|
National Geographic Born of Fire
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Out of need or curiosity |
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man has learned much about the Earth on |
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which he is both guest and prisoner |
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Often baffled in his brief journey |
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he has found reassurance in the |
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the recurring sequence of the seasons |
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the symmetry in storm |
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Yet nothing has lessened his terror |
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when nature seems to turn against him |
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when the Earth shudders and |
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making rubble of all he has built |
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"Twenty thousand people dead; |
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anywhere from fifty thousand |
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and fifty thousand injured..." |
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"If that's it, |
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The communication may go bad |
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but that's the angle they ought to go." |
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"There's two more in there." |
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Against the sudden blows of |
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that often strikes without warning |
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some have tried to create defenses |
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Powerless to prevent eruption |
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they seek to diminish its toll |
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Others light candles of faith |
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Today new candles light the dark |
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instruments whose beams are reflected |
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or catch signals from outer space |
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to measure the smallest movements |
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Now man has devised new concepts |
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of the forces altering |
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forces that move the continents |
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twist the globe's thin crust |
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build vast mountain ranges |
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Like all living things |
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Born of fire, it too is being |
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Once this was blank ocean the cold |
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storm-swept Atlantic off the |
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Then, in fiery eruption during |
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the island of Surtsey began to |
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Today its single square mile of ash |
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and lava forms one of |
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to the land surface of the globe |
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Yet this virgin terrain is |
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Already life has found it |
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Already seeds borne by wind |
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and wave have taken root in the ash |
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and birds have begun to |
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A closed preserve to casual visitors |
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the island has become a |
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Here scientists from distant |
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by which life tests |
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and gradually seizes a new domain |
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Among them is Dr. Robert Ballard, geologist |
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from the Woods Hole Oceanographic |
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"The story I often tell to try |
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that the Earth really is alive |
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if you were to interview a |
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standing on a branch of a sequoia tree |
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Now, a butterfly lives for |
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and a sequoia tree can live |
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And if you were to ask that butterfly |
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Do you perceive the object on |
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which you are standing |
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And the butterfly would say, |
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I've been here all my life five days |
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and the tree hasn't done a thing |
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Same problem with the human being |
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If you were to ask a human being |
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perhaps one that's lived |
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if they perceive the Earth |
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and a half billion years in age |
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they'd probably say |
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Of course not. I've been here |
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and it hasn't done a thing.' |
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But the Earth really is a |
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In fact, I think of it as |
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Like Surtsey, Earth too is an island |
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but in the vaster sea of space |
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In time beyond the measure of |
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it too is in slow and ceaseless change |
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Some two hundred million years ago |
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its landmasses formed a single |
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Then slowly, Pangea's fracturing |
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like pieces of a vast jigsaw puzzle |
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gradually assuming the shapes |
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and arrangement we recognize |
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Riding upon a semiplastic layer |
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the ocean floors and continents |
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or lithosphere are in continuing motion |
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Through the continents seem |
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they move an inch or more each year |
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The friction occurring along the |
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is often marked by earthquakes |
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and volcanic eruption |
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Sometimes, as in California's San |
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the opposing plates grind against |
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or lateral motion called translation |
