Mega Disasters

pressure build-up, it is likely to erupt in the not too distant future. And it has happened in the past. Geologists have discovered evidence of a massive tsunami that struck the Pacific Northwest in 1700 -- as powerful as the devastating Indian Ocean Tsunami of 2004. Hundreds of thousands of lives are at stake. Emergency planners, seismologists and other researchers are trying to get a handle on when Cascadia will blow, what it will look like and what - if anything -we can do to minimize the disaster.

WWhat happens when the most intense tornado ever measured strikes Dallas, Texas? With winds clocked at 318 miles per hour, the monster twister carves a path through the city up to a mile wide. It happened once before, just two hundred miles to the north in Oklahoma City. There in May 1999 a "Megatornado" scoured the earth for 85 minutes along a 38-mile path. 43 people died and property damage was enormous. It became history's first billion-dollar tornado. But in more-densely developed Dallas, the scenario is worse: as many as a thousand dead... and FIVE billion dollars in damage.

What would happen if a category 3 hurricane were to hit New York City? With an awesomely high storm surge and intense winds attacking one of the most heavily populated and economically vital locations in the world, the potential for massive destruction is almost unprecedented. We explore the less-known but extensive history of previous northeast hurricanes -- especially the "Great Hurricane" of 1938 -- in order to create empirical evidence that a storm of this size is not a science fiction movie but a very real possibility in the near future. Time is also taken to explore the scientific nature and origins of hurricanes and to get an overview of some of the scientific and engineering changes that are taking place in the field of hurricane damage prevention. Using computer animation, models and re-creations the story concludes with a jaw-dropping view of what a storm like this might look like from inside the Big Apple.

Many scientists now believe that a "killer asteroid" wiped out the dinosaurs and 70% of all living things 160-million years ago. How likely is it that a similar event can occur again? In this episode, we explore the catastrophic effects of a 2-kilometer-long asteroid hitting just off the coast of Los Angeles. Using the Chicxulub asteroid impact of 160-million years ago (the one that killed off the dinosaurs), we watch--moment by moment--as the blast annihilates not just Los Angeles, but communities within 100 miles of the coast. A firestorm consumes much of southern California and tsunamis wreak havoc up and down the entire western US coast. The resultant dust cloud covers much of the Midwest, devastating crops for at least a year. Millions of people die from the direct effects of the impact, and millions suffer a famine the likes of which the world has never seen. The good news is that technology has given us the tools to--perhaps--avert such a disaster.

The largest and most active volcano system in the world is right here in the western United States. Six hundred thousand years ago, the Yellowstone volcano erupted. Lava and pyroclastic flows covered 3,000 square miles and ash covered half the United States, three feet thick. Fossils found as far away as Nebraska were found to have died from inhaling the Yellowstone debris. If -- or perhaps we should say, "when" -- it erupts again, the Yellowstone "Mega-volcano" will create a global cataclysm beyond human comprehension. Everything within 150 miles of the eruption -- including the cities of Cody, Wyoming and Bozeman, Montana -- will be hit by an 800-degree blast of heat and 200 miles-per-hour winds. Thousands will be killed. That's just the local effects. Half the US will be buried beneath a blanket of volcanic ash 10 feet thick. Crops in the Midwest -- the world's breadbasket -- will be destroyed. It will take years before crops can grow again. Starvation, epidemics, social chaos would be not long in coming.

Could North America and parts of Europe be headed for a "big chill?" Many experts fear that an abrupt climate change could have catastrophic effects across the planet, including devastating winters in some northern regions. New research has indicated to scientists that the climate is changing rapidly and unpredictably. In different parts of the world, we could be facing drought, floods, storms and extreme cold. Cataclysmic climate changes, similar to what may happen to us, have happened in the past. The great Mayan civilization was knocked out by drought in a few generations. The Little Ice Age battered Europe. Within a decade, freezing temperatures increased and incessant storms brought starvation, disease, and death to millions. Could this happen again? We may have little time to prepare. In fact, it may already be too late to prevent a global disaster. A new sudden alteration of the environment could threaten the very survival of the human species.