1 00:00:02,333 --> 00:00:05,167 WILLIAM SHATNER: For centuries, humanity has repeatedly faced 2 00:00:05,292 --> 00:00:08,208 devastating disasters that have unleashed 3 00:00:08,375 --> 00:00:10,333 destruction, 4 00:00:10,500 --> 00:00:12,667 defied explanation, 5 00:00:12,792 --> 00:00:16,250 and changed the course of history. 6 00:00:18,167 --> 00:00:20,375 In our modern world, we tend to think 7 00:00:20,500 --> 00:00:23,125 that scientific knowledge and technology 8 00:00:23,208 --> 00:00:25,833 can help protect us from almost anything, 9 00:00:26,000 --> 00:00:28,542 including natural disasters. 10 00:00:28,708 --> 00:00:31,167 But is that really true? 11 00:00:31,292 --> 00:00:33,125 Or are we just as vulnerable today 12 00:00:33,250 --> 00:00:35,625 in the face of raging fires, 13 00:00:35,750 --> 00:00:37,500 violent earthquakes 14 00:00:37,625 --> 00:00:39,792 and destructive hurricanes 15 00:00:39,917 --> 00:00:43,292 as our ancestors were in the past? 16 00:00:43,375 --> 00:00:47,500 Well, that is what we'll try and find out. 17 00:00:47,583 --> 00:00:49,542 ♪ ♪ 18 00:01:09,125 --> 00:01:11,292 The city is in the midst of an 19 00:01:11,375 --> 00:01:15,042 unprecedented period of growth and prosperity. 20 00:01:15,208 --> 00:01:18,083 That is, until a small fire breaks out 21 00:01:18,208 --> 00:01:22,000 in a barn located at 137 DeKoven Street. 22 00:01:22,083 --> 00:01:25,625 The blaze quickly grows out of control, 23 00:01:25,750 --> 00:01:28,708 and flames spread north and east 24 00:01:28,875 --> 00:01:30,833 toward the heart of the city, 25 00:01:30,958 --> 00:01:34,042 putting Chicago's 324,000 residents 26 00:01:34,167 --> 00:01:36,708 in grave danger. 27 00:01:39,333 --> 00:01:41,792 NIGEL RAAB: 1871 Chicago had experienced 28 00:01:41,917 --> 00:01:44,042 enormous growth, and that enormous growth 29 00:01:44,167 --> 00:01:45,833 meant very fast building, 30 00:01:45,958 --> 00:01:48,000 and also very fast building in wood. 31 00:01:48,167 --> 00:01:50,333 Buildings were made out of wood, 32 00:01:50,458 --> 00:01:51,958 and sidewalks were made out of wood, 33 00:01:52,042 --> 00:01:53,375 and the important thing 34 00:01:53,542 --> 00:01:54,833 about sidewalks being made out of wood 35 00:01:54,958 --> 00:01:57,000 is those conduct heat very easily 36 00:01:57,167 --> 00:01:58,583 from one part of the city to the other, 37 00:01:58,708 --> 00:02:01,833 and so, that spread the fire throughout the city. 38 00:02:03,208 --> 00:02:05,500 This was exacerbated by a period 39 00:02:05,625 --> 00:02:08,542 of an extremely dry summer and fall, 40 00:02:08,667 --> 00:02:11,292 which prepped most of the city's construction, 41 00:02:11,375 --> 00:02:12,500 which was wood at the time, 42 00:02:12,625 --> 00:02:14,292 as kindling. 43 00:02:14,417 --> 00:02:16,333 The whole thing was basically waiting to go up in smoke. 44 00:02:16,458 --> 00:02:19,000 Buildings were clustered together. 45 00:02:19,125 --> 00:02:21,167 So, once one area went up, 46 00:02:21,333 --> 00:02:23,000 the whole thing went up, 47 00:02:23,125 --> 00:02:24,333 and to make matters worse, 48 00:02:24,417 --> 00:02:26,167 the water tower in Chicago, 49 00:02:26,333 --> 00:02:29,208 which was the firefighters' principal source for water 50 00:02:29,333 --> 00:02:32,792 to fight the fire, was itself destroyed. 51 00:02:34,167 --> 00:02:37,167 SHATNER: Since the authorities were unable to contain the blaze, 52 00:02:37,292 --> 00:02:40,833 nine different fires broke out across the city, 53 00:02:41,000 --> 00:02:43,625 eventually coalescing into a single 54 00:02:43,708 --> 00:02:45,792 raging inferno. 55 00:02:47,083 --> 00:02:49,500 McGEE: The Chicago Fire was 56 00:02:49,583 --> 00:02:51,917 biblically devastating, if you want to think of it like that. 57 00:02:53,708 --> 00:02:55,292 Try to visualize 58 00:02:55,375 --> 00:02:58,500 what the people in the mid-19th century were seeing. 59 00:02:59,542 --> 00:03:03,042 An entire city engulfed in flames, which was so hot 60 00:03:03,167 --> 00:03:07,167 it created the fire equivalent of dust devils. 61 00:03:07,333 --> 00:03:11,000 Vortices, think of them like reverse tornadoes 62 00:03:11,167 --> 00:03:13,333 that were sweeping across the city. 63 00:03:13,500 --> 00:03:16,500 They call them fire devils, and they themselves, 64 00:03:16,583 --> 00:03:19,250 they have fast enough winds that they could fling 65 00:03:19,375 --> 00:03:20,750 burning bits of debris 66 00:03:20,875 --> 00:03:23,000 into other parts of the city 67 00:03:23,167 --> 00:03:25,083 that hadn't yet caught on fire. 68 00:03:25,208 --> 00:03:28,167 So, literally, this was 69 00:03:28,250 --> 00:03:31,250 the world coming to an end. Death by fire. 70 00:03:32,500 --> 00:03:35,083 SHATNER: For three days, the fire raged across Chicago, 71 00:03:35,208 --> 00:03:38,000 turning the wooden city into ash. 72 00:03:38,083 --> 00:03:40,167 One-third of the city's buildings 73 00:03:40,292 --> 00:03:43,417 were burned to the ground, and 300 people were killed 74 00:03:43,542 --> 00:03:47,042 before a rainstorm mercifully put an end 75 00:03:47,167 --> 00:03:48,708 to the disaster. 76 00:03:50,583 --> 00:03:53,500 There were 17,000 buildings destroyed in that fire, 77 00:03:53,625 --> 00:03:55,792 and more than 100,000 people lost their homes. 78 00:03:55,917 --> 00:03:58,333 The fire basically destroyed 79 00:03:58,500 --> 00:04:00,333 most of the inner city of Chicago. 80 00:04:00,500 --> 00:04:03,333 McGEE: Anyone who experiences 81 00:04:03,458 --> 00:04:05,000 an incomprehensible disaster 82 00:04:05,167 --> 00:04:06,833 on the scale of the Chicago Fire 83 00:04:06,958 --> 00:04:09,875 is gonna be profoundly impacted by it, and history shows us 84 00:04:10,000 --> 00:04:11,542 the Chicagoans were. 85 00:04:11,667 --> 00:04:14,833 There was intense citywide grief. 86 00:04:14,958 --> 00:04:18,208 There was so much pride in the city of Chicago, 87 00:04:18,333 --> 00:04:20,375 in what they'd become in such a short period of time, 88 00:04:20,500 --> 00:04:22,625 that there was despair. 89 00:04:22,750 --> 00:04:24,375 Everything was gone. 90 00:04:26,292 --> 00:04:28,958 SHATNER: It's hard to fathom 17,000 buildings 91 00:04:29,083 --> 00:04:31,125 in such a bustling, prosperous city 92 00:04:31,208 --> 00:04:34,125 burning to the ground in only a few short days. 93 00:04:34,208 --> 00:04:38,000 And in the wake of the Great Chicago Fire, 94 00:04:38,125 --> 00:04:43,083 people wanted to know how the massive inferno got started. 95 00:04:43,208 --> 00:04:44,833 But, at the time, 96 00:04:44,958 --> 00:04:48,292 investigations into fires were in their infancy, 97 00:04:48,417 --> 00:04:51,167 so authorities had a hard time 98 00:04:51,333 --> 00:04:53,875 collecting evidence. 99 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:55,417 RAAB: What caused the fire? 100 00:04:55,542 --> 00:04:57,458 It was the question that was in everyone's mind. 101 00:04:57,583 --> 00:04:58,958 You know, when people were trying to figure out 102 00:04:59,042 --> 00:05:00,375 the origin of the fire, 103 00:05:00,500 --> 00:05:03,375 there was the popular story that 104 00:05:03,542 --> 00:05:07,333 it was a cow inside the barn that kicked over a lantern, 105 00:05:07,458 --> 00:05:10,333 and from there, events unfolded. 106 00:05:10,458 --> 00:05:13,167 Now that's considered an urban legend. 107 00:05:13,292 --> 00:05:15,167 There are many different contested ways 108 00:05:15,250 --> 00:05:17,333 in which that could have started, but it did 109 00:05:17,458 --> 00:05:19,375 start on the property and spread from there. 