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It is when a section of the fault |
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then abruptly releases |
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In other areas such as Japan |
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in a movement known as subduction |
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the edge of one crustal plate slowly |
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causing volcanic activity and tremors |
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Along the 46,000 mile Mid |
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in an action called spreading |
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or magma, emerges through fissures |
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soon congealing in new submerged crust |
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Sometimes, as in Iceland |
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and its offshore islands of Surtsey |
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the action has created |
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Barely two hundred miles south |
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on the fiery seam still building |
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Heimaey is accustomed to change |
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Port or the fleet that fishes |
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its only town of Vestmannaeyjar |
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take its toll of men and ships |
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Hardy descendants of the Vikings |
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who colonized the island more |
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its people long have learned to |
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to meet risk and hazard |
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Each summer |
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the entire population moves |
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on a three-day community holiday |
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It is a gathering that harks |
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when villagers assembled to |
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by which they lived |
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On the grassy floor of an |
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they build a tent city where the |
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each other in a quite different setting |
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Side by side, they celebrate |
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home rule |
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won from Denmark more than a century ago |
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the inheritance of their Viking past |
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their survival of dangers |
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that sometimes rise from |
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At midnight |
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young men set fire to a great wooden |
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As the flames flare against the dark |
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they summon varied emotions |
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To their Nordic forefathers fire |
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It was a symbol of life, of rebirth |
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But the people of Heimaey |
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that it also can bring destruction |
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In the winter darkness of |
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Just beyond the town's edge a fissure |
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abruptly spewing molten lava and |
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Roused from their beds |
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most of the population was evacuated |
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but volunteers would fight a five-month |
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now called Eldfell, "Fire Mountain." |
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Within a week Eldfell |
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smoldering cone six hundred |
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and covered the town in ash |
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More than a hundred buildings |
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or crushed under the advancing wall |
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In early February the lava threatened |
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Desperately, emergency teams fought |
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by hardening the lava |
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with great streams of cold seawater |
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At last, by heroic effort |
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But as the eruption continued |
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the lava would add almost one |
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while much of the town lay buried |
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It would take years to dig out |
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But at last the precincts of the |
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Elsewhere in Iceland life goes on |
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Under the shadows of the volcanoes |
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that remain a perpetual enigma |
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farmers gather crops, prepare |
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They are doing more |
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Boldly, Icelanders are making use of |
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In the north of the mainland |
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they are attempting to harness the |
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to power homes and |
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Recent eruptions have reminded |
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of the powers they are trying |
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With Dr. Haraldur Sigurdsson |
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vulcanologist from the University |
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Dr. Ballard visits a site where |
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has threatened a newly-built |
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"There's the power plant below |
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and if you look over this way..." |
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"Yeah. You can see the recent flows." |
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"The entire caldera, recent lavas..." |
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"Now the flows that were what |
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earlier this year, are down there?" |
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"Yes. And you can see the steam |
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that's been erupting during the |
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and the black lava flows that have |
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"So if, let's say, there were another |
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where we see the fissure opening up |
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the lava could just come down |
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and go right around the corner |
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Icelanders invested in the |
