25to candle.
49:31In the ritual
49:32of twenty centuries
49:33the villagers
49:35again find
49:35an ancient recognition
49:37in the Easter story
49:39of resurrection
49:39they tell their own.
49:55after the resurrection
49:56joy
49:57the breaking
49:59of eggs
50:00to release
50:01the symbolic
50:01life within.
50:09cross the island
50:11after forty days
50:12of fasting
50:13the villagers
50:14feast and dance.
50:40The world has changed
50:43many times
50:44since this woman
50:45lived in Santorini
50:46her gods
50:47have vanished
50:48the streets
50:50on which she walked
50:51now end
50:52in walls of ash
50:53yet in these
50:55dancing rhythms
50:56of life
50:56she might hear
50:58echoes
50:58of another time
50:59the refrains
51:01of home.
51:05Imperceptible
51:05to living generations
51:06the change
51:08the change goes on
51:08toward a future
51:10that science's
51:11computers
51:11already
51:12have begun
51:13to outline
51:17by its present
51:18drift
51:19Africa
51:20in its
51:20clockwise movement
51:21will close
51:22the Mediterranean
51:23and collide
51:24with southern Europe
51:25raising great
51:27new mountain ranges
51:28like a rumpled rug
51:41in Africa
51:42itself
51:42the sea
51:43at last
51:44will flood
51:45the desert
51:45thorn trees
51:46isolate
51:47eastern Africa
51:48invade a domain
51:50once held
51:51by elephants
51:52and lions
51:57in the Americas
51:59as elsewhere
52:00life will be
52:01radically altered
52:05Mecca for millions
52:07of fugitives
52:07from the wintry east
52:09Los Angeles
52:10may have to doctor
52:11its swimming pools
52:12with antifreeze
52:14set at the edge
52:15of the Pacific plate
52:16it is moving
52:18relentlessly
52:18toward Alaska
52:19at the rate
52:20of two or three
52:21inches a year
52:2310 million years
52:25from now
52:25San Francisco
52:27will find
52:27that for a time
52:28its scorned
52:29southern rival
52:30has become
52:31a suburb
52:40New York
52:41may become part
52:42of a vast
52:42volcanic range
52:43as the expanding
52:45Atlantic floor
52:46passes under
52:47the eastern coast
52:54compared to earth's
52:55history
52:56man's tenure
52:57has been dazzling
52:58and brief
52:59in 10,000 years
53:01he has created
53:02language
53:03built cathedrals
53:04invented the means
53:06to destroy life
53:07on earth
53:07his computers
53:09can project
53:10the destination
53:11of continents
53:11200 million years
53:13from now
53:14but where man
53:15will be
53:16none can predict
53:19music
53:27¶¶
54:00¶¶
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