110 00:05:21,042 --> 00:05:23,875 SHATNER: The destruction unleashed by the Great Chicago Fire 111 00:05:24,042 --> 00:05:26,000 took nearly two years to repair. 112 00:05:26,167 --> 00:05:29,333 And during the rebuilding process, 113 00:05:29,458 --> 00:05:31,667 engineers were told to ensure 114 00:05:31,792 --> 00:05:35,708 that such a disaster could never happen again. 115 00:05:37,167 --> 00:05:38,583 In the aftermath of the Chicago Fire, 116 00:05:38,708 --> 00:05:41,000 fire was principle on everyone's mind, 117 00:05:41,167 --> 00:05:43,667 and so, almost immediately, 118 00:05:43,792 --> 00:05:46,000 they enacted a brand-new series of ordinances 119 00:05:46,125 --> 00:05:49,167 requiring things like limestone, 120 00:05:49,250 --> 00:05:51,292 granite in building construction. 121 00:05:51,375 --> 00:05:56,167 Steel beams instead of pine beams, which are flammable. 122 00:05:56,333 --> 00:05:58,333 And a new technological innovation, 123 00:05:58,458 --> 00:06:01,333 which was terra-cotta tiles, 124 00:06:01,500 --> 00:06:03,625 which started to fireproof Chicago 125 00:06:03,708 --> 00:06:05,833 in a way that the world basically had never seen before. 126 00:06:07,667 --> 00:06:10,208 STEPHEN PYNE: After the fire in Chicago, we got 127 00:06:10,333 --> 00:06:13,292 the origins-- at least for the U.S.-- of modern architecture. 128 00:06:13,375 --> 00:06:16,625 So, they began using iron 129 00:06:16,708 --> 00:06:21,542 and glass, giving us the basis for modern buildings. 130 00:06:21,667 --> 00:06:23,833 And these would be, in a sense, much less combustible. 131 00:06:25,417 --> 00:06:26,833 SHATNER: While the Great Chicago Fire 132 00:06:26,917 --> 00:06:30,125 inspired innovations in fire prevention, 133 00:06:30,250 --> 00:06:32,375 it also served as a reminder that, 134 00:06:32,500 --> 00:06:34,167 even though mankind first mastered fire 135 00:06:34,250 --> 00:06:36,708 some 400,000 years ago, 136 00:06:36,833 --> 00:06:40,958 it remains a powerful and unpredictable 137 00:06:41,042 --> 00:06:45,500 force of nature that can inflict great harm. 138 00:06:46,833 --> 00:06:49,958 TOK THOMPSON: Fire is a frequent disaster that comes upon people, 139 00:06:50,083 --> 00:06:51,625 but it's an interesting one. 140 00:06:51,750 --> 00:06:54,375 As far as we know, no other species on the Earth, uh, 141 00:06:54,542 --> 00:06:56,500 makes fire, uh, to utilize it. 142 00:06:56,583 --> 00:07:00,833 It's one of the things somewhat unique to our species. 143 00:07:00,958 --> 00:07:05,167 It's both necessary and yet incredibly 144 00:07:05,292 --> 00:07:06,792 destructive and dangerous. 145 00:07:06,917 --> 00:07:08,500 This has been a part of the human story 146 00:07:08,625 --> 00:07:11,333 for a long, long time. 147 00:07:11,500 --> 00:07:14,000 Fire is a double-edged sword. 148 00:07:14,125 --> 00:07:16,708 On one edge of the sword, we're talking about 149 00:07:16,833 --> 00:07:20,708 creating foods and creating warmth and light 150 00:07:20,833 --> 00:07:23,250 that makes modern civilization possible. 151 00:07:23,375 --> 00:07:25,667 But the other side of the sword 152 00:07:25,792 --> 00:07:29,083 is if it gets out of control it could wipe out your cities. 153 00:07:30,667 --> 00:07:32,292 SHATNER: In modern times, there have been 154 00:07:32,417 --> 00:07:34,625 tremendous advances in firefighting. 155 00:07:34,750 --> 00:07:38,500 But mankind's ability to stop fires quickly 156 00:07:38,625 --> 00:07:42,500 has led to an unintended consequence 157 00:07:42,667 --> 00:07:45,167 that experts refer to as 158 00:07:45,292 --> 00:07:48,833 the fire paradox. 159 00:07:48,917 --> 00:07:52,083 We have generated a fire paradox. 160 00:07:52,208 --> 00:07:53,458 By this, I mean 161 00:07:53,542 --> 00:07:55,625 we have dramatically affected fire 162 00:07:55,708 --> 00:07:57,583 in the landscape around the world. 163 00:07:58,583 --> 00:08:01,625 On the one hand, we've been fighting fires, 164 00:08:01,708 --> 00:08:05,458 trying to stop wildfires from consuming the vegetation. 165 00:08:05,542 --> 00:08:08,333 Now, this may sound good, but, at the same time, 166 00:08:08,458 --> 00:08:09,875 it's actually a problem. 167 00:08:10,042 --> 00:08:12,833 If you reduce natural fire from the landscape, 168 00:08:12,958 --> 00:08:15,000 if you keep it out of landscape for too long, 169 00:08:15,125 --> 00:08:19,333 you will have an accumulation of flammable material, 170 00:08:19,458 --> 00:08:21,583 and when a fire eventually occurs, 171 00:08:21,708 --> 00:08:23,833 it'll be more destructive. 172 00:08:24,958 --> 00:08:28,167 Wildfires are becoming longer and more intense. 173 00:08:28,333 --> 00:08:29,750 The data proves this. 174 00:08:29,875 --> 00:08:32,250 For example, one of the largest megafires 175 00:08:32,375 --> 00:08:34,833 in California so far was called 176 00:08:34,958 --> 00:08:38,875 the August Complex fire, which happened in 2020. 177 00:08:39,042 --> 00:08:42,917 It was so large that it burned over a million acres, 178 00:08:43,042 --> 00:08:46,042 which is just unheard of in history. 179 00:08:46,208 --> 00:08:51,458 Ever since we had the Great Chicago Fire in 1871, 180 00:08:51,583 --> 00:08:54,542 we had been under the impression that we shouldn't 181 00:08:54,667 --> 00:08:59,083 ever try to allow fire to happen on the landscape. 182 00:08:59,208 --> 00:09:01,375 We now know that we should 183 00:09:01,500 --> 00:09:04,458 actually allow some fire to happen naturally. 184 00:09:04,583 --> 00:09:08,833 And all we can do is do our best to understand it 185 00:09:08,917 --> 00:09:12,208 because these fires are gonna keep happening. 186 00:09:14,167 --> 00:09:17,000 It's staggering to think that, in just three short days, 187 00:09:17,167 --> 00:09:19,500 the Great Chicago Fire wreaked so much havoc, 188 00:09:19,625 --> 00:09:22,667 it took nearly two years to repair the damage. 189 00:09:22,792 --> 00:09:26,833 But there have been other disasters in history 190 00:09:26,958 --> 00:09:30,375 that have inflicted even greater destruction on civilization. 191 00:09:30,542 --> 00:09:32,875 Like in the year 1755, 192 00:09:33,000 --> 00:09:36,333 when a massive earthquake nearly wiped out 193 00:09:36,417 --> 00:09:38,208 an entire city. 194 00:09:46,375 --> 00:09:50,542 SHATNER: Across the city, a celebration is underway. 195 00:09:50,708 --> 00:09:53,542 Thousands of Christians are packed into churches 196 00:09:53,708 --> 00:09:57,542 to celebrate a festival known as All Saints' Day. 197 00:09:57,667 --> 00:10:01,042 But then, at about 10:00 a.m., 198 00:10:01,167 --> 00:10:04,083 without warning, 199 00:10:04,208 --> 00:10:06,125 disaster strikes. 200 00:10:07,208 --> 00:10:10,667 WYSESSION: A massive magnitude 8 earthquake occurred in 201 00:10:10,833 --> 00:10:12,500 the Atlantic Ocean seafloor right along 202 00:10:12,583 --> 00:10:16,208 the tectonic plate boundary between Eurasia and Africa. 203 00:10:16,333 --> 00:10:19,875 The shaking from this earthquake 204 00:10:20,000 --> 00:10:23,958 knocked down about 85% of the buildings of Lisbon. 205 00:10:24,042 --> 00:10:27,458 Even worse, this earthquake occurred 206 00:10:27,542 --> 00:10:30,375 while most people were in mass, 207 00:10:30,500 --> 00:10:33,125 in church or cathedrals 208 00:10:33,250 --> 00:10:34,917 on All Saints' Day. 209 00:10:35,042 --> 00:10:37,583 Lisbonites are in all these churches, 210 00:10:37,708 --> 00:10:39,667 and many of the most major churches 211 00:10:39,750 --> 00:10:41,292 in Lisbon were destroyed. 