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because the field had lain dormant |
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Begun in 1975 as an alternative |
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the plant was almost immediately |
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by a series of violent eruptions |
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that brought the lava flow within |
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Trying to discern a possible |
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scientists keep watch on the plant |
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and the surrounding area |
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Here one of the monitoring |
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for any ground tilt |
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which could unbalance |
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In a field near the plant |
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for signs of subterranean activity |
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measures any possible change |
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between two pipes planted on opposite |
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Like a serpent's back rising |
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the steaming crest of the Mid-Ocean |
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Here Ballard and Sigurdsson visit |
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flow that is still cooling |
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"We're in the fissure that erupted |
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"So everything we are walking on |
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"That's right. And it's still |
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That's why it's still like a sauna bath." |
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"It's about as fresh as you can get |
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"Yes. Let's take a look around here." |
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"Now, if you can sit without |
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It's even warm |
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Now, I understand that when the |
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a tourist from Denmark |
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where the fissure opened up and was..." |
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"Quite close to the area |
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and rifted apart and the |
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"So he just took off." |
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"Actually, I understand the lava |
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"How fast?" |
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"Up to ten meters per second." |
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"So you'd have to be a... Let's see |
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the world's record for |
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"9.8." |
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"So it's running about as fast as |
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Hope the Dane was a fast runner." |
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"He was. He got away. So far there |
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"Before this took place |
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this area had been quiet for a long |
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This is why they thought it was safe |
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"This area has been without volcanic |
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And therefore, there was |
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that there wasn't an imminent danger |
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and it was a worthwhile risk to |
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of a geothermal power station |
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"And they've invested what?" |
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"Oh, probably about 60 million dollars" |
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"So 60 million dollars is |
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if another major eruption occurs here |
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and this time it does go over |
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that pass and down into the basin?" |
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"Well, that's always a possibility |
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But in Iceland there is... |
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where you have to live with |
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In patient calm, Icelanders |
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has imposed upon them |
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the sweeping storms, the hidden |
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Even as they keep a wary eye |
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who has built the very island on |
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they use his heat to warm their |
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even their indoor gardens a kind |
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for the risks they philosophically endure |
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In winter darkness they take |
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Warmed by the hidden furnace of |
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vegetables ripen in the arctic cold |
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In the volcano's fiery breath |
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Yet the risk remains |
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Hardly a year after eruptions |
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Sigurdsson returned to Krafla |
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as the restless giant stirred |
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Once more the lava flow approached |
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within one-and-a-half miles of |
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Though the fiery fountains |
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the eruption raised the ground |
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for future lava flows to travel |
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For the present the Krafla |
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But Icelanders know that eventually |
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of living on the edge of creation |
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Sometimes the action of the |
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brings surprisingly opposite effects |
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In Iceland its slow spreading |
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has created the great island on |
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Far southeastward |
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along the nearly 3,000-mile furrow |
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the spreading action is slowly |
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but inexorably opening the heart |
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In measurable time to come |
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eastern Africa will be detached |
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and this dusty desert landscape |
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Already, in the Afar Triangle |
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has begun the sea is invading |
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At Djibouti's Ghoubet-Al-Kharab |