212 00:10:41,417 --> 00:10:43,667 It was one of the most devastating earthquakes 213 00:10:43,792 --> 00:10:45,375 that Europe had seen in centuries. 214 00:10:45,542 --> 00:10:49,167 SHATNER: In a matter of minutes, the massive earthquake 215 00:10:49,250 --> 00:10:52,458 reduced the buildings throughout Lisbon to rubble 216 00:10:52,542 --> 00:10:54,708 and opened a 16-foot-wide crack 217 00:10:54,833 --> 00:10:57,333 in the ground through the center of the city. 218 00:10:57,458 --> 00:11:01,917 Estimates place the death toll as high as 50,000 people, 219 00:11:02,042 --> 00:11:06,000 or about 20% of Lisbon's population. 220 00:11:06,083 --> 00:11:09,042 WYSESSION: In the early 1700s, 221 00:11:09,167 --> 00:11:12,333 if you had listed the five great cities of Europe: 222 00:11:12,500 --> 00:11:14,500 London, 223 00:11:14,625 --> 00:11:16,417 Paris, 224 00:11:16,542 --> 00:11:19,542 Rome, you well might have 225 00:11:19,708 --> 00:11:22,000 included Lisbon in that list. 226 00:11:22,083 --> 00:11:24,833 But, after 1755, 227 00:11:24,958 --> 00:11:27,500 Lisbon's glory was reduced, 228 00:11:27,667 --> 00:11:29,500 literally, to ashes. 229 00:11:29,625 --> 00:11:31,500 Lisbon rebuilt, 230 00:11:31,583 --> 00:11:34,875 but never really reached the same glory that it had. 231 00:11:36,042 --> 00:11:38,750 SHATNER: In the aftermath of the horrific quake, 232 00:11:38,875 --> 00:11:41,000 the residents of Lisbon struggled to understand 233 00:11:41,167 --> 00:11:44,000 why this tragedy had befallen their city. 234 00:11:44,125 --> 00:11:47,000 Many among the Christian populace, 235 00:11:47,125 --> 00:11:51,083 who had only heard of such devastation in the Holy Bible, 236 00:11:51,208 --> 00:11:55,167 believed the earthquake to be an act of God. 237 00:11:55,292 --> 00:11:57,750 Lisbon was dominated by the Catholic Church. 238 00:11:57,875 --> 00:11:59,667 A very, very religious city. 239 00:11:59,750 --> 00:12:02,833 So, lots of theologians started to ponder 240 00:12:02,917 --> 00:12:05,500 the meaning of this event in religious terms 241 00:12:05,667 --> 00:12:08,667 because the fact was, this earthquake had struck Lisbon 242 00:12:08,833 --> 00:12:10,792 on one of its holiest days, 243 00:12:10,875 --> 00:12:13,542 the feast of all saints. 244 00:12:13,708 --> 00:12:16,833 It had killed tens of thousands of Christians 245 00:12:16,917 --> 00:12:18,500 while they were worshipping. 246 00:12:18,625 --> 00:12:21,042 Why did God choose this day 247 00:12:21,167 --> 00:12:23,750 to bring an earthquake upon the people of Lisbon? 248 00:12:23,875 --> 00:12:27,625 And this was a confrontation for many theologians, 249 00:12:27,708 --> 00:12:29,750 and they blamed the people of Lisbon. 250 00:12:29,875 --> 00:12:31,917 They said, "You must have been sinful." 251 00:12:32,042 --> 00:12:34,333 The only reason this could have happened to you 252 00:12:34,458 --> 00:12:36,875 is that you are not living by God's laws. 253 00:12:38,125 --> 00:12:39,750 SHATNER: While some people thought the earthquake 254 00:12:39,875 --> 00:12:41,833 was a punishment from God, 255 00:12:41,958 --> 00:12:45,375 others focused on taking practical steps 256 00:12:45,542 --> 00:12:47,875 to guard against such a calamity in the future. 257 00:12:48,000 --> 00:12:51,292 One of those people was Portugal's prime minister, 258 00:12:51,375 --> 00:12:54,417 the Marquis of Pombal. 259 00:12:54,542 --> 00:12:56,333 McNAB: In the reconstruction of Lisbon, 260 00:12:56,458 --> 00:12:58,500 the Marquis de Pombal oversaw 261 00:12:58,625 --> 00:13:00,750 really critical innovations. 262 00:13:00,875 --> 00:13:04,292 The first is to build earthquake-resistant buildings. 263 00:13:04,375 --> 00:13:07,417 These are built around wooden frames that can actually 264 00:13:07,542 --> 00:13:10,125 sway with an earthquake, rather than collapse. 265 00:13:10,208 --> 00:13:12,292 And then, he improves the city. 266 00:13:12,417 --> 00:13:15,583 Before, it was these winding, medieval streets, 267 00:13:15,708 --> 00:13:17,500 which people could get blocked up in. 268 00:13:17,625 --> 00:13:20,500 So, the Marquis de Pombal, he redesigns the city 269 00:13:20,625 --> 00:13:24,375 on a gridiron system, so, all of a sudden, you have now, 270 00:13:24,500 --> 00:13:27,208 really wide, straight streets, 271 00:13:27,333 --> 00:13:29,667 which are ideal for evacuating people. 272 00:13:29,833 --> 00:13:31,667 And, in fact, the way that he handled 273 00:13:31,833 --> 00:13:33,542 the reconstruction of the city 274 00:13:33,667 --> 00:13:37,500 is the first instance of modern disaster response in history, 275 00:13:37,625 --> 00:13:41,167 where someone actually tries to take a rational response 276 00:13:41,292 --> 00:13:43,458 to the effects of a natural disaster. 277 00:13:43,583 --> 00:13:46,958 SHATNER: The varied reactions to the Lisbon earthquake 278 00:13:47,083 --> 00:13:50,500 have actually been quite common throughout human history. 279 00:13:50,583 --> 00:13:55,000 For thousands of years, mankind has tried to make sense 280 00:13:55,083 --> 00:13:59,083 of these violent tremors that often strike without warning. 281 00:13:59,208 --> 00:14:02,333 Earthquakes have a really unique place, uh, 282 00:14:02,500 --> 00:14:05,833 in human consciousness because you can't see it coming. 283 00:14:07,250 --> 00:14:08,958 It's not like a giant storm 284 00:14:09,042 --> 00:14:10,792 that you can see the clouds approaching, 285 00:14:10,917 --> 00:14:13,917 see the lightning, hear the thunder. 286 00:14:14,042 --> 00:14:16,958 Earthquakes, you feel and you hear, 287 00:14:17,042 --> 00:14:19,500 but that happens in the moment. 288 00:14:19,625 --> 00:14:21,958 You can't run out of the way. 289 00:14:22,042 --> 00:14:25,333 There's nowhere to hide. 290 00:14:25,417 --> 00:14:27,625 The problem of earthquakes and how to deal with them 291 00:14:27,708 --> 00:14:29,125 goes back to antiquity. 292 00:14:30,208 --> 00:14:33,250 The first seismometer to measure earthquakes 293 00:14:33,375 --> 00:14:36,500 was actually invented by a scientist named Chang Heng 294 00:14:36,625 --> 00:14:40,000 back in China in the first century of the common era. 295 00:14:40,167 --> 00:14:43,333 This was a beautiful bronze, 296 00:14:43,417 --> 00:14:45,167 almost a cask, 297 00:14:45,333 --> 00:14:47,792 that had dragons around the perimeter 298 00:14:47,917 --> 00:14:50,250 with balls in their mouths. 299 00:14:50,375 --> 00:14:55,208 And beneath them were a little array of-of bronze frogs. 300 00:14:55,375 --> 00:14:57,917 And the way the device worked is the pendulum 301 00:14:58,042 --> 00:15:00,500 inside would rock just so, 302 00:15:00,625 --> 00:15:04,667 bumping a lever in the direction where the earthquake occurred, 303 00:15:04,750 --> 00:15:08,333 and a ball would fall out of the dragon's mouth and land 304 00:15:08,458 --> 00:15:11,417 telling you the orientation of an earthquake. 305 00:15:14,250 --> 00:15:17,667 And all developments since then on earthquake detectors-- 306 00:15:17,792 --> 00:15:19,000 we call them seismometers-- 307 00:15:19,125 --> 00:15:21,500 have been variations on that theme. 308 00:15:21,625 --> 00:15:24,000 SHATNER: Today, experts 309 00:15:24,083 --> 00:15:26,208 understand that earthquakes happen when 310 00:15:26,375 --> 00:15:28,208 massive underground rocks, known 311 00:15:28,333 --> 00:15:30,833 as tectonic plates, suddenly collide, 312 00:15:30,958 --> 00:15:33,500 causing seismic forces to be unleashed 313 00:15:33,625 --> 00:15:35,917 beneath our feet. 314 00:15:36,042 --> 00:15:38,875 Scientists can measure an earthquake's power 315 00:15:39,000 --> 00:15:41,000 and even pinpoint its location. 316 00:15:41,125 --> 00:15:44,042 But, in spite of everything we've learned, 317 00:15:44,167 --> 00:15:46,750 we still have a hard time predicting where 318 00:15:46,875 --> 00:15:48,917 and when 319 00:15:49,042 --> 00:15:51,250 the next earthquake will strike. 320 00:15:51,375 --> 00:15:53,833 PHOENIX: With earthquakes, 321 00:15:54,000 --> 00:15:55,875 there's still a component of uncertainty. 322 00:15:56,042 --> 00:15:58,708 And we are always trying to improve 323 00:15:58,833 --> 00:16:00,833 our earthquake knowledge. 324 00:16:00,917 --> 00:16:02,583 We actually have 325 00:16:02,708 --> 00:16:04,042 extensive seismic networks 326 00:16:04,167 --> 00:16:06,042 that go all around the globe, 327 00:16:06,208 --> 00:16:08,833 where you can have an earthquake in China that we sense 328 00:16:09,000 --> 00:16:11,167 in Virginia on a college campus. 329 00:16:11,292 --> 00:16:13,417 And that helps us really triangulate 330 00:16:13,542 --> 00:16:14,917 where these events occur, 331 00:16:15,042 --> 00:16:17,750 how deep in the crust they occur, 332 00:16:17,875 --> 00:16:19,917 and how big they really are. 333 00:16:20,042 --> 00:16:22,500 We've made huge amounts of progress, 334 00:16:22,625 --> 00:16:25,917 but there is still so much more we have to learn 335 00:16:26,042 --> 00:16:28,417 that will help us understand where and when 336 00:16:28,542 --> 00:16:31,375 these quakes might happen, so that we can save lives. 337 00:16:31,542 --> 00:16:35,542 SHATNER: While scientists haven't learned how to predict earthquakes, 338 00:16:35,667 --> 00:16:39,083 a curious theory about what causes some of them 339 00:16:39,208 --> 00:16:41,458 to occur has emerged. 340 00:16:41,583 --> 00:16:46,167 And it just so happens that humanity 341 00:16:46,292 --> 00:16:50,458 may, in fact, be to blame. 342 00:16:50,583 --> 00:16:53,042 McGEE: The idea of human-induced earthquakes 343 00:16:53,167 --> 00:16:56,208 really comes to the forefront of the social mind 344 00:16:56,333 --> 00:16:58,042 in construction of the Hoover Dam 345 00:16:58,167 --> 00:16:59,667 in Nevada in the 1930s. 346 00:17:01,917 --> 00:17:04,000 It actually triggered a series of earthquakes around 347 00:17:04,167 --> 00:17:06,000 the dam under construction. 348 00:17:06,083 --> 00:17:09,667 We think we can create gigantic reservoirs 349 00:17:09,792 --> 00:17:12,417 without facing consequences of these things. 350 00:17:12,542 --> 00:17:15,750 But if your reservoir is near a fault line, watch out. 351 00:17:15,875 --> 00:17:21,000 There is a theory that a lot of seismologists believe in 352 00:17:21,125 --> 00:17:24,042 that the earthquake of 2008 in China 353 00:17:24,167 --> 00:17:27,500 that killed about 70,000 people 354 00:17:27,625 --> 00:17:29,833 was, in fact, created 355 00:17:29,917 --> 00:17:32,542 by this gigantic reservoir 356 00:17:32,708 --> 00:17:34,792 that put enormous pressure 357 00:17:34,875 --> 00:17:36,000 on a fault line, 358 00:17:36,125 --> 00:17:38,667 which then gave way. 359 00:17:38,833 --> 00:17:41,500 What happened in Sichuan in 2008 360 00:17:41,667 --> 00:17:42,875 is a wake-up call. 361 00:17:43,042 --> 00:17:45,333 A wake-up call in that 362 00:17:45,500 --> 00:17:47,333 when you tamper with the Earth 363 00:17:47,458 --> 00:17:50,750 you're tampering with an earthquake. 364 00:17:51,875 --> 00:17:54,833 Is it possible that some of the deadliest earthquakes 365 00:17:55,000 --> 00:17:58,833 in modern times were actually caused by human activity? 366 00:17:58,958 --> 00:18:00,667 It's an unsettling theory, 367 00:18:00,792 --> 00:18:03,333 not only because of the massive damage they inflict, 368 00:18:03,417 --> 00:18:06,250 but also because of the devastating forces 369 00:18:06,375 --> 00:18:08,625 that are sometimes triggered, like 370 00:18:08,708 --> 00:18:12,500 the destructive phenomenon that scientists refer to 371 00:18:12,625 --> 00:18:22,583 as a megatsunami. 372 00:18:24,083 --> 00:18:25,625 SHATNER: Deep within the ocean floor, 373 00:18:25,750 --> 00:18:28,708 a massive earthquake suddenly shakes the ground 374 00:18:28,875 --> 00:18:30,500 for nearly ten minutes. 375 00:18:32,792 --> 00:18:36,042 The energy released measures an astounding 9.1 376 00:18:36,208 --> 00:18:38,958 on the Richter scale, which is the equivalent 377 00:18:39,042 --> 00:18:41,583 of 23,000 atomic bombs 378 00:18:41,708 --> 00:18:43,083 exploding all at once, 379 00:18:43,208 --> 00:18:45,333 making this disaster 380 00:18:45,458 --> 00:18:49,250 the most powerful earthquake of the 21st century. 381 00:18:51,583 --> 00:18:55,000 What happened was there are two major plates 382 00:18:55,125 --> 00:18:56,875 on the Earth that are smashing into each other. 383 00:18:57,042 --> 00:19:01,167 And when this happened, it raised the seafloor there 384 00:19:01,250 --> 00:19:03,083 more than 100 feet 385 00:19:03,208 --> 00:19:05,875 across 900 miles. 386 00:19:06,000 --> 00:19:07,208 And what does this mean? 387 00:19:07,333 --> 00:19:09,667 This means a tsunami's coming. 388 00:19:09,792 --> 00:19:13,250 Tsunamis happen when something causes 389 00:19:13,375 --> 00:19:15,375 the level of the seafloor to go up. 390 00:19:15,500 --> 00:19:18,042 And when the seafloor goes up, 391 00:19:18,167 --> 00:19:20,125 it pushes the whole water column up, 392 00:19:20,208 --> 00:19:24,125 and gravity causes that water to flow away. 393 00:19:24,208 --> 00:19:27,167 This earthquake in 2004 394 00:19:27,333 --> 00:19:29,333 created a massive tsunami 395 00:19:29,417 --> 00:19:31,958 that spread all throughout the Indian Ocean. 396 00:19:32,042 --> 00:19:36,250 SHATNER: The enormous tsunami traveled across the Indian Ocean 397 00:19:36,375 --> 00:19:40,000 at a speed of more than 500 miles per hour 398 00:19:40,125 --> 00:19:42,750 and smashed into the western part 399 00:19:42,875 --> 00:19:45,125 of the island of Sumatra. 400 00:19:45,250 --> 00:19:47,750 McGEE: 20 minutes or so after the quake, 401 00:19:47,875 --> 00:19:50,667 the nearest coastline in Sumatra 402 00:19:50,833 --> 00:19:53,708 suffered a hundred-foot wall of water that came in. 403 00:19:53,875 --> 00:19:57,333 All but the tallest buildings were completely submerged. 404 00:19:57,458 --> 00:20:00,333 So, immediate destruction. 405 00:20:01,917 --> 00:20:04,208 Two hours later, that same wave, 406 00:20:04,333 --> 00:20:06,250 traveling at more than 500 miles per hour 407 00:20:06,375 --> 00:20:08,333 hits Thailand. 408 00:20:08,417 --> 00:20:11,042 (people screaming) 409 00:20:11,208 --> 00:20:13,583 MAN: Get in! Get in! Get in! 410 00:20:15,375 --> 00:20:17,333 SHATNER: Ten-year-old Riley Sewell was on vacation 411 00:20:17,458 --> 00:20:19,042 in Thailand with her family 412 00:20:19,167 --> 00:20:21,375 when the giant tsunami struck. 413 00:20:21,500 --> 00:20:24,500 SEWELL: We are playing on the beach, 414 00:20:24,667 --> 00:20:26,792 and we look towards the shore, 415 00:20:26,875 --> 00:20:30,333 and we see this thin white line is coming at us, 416 00:20:30,458 --> 00:20:33,042 and it's getting bigger and bigger and bigger and bigger, 417 00:20:33,167 --> 00:20:36,000 and this was a 75-foot tsunami. 418 00:20:37,875 --> 00:20:41,667 My mom is shouting, "Run! Run!" at the top of her lungs, 419 00:20:41,792 --> 00:20:44,708 and we start running up this pathway 420 00:20:44,833 --> 00:20:46,708 up one of the cliffs. 