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an inland extension of the Gulf |
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the sea is temporarily delayed |
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by a narrow barrier of small volcanic |
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But as magma seeps through |
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and the seven-mile rift widens |
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the sea inevitably will pour |
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Already seawater from |
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has begun to work its way downward |
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through cracks and |
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undergoing substantial |
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as it penetrates the heated |
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With Dr. Jean-Louis Cheminee |
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for Scientific Research |
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Ballard descend into a recently |
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which a small flow of seawater |
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"So this is the sea coming in, right?" |
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"Yes, by a system of fissures." |
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"This is where the water |
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that we see on the other side |
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going into Lake Assal originates from?" |
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"Yes." |
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"So it comes in from the sea..." |
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"...from the sea and crosses the rift |
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by the fissures inside the mountain..." |
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"...and out the other side." |
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"Yes." |
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"Now, was this fissure |
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"Yes, yes." |
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"It just widened?" |
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"Just widened." |
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"Because a lot of these rocks |
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as if they're ready to come down." |
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"And the car here - just here..." |
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"Yeah, well, we should move the car." |
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"So we go like this." |
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"So we'll go across the..." |
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"Not across exactly like this. No." |
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"We go across this area, right? |
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Now how long will it take us to |
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If we went from here all |
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went across that flat |
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how long would it take to get there?" |
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"Maybe six hours." |
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"Six hours." |
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Terrible road. Six, six and a half." |
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In torrid heat that reaches more |
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the water here and in the Rift Valley |
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"I'm standing 500 feet below |
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near the shore of Lake Assal." |
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"The ocean is only six miles away |
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If it weren't for these young lava |
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I'd be under water right now |
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In fact, the ocean is |
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As rifting develops in the valley |
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these deep fissures start to form |
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This lets water travel beneath |
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through the fissures |
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and it can enter Lake Assal |
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In fact, there are several of |
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"At the present moment it's so |
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that comes in evaporates |
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But as rifting continues |
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more and more water will pour |
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until the sea claims |
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as the ocean penetrates deeper |
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and deeper into the |
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Here, as in Iceland, the spreading |
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Elsewhere, in compensation |
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the distant edges of an expanding |
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Outpost of Asia |
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Japan's island chain bears the shock |
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and Pacific Plates as they thrust |
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in a massive subduction zone |
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In the deep ocean trenches off Japan |
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the aging plates plunge back into |
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causing powerful disturbances |
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The mists here are dragon's breath |
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the hissing steam of Japan's 20,000 |
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and forty active volcanoes |
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With a long history of |
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Japan has begun a massive effort |
| 00:26:30 |
In Shizuoka Prefecture near Tokyo |
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school children take lessons |
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and catastrophe learning the skills |
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that may save their lives |
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In this temple to the victims |
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memory and reality are like |
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of an earthquake fault |
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Here survivors come to witness |
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search again for faces that exist |
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Just before noon on Saturday |
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an earthquake registering 7.9 on the |
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shaking the earth for a full |
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Ignited by hot coals thrown |
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and straw matting |
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As the people fled into the streets |
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they converged on the river |
| 00:27:37 |
From opposite banks refugees started |
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only to meet head on in midspan |
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Surrounded by walls of fire |