421 00:20:46,833 --> 00:20:50,208 You can just hear, like, this tsunami is loud 422 00:20:50,333 --> 00:20:51,792 and it's smashing. 423 00:20:53,250 --> 00:20:55,792 And it's, like, destroying trees, 424 00:20:55,875 --> 00:21:00,167 but you can also hear the sound of people dying. 425 00:21:00,333 --> 00:21:03,292 Sounds that no person should ever hear, 426 00:21:03,375 --> 00:21:05,542 and no person should ever experience. 427 00:21:07,250 --> 00:21:09,333 Had we not found that pathway, 428 00:21:09,417 --> 00:21:12,333 had we not run as fast as we had, 429 00:21:12,417 --> 00:21:15,083 I wouldn't be talking and breathing 430 00:21:15,208 --> 00:21:17,208 and speaking as I am right now. 431 00:21:17,333 --> 00:21:19,000 SHATNER: While Riley Sewell and her family 432 00:21:19,125 --> 00:21:20,625 were lucky to survive, 433 00:21:20,750 --> 00:21:25,417 230,000 people in 14 different countries perished, 434 00:21:25,542 --> 00:21:30,500 in what was one of the deadliest natural disasters in history. 435 00:21:30,625 --> 00:21:35,333 WEYSESSION: The tsunami killed people in Africa, in India, 436 00:21:35,458 --> 00:21:39,167 and 70,000 people died on Sri Lanka. 437 00:21:39,292 --> 00:21:42,542 So, people all across the world 438 00:21:42,667 --> 00:21:45,042 died from the huge tsunami that hit. 439 00:21:45,167 --> 00:21:48,250 SHATNER: Frightening images broadcast around the world 440 00:21:48,375 --> 00:21:50,125 gave billions of people a first-hand look 441 00:21:50,208 --> 00:21:53,167 of the apocalyptic power of tsunamis. 442 00:21:53,292 --> 00:21:56,375 And yet this disaster 443 00:21:56,500 --> 00:21:59,375 was only the latest in a long history 444 00:21:59,500 --> 00:22:01,292 of doomsday tsunamis 445 00:22:01,375 --> 00:22:03,708 that have been recorded for centuries. 446 00:22:05,500 --> 00:22:08,000 The earliest recorded tsunami happened 447 00:22:08,125 --> 00:22:10,292 in the year 1630, 448 00:22:10,375 --> 00:22:11,625 before the common era. 449 00:22:11,750 --> 00:22:14,833 When a massive tsunami spread 450 00:22:14,958 --> 00:22:17,833 throughout the eastern Mediterranean at that time 451 00:22:17,958 --> 00:22:21,875 and hit the island of Santorini, in the Greek Isles. 452 00:22:22,000 --> 00:22:24,000 Now, interestingly, 453 00:22:24,083 --> 00:22:25,667 1,200 years later, 454 00:22:25,750 --> 00:22:27,500 the Greek philosopher Plato 455 00:22:27,625 --> 00:22:31,792 wrote of the story of Atlantis, 456 00:22:31,875 --> 00:22:36,458 which was a legend that had been handed down for years orally. 457 00:22:36,583 --> 00:22:39,667 The story involved the destruction of an island 458 00:22:39,792 --> 00:22:42,083 in a dramatic day and night, 459 00:22:42,208 --> 00:22:44,708 sinking beneath the waves. 460 00:22:44,875 --> 00:22:48,375 And many anthropologists think that this legend 461 00:22:48,500 --> 00:22:51,333 actually could be referring back to the tsunami 462 00:22:51,417 --> 00:22:53,583 that hit Santorini. 463 00:22:55,750 --> 00:22:58,417 SHATNER: A massive tsunami may have been the inspiration 464 00:22:58,542 --> 00:23:01,833 for Plato's story of the destruction of Atlantis, 465 00:23:01,917 --> 00:23:04,458 but on the other side of the globe, 466 00:23:04,542 --> 00:23:06,708 the dangers of tsunamis 467 00:23:06,833 --> 00:23:11,333 were recorded in stone on the island of Japan. 468 00:23:11,458 --> 00:23:14,208 Japan is based on three major fault lines 469 00:23:14,375 --> 00:23:15,792 that collide, 470 00:23:15,875 --> 00:23:19,083 making it one of the most geologically active areas 471 00:23:19,208 --> 00:23:20,833 for tsunamis. 472 00:23:20,917 --> 00:23:23,333 In fact, tsunami is a Japanese word. 473 00:23:23,458 --> 00:23:26,625 Because tsunamis are a regular occurrence, 474 00:23:26,708 --> 00:23:29,792 they put up stone monuments saying in this year 475 00:23:29,875 --> 00:23:32,875 on this day, the water went up to this level. 476 00:23:33,000 --> 00:23:36,333 SHATNER: Coastal areas such as Japan are still quite 477 00:23:36,500 --> 00:23:39,375 vulnerable to the destructive power of tsunamis. 478 00:23:39,542 --> 00:23:41,333 But, fortunately, 479 00:23:41,500 --> 00:23:44,208 scientists have created an early warning system 480 00:23:44,333 --> 00:23:47,917 which can alert people before the next deadly tsunami strikes. 481 00:23:48,042 --> 00:23:52,500 This technology provides people with a valuable resource 482 00:23:52,625 --> 00:23:55,333 that our ancestors did not have: 483 00:23:55,458 --> 00:23:59,083 the possibility to get out of harm's way. 484 00:24:00,917 --> 00:24:03,667 There's a network of buoys called DART buoys, 485 00:24:03,792 --> 00:24:05,167 and these are pressure sensors 486 00:24:05,292 --> 00:24:07,333 that sit on the ocean seafloor 487 00:24:07,500 --> 00:24:10,333 and can actually detect the pressure 488 00:24:10,458 --> 00:24:12,708 of the tsunami wave as it goes over. 489 00:24:12,833 --> 00:24:14,833 So, if a candidate earthquake 490 00:24:14,917 --> 00:24:16,458 is identified 491 00:24:16,542 --> 00:24:18,167 and then verified, 492 00:24:18,292 --> 00:24:19,917 it goes into a warning system 493 00:24:20,042 --> 00:24:21,708 that broadcasts a warning 494 00:24:21,833 --> 00:24:23,333 throughout the ocean basin, 495 00:24:23,417 --> 00:24:26,625 setting off sirens along coasts, 496 00:24:26,708 --> 00:24:29,042 and alerting people by cell phone. 497 00:24:29,167 --> 00:24:32,375 However, there's still many parts of the world 498 00:24:32,500 --> 00:24:34,167 that don't have adequate coverage, 499 00:24:34,292 --> 00:24:36,708 and we need a lot more sensors 500 00:24:36,833 --> 00:24:39,750 to make sure that we do a better job predicting 501 00:24:39,875 --> 00:24:44,167 and forecasting the arrival of a tsunami. 502 00:24:44,292 --> 00:24:47,042 It's encouraging to know that there's an early warning 503 00:24:47,167 --> 00:24:49,792 system that can help us detect when a tsunami 504 00:24:49,917 --> 00:24:51,542 will strike before it happens. 505 00:24:51,708 --> 00:24:54,583 But some natural disasters are so powerful 506 00:24:54,708 --> 00:24:56,958 and so inexplicable 507 00:24:57,042 --> 00:24:59,500 that it's almost impossible to prepare for them. 508 00:24:59,625 --> 00:25:03,833 Like in the case of a massive cataclysm 509 00:25:03,958 --> 00:25:07,292 that took place almost 1,500 years ago 510 00:25:07,375 --> 00:25:09,208 that covered half the planet 511 00:25:09,333 --> 00:25:19,292 in total darkness. 512 00:25:20,833 --> 00:25:22,917 SHATNER: Spring has arrived in the capital 513 00:25:23,042 --> 00:25:24,708 of the Byzantine Empire. 514 00:25:24,833 --> 00:25:26,917 But even though winter has ended, 515 00:25:27,042 --> 00:25:30,167 the temperature remains cold because 516 00:25:30,333 --> 00:25:33,417 the sky is so dark 517 00:25:33,542 --> 00:25:36,583 that it blocks out the sun. 518 00:25:36,708 --> 00:25:38,667 PHOENIX: What is really astounding 519 00:25:38,833 --> 00:25:42,000 is the way that people described 520 00:25:42,125 --> 00:25:43,500 this 536 event. 521 00:25:43,667 --> 00:25:47,083 You had writers explaining what happened 522 00:25:47,208 --> 00:25:49,500 in very precise detail 523 00:25:49,667 --> 00:25:52,000 from what they could observe. 524 00:25:52,125 --> 00:25:56,333 They described the sun became darkened, 525 00:25:56,458 --> 00:25:59,708 and we felt a thickening in the air, 526 00:25:59,875 --> 00:26:03,583 and we saw this fog or this dust veil. 527 00:26:03,708 --> 00:26:05,625 Now, they didn't know what caused it, 528 00:26:05,750 --> 00:26:08,083 but the descriptions are extremely thorough. 529 00:26:09,250 --> 00:26:12,083 McCORMICK: The Byzantine historian Procopius 530 00:26:12,208 --> 00:26:16,125 wrote that the sun shone at half its strength, 531 00:26:16,208 --> 00:26:18,167 like it was in eclipse. 532 00:26:18,333 --> 00:26:20,000 This was the start of a period 533 00:26:20,167 --> 00:26:22,750 of colder than average temperatures. 534 00:26:22,875 --> 00:26:25,667 And the darkness lasted for 18 months. 535 00:26:26,792 --> 00:26:30,042 SHATNER: The sun was blocked by a dark sky 536 00:26:30,167 --> 00:26:31,833 for over a year? 537 00:26:31,958 --> 00:26:34,625 Such an improbable catastrophe 538 00:26:34,750 --> 00:26:36,958 may sound like it was a fictional story 539 00:26:37,083 --> 00:26:41,333 taken from the pages of ancient folklore or mythology. 540 00:26:41,458 --> 00:26:43,333 But, curiously, 541 00:26:43,500 --> 00:26:46,292 numerous historical accounts of this event were written 542 00:26:46,375 --> 00:26:48,500 not just in Constantinople 543 00:26:48,583 --> 00:26:51,792 but all over the world, during the year 544 00:26:51,875 --> 00:26:54,625 536 A.D. 545 00:26:56,500 --> 00:26:58,917 McCORMICK: What happened in 536 was a 546 00:26:59,042 --> 00:27:03,167 climate event of considerable magnitude that was 547 00:27:03,333 --> 00:27:05,208 terrible for the people who lived through it. 548 00:27:05,333 --> 00:27:09,208 The most detailed record 549 00:27:09,375 --> 00:27:12,500 is in Latin, and it was written by Cassiodorus, 550 00:27:12,667 --> 00:27:16,042 who was a high civil servant in Italy. 551 00:27:16,167 --> 00:27:19,875 He wrote that the sun gave off no warmth 552 00:27:20,000 --> 00:27:22,875 at any time in the course of the day. 553 00:27:23,042 --> 00:27:26,167 And there are also records in Chinese 554 00:27:26,333 --> 00:27:29,125 that refer to a terrible cold, 555 00:27:29,250 --> 00:27:32,667 terrible freezing in the summertime, and so, 556 00:27:32,792 --> 00:27:34,833 we've been able to piece this story 557 00:27:34,917 --> 00:27:37,625 of this extraordinary catastrophe together, 558 00:27:37,708 --> 00:27:41,833 combining the evidence of sources of eyewitnesses 559 00:27:41,958 --> 00:27:44,667 who wrote their reports in Greek, 560 00:27:44,833 --> 00:27:48,292 in Latin, and in, uh, Chinese. 561 00:27:49,500 --> 00:27:52,292 The Earth became cold. 562 00:27:52,375 --> 00:27:55,208 The crops died. 563 00:27:57,208 --> 00:28:00,208 The result was tremendous food shortages, 564 00:28:00,333 --> 00:28:02,458 hunger, 565 00:28:02,542 --> 00:28:04,458 famine in places, 566 00:28:04,542 --> 00:28:08,167 migration and upheaval. 567 00:28:08,292 --> 00:28:11,458 SHATNER: It is clear from the historical record that, 568 00:28:11,583 --> 00:28:14,000 starting in the spring of 536 A.D., 569 00:28:14,125 --> 00:28:16,500 the entire Northern Hemisphere 570 00:28:16,625 --> 00:28:18,625 experienced darkness 571 00:28:18,750 --> 00:28:21,792 and bitter cold for over a year. 572 00:28:22,750 --> 00:28:26,500 In fact, historians have dubbed 536 A.D. 573 00:28:26,625 --> 00:28:30,375 the worst year to be alive in history. 574 00:28:30,500 --> 00:28:33,750 But what could have caused the sun to become blocked 575 00:28:33,875 --> 00:28:38,000 in the first place and for such a long period of time? 576 00:28:38,167 --> 00:28:41,833 Numerous theories have been proposed, including the idea 577 00:28:41,958 --> 00:28:46,667 that an asteroid impact sent dirt into the atmosphere. 578 00:28:46,833 --> 00:28:49,792 But, in recent years, 579 00:28:49,917 --> 00:28:53,083 some scientists have suggested the darkness 580 00:28:53,208 --> 00:28:57,250 may have been caused by a volcanic eruption. 581 00:28:58,833 --> 00:29:01,667 KAKU: When you think of a volcano, you have an image of lava flows 582 00:29:01,750 --> 00:29:04,583 oozing out of the volcano. 583 00:29:04,708 --> 00:29:06,792 Well, yes, that's what happens, 584 00:29:06,875 --> 00:29:09,833 but that's not the only thing which happens. 585 00:29:09,958 --> 00:29:13,625 You also have all the soot and debris, 586 00:29:13,750 --> 00:29:16,292 which blanket the atmosphere 587 00:29:16,375 --> 00:29:19,333 and block out sunlight. 588 00:29:19,458 --> 00:29:21,917 And so, in 536, we think 589 00:29:22,042 --> 00:29:24,583 that there was a volcanic eruption 590 00:29:24,708 --> 00:29:28,292 and there was so much soot, ash, debris 591 00:29:28,375 --> 00:29:31,750 launched into the atmosphere that it created a fog. 592 00:29:31,875 --> 00:29:35,000 A fog that destroyed agriculture. 593 00:29:35,125 --> 00:29:38,375 A fog that ground civilization to a halt. 594 00:29:39,917 --> 00:29:42,500 PHOENIX: This event around 536 595 00:29:42,667 --> 00:29:44,500 has all the markings 596 00:29:44,625 --> 00:29:46,750 of a very large-scale eruption 597 00:29:46,875 --> 00:29:50,000 that had the ability to change climate conditions 598 00:29:50,083 --> 00:29:52,042 all across the Northern Hemisphere. 599 00:29:52,167 --> 00:29:55,917 It really does emphasize just how big the effects 600 00:29:56,042 --> 00:29:59,208 of volcanoes are, how widespread, 601 00:29:59,333 --> 00:30:03,167 and how damaging they can be to human civilization. 602 00:30:03,292 --> 00:30:06,833 SHATNER: But if a volcano caused the year of darkness, 603 00:30:06,917 --> 00:30:09,958 then which of the nearly 1,500 active volcanoes on Earth 604 00:30:10,042 --> 00:30:11,750 was the one that erupted? 605 00:30:11,875 --> 00:30:16,250 McCORMICK: A team working on the ice levels for 536 606 00:30:16,375 --> 00:30:18,667 from the Swiss-Italian border, found microscopic 607 00:30:18,792 --> 00:30:21,667 morsels of volcanic particles 608 00:30:21,792 --> 00:30:23,375 that matches what one would expect 609 00:30:23,542 --> 00:30:25,667 in a volcano in Iceland. 610 00:30:25,792 --> 00:30:28,625 And so, the top suspect right now 611 00:30:28,750 --> 00:30:31,375 in the eruption behind the 536 event 612 00:30:31,500 --> 00:30:35,167 is one of the many volcanoes in Iceland. 613 00:30:35,250 --> 00:30:38,708 SHATNER: Scientists are still working to definitively prove 614 00:30:38,875 --> 00:30:41,125 whether a volcanic eruption in Iceland 615 00:30:41,250 --> 00:30:44,333 blocked the sun in 536 A.D. 616 00:30:44,458 --> 00:30:47,292 But perhaps the even more pressing question is 617 00:30:47,375 --> 00:30:51,833 could the Earth ever be blanketed in darkness again? 618 00:30:52,958 --> 00:30:55,167 Could this happen again? 619 00:30:55,333 --> 00:30:58,333 The answer is of course it could happen again. 620 00:30:58,417 --> 00:31:01,333 It has happened once in the last 2,000 years, 621 00:31:01,500 --> 00:31:04,500 it has perhaps happened more frequently over a longer 622 00:31:04,625 --> 00:31:06,833 time span that we have not yet been able to uncover. 623 00:31:06,917 --> 00:31:08,208 We need to be prepared. 624 00:31:09,875 --> 00:31:13,417 The 2010 eruption of Eyjafjallajökull, 625 00:31:13,542 --> 00:31:14,833 the Icelandic volcano, 626 00:31:14,958 --> 00:31:17,792 actually disrupted a lot of people's lives 627 00:31:17,875 --> 00:31:19,833 because volcanic particles 628 00:31:19,958 --> 00:31:21,833 were going up into the atmosphere. 629 00:31:22,000 --> 00:31:24,458 And it shut down air travel 630 00:31:24,542 --> 00:31:26,333 because those particles 631 00:31:26,500 --> 00:31:29,542 will clog your jet engine and cause major, major problems. 632 00:31:31,208 --> 00:31:35,042 This planet has a beating heart. It has life. 633 00:31:35,208 --> 00:31:39,708 It is an ever-evolving, ever-changing process 634 00:31:39,833 --> 00:31:41,792 every time a volcano erupts. 635 00:31:41,917 --> 00:31:44,875 And we are just along for the ride. 636 00:31:47,792 --> 00:31:50,583 Given the fact that much of Europe and the Middle East 637 00:31:50,708 --> 00:31:55,375 and Asia were shrouded in darkness for an entire year, 638 00:31:55,500 --> 00:31:59,500 it's easy to see why historians think that 536 A.D. 639 00:31:59,667 --> 00:32:02,458 was the worst year to be alive in human history. 640 00:32:02,583 --> 00:32:05,000 But... 641 00:32:05,083 --> 00:32:08,333 the disasters that we face today are no less dangerous. 642 00:32:08,500 --> 00:32:11,500 For instance, the number of hurricanes 643 00:32:11,583 --> 00:32:15,667 that strike our coasts have actually been increasing 644 00:32:15,750 --> 00:32:16,833 in recent years. 645 00:32:16,958 --> 00:32:19,167 And what's even more concerning 646 00:32:19,292 --> 00:32:21,583 is that they may also be getting 647 00:32:21,708 --> 00:32:28,750 bigger and more powerful. 648 00:32:28,875 --> 00:32:31,625 SHATNER: Galveston, Texas. 1900. 649 00:32:31,708 --> 00:32:35,042 At the turn of the century, this bustling city, 650 00:32:35,167 --> 00:32:37,042 located along the Gulf of Mexico, 651 00:32:37,167 --> 00:32:40,500 was one of America's busiest ports. 652 00:32:42,458 --> 00:32:46,125 But that all changed on September 8th, 1900, 653 00:32:46,250 --> 00:32:50,000 when a massive hurricane hit Galveston 654 00:32:50,083 --> 00:32:54,333 and leveled everything in its path. 655 00:32:54,417 --> 00:32:56,458 WYSESSION: The great Galveston hurricane 656 00:32:56,583 --> 00:32:58,625 of September of 1900 657 00:32:58,750 --> 00:33:02,167 was the deadliest hurricane in U.S. history, 658 00:33:02,333 --> 00:33:05,917 killing somewhere between 6,000 and 12,000 people. 659 00:33:06,042 --> 00:33:08,833 What did most of the destruction 660 00:33:08,958 --> 00:33:11,292 was the huge increase 661 00:33:11,417 --> 00:33:15,042 in the storm surge of about 12 feet. 662 00:33:15,208 --> 00:33:17,833 The whole sea level outside of Galveston, 663 00:33:17,958 --> 00:33:20,125 which is already right at sea level, 664 00:33:20,250 --> 00:33:22,292 was suddenly 12 feet higher, 665 00:33:22,375 --> 00:33:26,792 totally inundating the entire coastal area. 666 00:33:26,917 --> 00:33:28,500 This incredible storm surge 667 00:33:28,583 --> 00:33:30,292 raced across the island 668 00:33:30,417 --> 00:33:32,333 and killed about one in six 669 00:33:32,417 --> 00:33:35,250 of all the people who lived on the island at the time. 670 00:33:35,375 --> 00:33:38,083 At the same time, these incredible winds 671 00:33:38,208 --> 00:33:40,500 demolished the properties themselves 672 00:33:40,625 --> 00:33:43,417 just by the force of the wind power. 673 00:33:43,542 --> 00:33:46,917 SHATNER: 3,600 buildings were destroyed 674 00:33:47,042 --> 00:33:48,750 by the Galveston hurricane, 675 00:33:48,875 --> 00:33:51,792 and 10,000 people 676 00:33:51,917 --> 00:33:54,000 were left homeless. 677 00:33:54,083 --> 00:33:57,583 This storm was so enormous and caused such 678 00:33:57,708 --> 00:34:02,333 devastation that the majority of the population had to flee. 679 00:34:02,417 --> 00:34:05,875 And it really affected the town of Galveston. 680 00:34:06,042 --> 00:34:08,250 It became sort of known 681 00:34:08,375 --> 00:34:10,667 as a dangerous place to live. 682 00:34:10,792 --> 00:34:13,792 SHATNER: While the destruction a hurricane can reap 683 00:34:13,875 --> 00:34:16,250 is impossible to control, 684 00:34:16,375 --> 00:34:18,208 over the past century, 685 00:34:18,375 --> 00:34:21,000 it's been advances in space technology 686 00:34:21,125 --> 00:34:24,417 that have helped to create long-range forecasting 687 00:34:24,542 --> 00:34:28,792 and to lower the human toll these massive storms can take. 688 00:34:28,917 --> 00:34:34,292 WYSESSION: The proliferation of networks of satellites in space have totally 689 00:34:34,375 --> 00:34:36,833 changed how we view the hazard of hurricanes. 690 00:34:36,917 --> 00:34:40,333 We're able to track hurricanes 691 00:34:40,500 --> 00:34:43,083 from when they initially begin, 692 00:34:43,208 --> 00:34:45,208 and we can even predict the exact time 693 00:34:45,375 --> 00:34:47,625 and location of landfall. 694 00:34:49,625 --> 00:34:52,500 SHATNER: But in spite of our technological advances, 695 00:34:52,667 --> 00:34:55,292 we're still very much at the mercy 696 00:34:55,375 --> 00:34:58,333 of the powerful forces of nature, 697 00:34:58,458 --> 00:35:00,625 as some of the worst hurricanes 698 00:35:00,708 --> 00:35:04,917 in history have taken place in the last two decades. 699 00:35:05,042 --> 00:35:08,833 WYSESSION: For Hurricane Katrina, in the year 2005, 700 00:35:08,958 --> 00:35:13,167 about $125 billion worth 701 00:35:13,292 --> 00:35:15,958 of damage occurred, and it's quite likely 702 00:35:16,042 --> 00:35:18,458 that future hurricanes will do the same. 703 00:35:18,583 --> 00:35:21,875 Buildings are going to be destroyed. 704 00:35:22,042 --> 00:35:24,708 Coastlines will be eroded. 705 00:35:24,875 --> 00:35:27,167 The damage from these hurricanes 706 00:35:27,292 --> 00:35:30,000 is enormous and will continue to be. 707 00:35:30,167 --> 00:35:31,833 HEYCK-WILLIAMS: Hurricane Harvey 708 00:35:31,958 --> 00:35:35,625 in Houston in 2017 created such massive flooding 709 00:35:35,708 --> 00:35:37,708 it was what they call a millennial flood. 710 00:35:37,875 --> 00:35:40,333 A flood that big is only supposed to happen 711 00:35:40,458 --> 00:35:42,250 once every thousand years or so. 712 00:35:42,375 --> 00:35:45,333 But Hurricane Harvey is becoming 713 00:35:45,417 --> 00:35:47,458 more of a trend that we're seeing 714 00:35:47,542 --> 00:35:49,042 in terms of the magnitude of these 715 00:35:49,167 --> 00:35:51,583 megastorms, unfortunately, in the U.S. 716 00:35:51,708 --> 00:35:55,083 SHATNER: Is there anything more we can do to protect coastal 717 00:35:55,208 --> 00:35:58,250 communities against destructive hurricanes? 718 00:35:58,375 --> 00:36:02,167 Well, many experts feel that the best way for us to study 719 00:36:02,292 --> 00:36:03,792 and understand hurricanes, 720 00:36:03,875 --> 00:36:06,250 in order to help prevent further loss of life, 721 00:36:06,375 --> 00:36:10,125 is by flying directly into the eye of these 722 00:36:10,250 --> 00:36:12,167 powerful storms. 723 00:36:12,333 --> 00:36:14,458 Going out to fly Irma today. 724 00:36:14,542 --> 00:36:18,417 SHATNER: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration 725 00:36:18,542 --> 00:36:20,167 has formed a team of scientists known as 726 00:36:20,292 --> 00:36:22,083 the Hurricane Hunters 727 00:36:22,208 --> 00:36:23,792 who pilot aircraft fitted 728 00:36:23,917 --> 00:36:25,167 with sophisticated sensors 729 00:36:25,250 --> 00:36:27,458 into hurricanes. 730 00:36:27,542 --> 00:36:29,333 We like to say that in a hurricane, we're sort of 731 00:36:29,417 --> 00:36:31,000 the first line of defense 732 00:36:31,083 --> 00:36:31,958 because the first thing you need to know 733 00:36:32,042 --> 00:36:34,000 is the state of the storm. 734 00:36:34,125 --> 00:36:36,125 How strong is it? Where is it going? 735 00:36:36,250 --> 00:36:38,292 What kind of hazards does it pose? 736 00:36:38,417 --> 00:36:40,708 We know how important the measurements are. 737 00:36:40,833 --> 00:36:43,667 And the measurements we need from a hurricane 738 00:36:43,792 --> 00:36:47,333 we can only get by actually putting the aircraft 739 00:36:47,417 --> 00:36:49,250 within the storm. 740 00:36:49,375 --> 00:36:51,750 SHATNER: While gathering this critical data, 741 00:36:51,875 --> 00:36:54,417 Hurricane Hunter pilots witness nature's fury 742 00:36:54,542 --> 00:36:58,000 in a way that few people ever have. 743 00:36:58,083 --> 00:37:00,417 ZAWISLAK: Sometimes I do stop myself 744 00:37:00,542 --> 00:37:02,667 just for a second, just to sort of take it in 745 00:37:02,792 --> 00:37:06,500 and appreciate the scale of it and just 746 00:37:06,667 --> 00:37:09,000 how powerful these storms are. 747 00:37:09,083 --> 00:37:11,667 It's chaos and it's loud, 748 00:37:11,833 --> 00:37:14,000 and it's always remarkable how loud. 749 00:37:14,125 --> 00:37:15,833 Then, all of a sudden, you get through that eye wall, 750 00:37:15,917 --> 00:37:17,167 and then, bang, 751 00:37:17,292 --> 00:37:20,292 it just gets calm, and it's quiet, 752 00:37:20,417 --> 00:37:23,333 typically, in that eye of the storm. 753 00:37:23,458 --> 00:37:26,292 Sometimes they can just be absolutely breathtaking, 754 00:37:26,417 --> 00:37:29,500 to see this clear eye of the hurricane. 755 00:37:30,458 --> 00:37:34,042 Our ultimate goal is when we see people respond 756 00:37:34,167 --> 00:37:35,833 to the information that led to 757 00:37:36,000 --> 00:37:38,167 the right decisions being made 758 00:37:38,250 --> 00:37:40,375 on the ground to evacuate 759 00:37:40,500 --> 00:37:42,000 and to get out of harm's way. 760 00:37:42,167 --> 00:37:43,917 And that's what motivates us 761 00:37:44,042 --> 00:37:47,708 to go fly in these chaotic, turbulent hurricanes. 762 00:37:49,625 --> 00:37:52,167 For people who live in coastal communities, 763 00:37:52,333 --> 00:37:55,250 enduring the destructive power of hurricanes 764 00:37:55,375 --> 00:37:58,500 is simply an unfortunate fact of life. 765 00:37:58,667 --> 00:38:01,458 And that's especially true in regions of the planet 766 00:38:01,583 --> 00:38:04,333 that are rocked by cataclysms so often, 767 00:38:04,500 --> 00:38:06,583 it seems like they can strike at any moment. 768 00:38:06,708 --> 00:38:10,708 These areas are referred to 769 00:38:10,875 --> 00:38:16,958 as disaster hot spots. 770 00:38:17,042 --> 00:38:19,833 SHATNER: In the Pacific Ocean there is a narrow region 771 00:38:19,958 --> 00:38:23,000 that runs from Australia 772 00:38:23,083 --> 00:38:25,708 up the coast of Asia 773 00:38:25,875 --> 00:38:28,083 over to North America 774 00:38:28,208 --> 00:38:31,667 and down the coast of South America. 775 00:38:31,792 --> 00:38:34,667 This horseshoe-shaped area is known for having 776 00:38:34,792 --> 00:38:38,417 some of the worst natural disasters in the world. 777 00:38:38,542 --> 00:38:42,917 So much so that scientists refer to it as 778 00:38:43,042 --> 00:38:46,417 the Ring of Fire. 779 00:38:46,542 --> 00:38:49,292 The Ring of Fire is an active plate boundary 780 00:38:49,417 --> 00:38:52,458 where two plates of the Earth's crust meet, 781 00:38:52,583 --> 00:38:55,375 and that's where you have incredible, uh, earthquakes 782 00:38:55,500 --> 00:38:57,917 and volcanic eruptions. 783 00:38:58,042 --> 00:39:01,375 These places become what I would call hot spots 784 00:39:01,500 --> 00:39:05,083 for future catastrophe. 785 00:39:05,208 --> 00:39:06,500 There's a lot of activity 786 00:39:06,667 --> 00:39:08,500 happening there, and it's on a scale 787 00:39:08,625 --> 00:39:11,458 that shrugs off humans like 788 00:39:11,583 --> 00:39:13,833 we were bacteria on the surface of someone's skin. 789 00:39:13,917 --> 00:39:15,917 PHOENIX: The Ring of Fire 790 00:39:16,042 --> 00:39:18,208 is the most famous geologically active area 791 00:39:18,333 --> 00:39:20,083 in the world. 792 00:39:20,208 --> 00:39:24,375 And people live in these areas where we have so many disasters. 793 00:39:24,542 --> 00:39:28,000 These are very real ongoing hazards, 794 00:39:28,083 --> 00:39:31,875 just by virtue of where these cities are located, 795 00:39:32,000 --> 00:39:35,625 so it really tests people's resilience. 796 00:39:37,792 --> 00:39:40,208 SHATNER: The Ring of Fire is the site 797 00:39:40,333 --> 00:39:43,250 of 75% of the world's volcanoes 798 00:39:43,375 --> 00:39:45,500 and 90% of its earthquakes, 799 00:39:45,625 --> 00:39:48,083 so it's no wonder that experts refer to it 800 00:39:48,208 --> 00:39:51,792 as a natural disaster hot spot. 801 00:39:52,583 --> 00:39:55,167 But that's not the only place 802 00:39:55,292 --> 00:39:58,583 where humans are overpowered 803 00:39:58,708 --> 00:40:00,917 by the force of our living planet. 804 00:40:02,208 --> 00:40:05,625 Some of the largest hot spots for natural disasters 805 00:40:05,750 --> 00:40:08,542 are in the western side of the Atlantic Ocean. 806 00:40:09,833 --> 00:40:12,000 This is the Dominican Republic, 807 00:40:12,125 --> 00:40:15,458 Antigua and Barbuda. 808 00:40:15,583 --> 00:40:19,500 These also are all volcanic islands, 809 00:40:19,667 --> 00:40:22,667 they all are at plate boundaries subject to earthquakes 810 00:40:22,833 --> 00:40:25,167 and they are all in the paths 811 00:40:25,250 --> 00:40:27,250 of many large 812 00:40:27,375 --> 00:40:29,000 tropical hurricanes that cause 813 00:40:29,125 --> 00:40:30,583 massive flooding. 814 00:40:30,708 --> 00:40:34,458 There's almost nothing we can do to prevent that. 815 00:40:34,542 --> 00:40:36,833 However, what we can do 816 00:40:36,917 --> 00:40:40,208 is evacuate regions and prevent the loss of life. 817 00:40:40,333 --> 00:40:42,333 PHOENIX: We see thousands 818 00:40:42,500 --> 00:40:44,250 and thousands of people evacuated 819 00:40:44,375 --> 00:40:46,083 from all over the globe. 820 00:40:46,208 --> 00:40:47,667 That's the best we've got. 821 00:40:47,833 --> 00:40:50,708 We're never going to stop people from living in hot spots. 822 00:40:50,833 --> 00:40:53,417 We are never going to keep people completely safe. 823 00:40:53,542 --> 00:40:56,875 And it's because these disasters 824 00:40:57,042 --> 00:41:00,000 are just part of the true power of nature. 825 00:41:00,083 --> 00:41:03,583 KAKU: When we think of potential catastrophes, 826 00:41:03,708 --> 00:41:07,208 what should be our attitude? 827 00:41:07,375 --> 00:41:09,708 Our attitude should be humble. 828 00:41:10,917 --> 00:41:12,792 You know, we think we're the ones 829 00:41:12,917 --> 00:41:15,667 that control the destiny of the planet, 830 00:41:15,833 --> 00:41:18,500 but you realize that, sometimes, the planet 831 00:41:18,667 --> 00:41:22,042 goes in a direction that we don't necessarily want. 832 00:41:23,083 --> 00:41:26,792 We have to be humble because we don't know when the next 833 00:41:26,917 --> 00:41:29,000 big ones are gonna take place. 834 00:41:31,542 --> 00:41:33,542 If history has taught us anything, 835 00:41:33,708 --> 00:41:35,833 it's that humanity is often powerless 836 00:41:35,917 --> 00:41:39,000 when faced with the wrath of Mother Nature. 837 00:41:39,125 --> 00:41:40,667 And what's concerning is that we don't know 838 00:41:40,833 --> 00:41:42,917 exactly when or where the next fire 839 00:41:43,042 --> 00:41:45,167 or earthquake or tsunami will strike. 840 00:41:45,292 --> 00:41:50,292 No matter how much time and effort we spend trying to study, 841 00:41:50,417 --> 00:41:54,292 predict, and guard ourselves against natural disasters, 842 00:41:54,417 --> 00:41:57,750 the full extent of planet Earth's power 843 00:41:57,875 --> 00:42:02,417 will remain unexplained. 844 00:42:02,542 --> 00:42:04,042 CAPTIONING PROVIDED BY A+E NETWORKS