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the fleeing mass was locked |
| 00:27:52 |
Next day two-thirds of Tokyo lay |
| 00:27:58 |
and more than 140,000 persons |
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Today the Japanese are building |
| 00:28:15 |
Fearful of a predicted recurrence |
| 00:28:19 |
thirteen million persons in the Tokyo |
| 00:28:21 |
and nearby Tokai areas participate |
| 00:28:26 |
which every citizen is learning to |
| 00:28:32 |
Public communications center |
| 00:28:35 |
NHK television relays information |
| 00:28:37 |
from the Japan Meteorological |
| 00:28:41 |
Here a vast warning system keeps |
| 00:28:45 |
through scores of seismic stations |
| 00:28:47 |
and a 125-mile line of |
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along the floor of Suruga Bay |
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probable epicenter of the |
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At the first sign of |
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JMA instantly alerts the head of a |
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Known as the Hanteikai |
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this team quickly evaluates |
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and the prime minister is notified |
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While police, firemen |
| 00:29:19 |
take their posts to prevent general |
| 00:29:23 |
there is a delay of 30 minutes |
| 00:29:28 |
Each of the Tokai region's cities |
| 00:29:31 |
has a municipal |
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and through drills most people |
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have learned the precise steps |
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Turning off gas and electricity |
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then take up their earthquake kits |
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and march off to join |
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through predetermined escape routes |
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In the street a rope helps |
| 00:30:11 |
and orderly wards off panic |
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by providing a sense of common |
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Guided and patrolled by |
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a swelling flood of people from home |
| 00:30:23 |
and factory moves toward assigned |
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To escape the giant sea wave |
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which often follows a quake |
| 00:30:43 |
The drill has been a costly effort |
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but the price seems small compared |
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in one of the most heavily |
| 00:30:58 |
Eastward across the sea |
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this tree-shaded oasis near |
| 00:31:04 |
offers deceptive sanctuary |
| 00:31:06 |
Like Japan's thermal caldrons |
| 00:31:09 |
it too is part of the Ring of Fire |
| 00:31:13 |
Here along the 700-mile San |
| 00:31:17 |
the pacific plate grinds slowly northward |
| 00:31:20 |
against the North American plate |
| 00:31:23 |
building stress, then suddenly |
| 00:31:31 |
Whether exposed as a naked scar |
| 00:31:34 |
crossing the Carrizo Plain near |
| 00:31:36 |
or pleasantly disguised |
| 00:31:40 |
and a chain of sag ponds |
| 00:31:43 |
the fault stretches like a taut |
| 00:31:47 |
between the state's two most |
| 00:31:50 |
In times past each of the cities |
| 00:31:59 |
Once the fabled gateway to |
| 00:32:02 |
its hills crowned with ornate palaces |
| 00:32:06 |
San Francisco today soars in a |
| 00:32:11 |
along its Embarcadero daring evidence |
| 00:32:21 |
Dr. Ballard recalls a |
| 00:32:23 |
at the beginning of the century |
| 00:32:28 |
"On the 18th of April 1906 |
| 00:32:31 |
the San Andreas Fault |
| 00:32:34 |
The city of SAN Francisco |
| 00:32:37 |
Some 700 people were killed |
| 00:32:39 |
and most of the city was |
| 00:32:42 |
"Today, people think of it as an |
| 00:32:47 |
Yet to geologists, the fault is |
| 00:32:50 |
We are monitoring the fault system |
| 00:32:53 |
attempting to understand its behavior |
| 00:32:56 |
predict its next move |
| 00:32:58 |
One thing we do know |
| 00:33:00 |
We will experience another earthquake |
| 00:33:05 |
It's just a matter of time |
| 00:33:16 |
At dawn February 9, 1971 |
| 00:33:20 |
an earthquake registering 6.4 |
| 00:33:24 |
struck the San Fernando Valley |
| 00:33:27 |
Twisting railroad tracks |
| 00:33:30 |
shattering highway overpasses |
| 00:33:33 |
it strewed disaster across |
| 00:33:35 |
as if by an angry giant's hand |
| 00:33:39 |
Like a silent accomplice |
| 00:33:40 |
flames leaped through the wreckage |
| 00:33:43 |
Great hospitals and other |
| 00:33:47 |
Everywhere the quake trapped |
| 00:33:50 |
When it had passed, the city counted |
| 00:33:56 |
500 million dollars |
| 00:34:00 |
Because the water behind a weakened |
| 00:34:03 |
thousands of lives were saved |
| 00:34:05 |
which otherwise might |
| 00:34:11 |
In it's aftermath alarmed public |
| 00:34:14 |
expanded their earthquake |
| 00:34:17 |
Today not only standard |
| 00:34:20 |
but a wide array of new |
| 00:34:22 |
to monitor California's |
| 00:34:26 |
Using laser beams and radio waves |
| 00:34:28 |
from remote stars |
| 00:34:29 |
scientists can measure the state |
| 00:34:33 |
or plate movements as small |
| 00:34:40 |
Along the San Andreas a network |
| 00:34:43 |
reports local changes in the release |
| 00:34:48 |
sudden drops in the water level |
| 00:34:51 |
variations in gravity or the |
| 00:34:55 |
Other meters detect the slightest |
| 00:35:00 |
measure strain in a locked section |
| 00:35:07 |
the state of California also |
| 00:35:10 |
above which 24 million |
| 00:35:18 |
From hundreds of |
| 00:35:20 |
across the length of the state |
| 00:35:22 |
continuous reports flow into |
| 00:35:26 |
for the southern and the |
| 00:35:34 |
At the United States Geological |
| 00:35:37 |
widely diverse in formation |
| 00:35:41 |
and condensed to provide a summary |
| 00:35:45 |
during each passing month |
| 00:35:47 |
Like scholars trying to break |
| 00:35:50 |
or decipher a lost language |
| 00:35:52 |
scientists are trying to discern |
| 00:35:57 |
in all the signals sent |
| 00:36:04 |
Though the San Andreas remains |
| 00:36:06 |
a silent threat of havoc to come |
| 00:36:09 |
sophisticated technology is |
| 00:36:12 |
when man may be able to |
| 00:36:15 |
with reasonable accuracy |
| 00:36:18 |
Scientists know |
| 00:36:19 |
that in prediction lies a major |
| 00:36:27 |
Using an instrument no more |
| 00:36:31 |
one young geologist |
| 00:36:32 |
from the California Institute of |
| 00:36:35 |
that the key to the future may lie |
| 00:36:38 |
At excavations along the fault at |
| 00:36:42 |
Dr. Kerry Sieh has revealed |
| 00:36:45 |
of California quakes hundreds |
| 00:36:48 |
before any recorded history |
| 00:36:52 |
"We are on the main trace of the |
| 00:36:54 |
And the layer that I just scraped |
| 00:36:58 |
has been radiocarbon dated |
| 00:37:02 |
The layer right |
| 00:37:03 |
which has the beautiful orange |
| 00:37:08 |
and here has a radiocarbon date near |
| 00:37:13 |
or about the time Michelangelo was |
| 00:37:18 |
This layer dates from about the birth |
| 00:37:23 |
and this layer about right here |
| 00:37:27 |
at the time of the 1857 earthquake |
| 00:37:30 |
"Now, this is the main trace of |
| 00:37:34 |
through these layers up though to |
| 00:37:38 |
"Here's the 1353 A.D. layer broken |
| 00:37:41 |
by the fault trace coming up |
| 00:37:43 |
through the 1560 A.D. layer here |
| 00:37:46 |
So here we have the Pacific Plate |
| 00:37:49 |
and here we have the |
| 00:37:51 |
broken only by this very narrow trace, |
| 00:37:54 |
of the San Andreas Fault." |
| 00:37:55 |
"And it continues on up |
| 00:37:58 |
and stopping at this level |
| 00:38:02 |
In 1857 there occurred the great |
| 00:38:06 |
which was the last great earthquake |
| 00:38:09 |
in the southern part of the state." |
| 00:38:10 |
"Elsewhere at this site |
| 00:38:12 |
we have exposures a total of 11 |
| 00:38:15 |
and the great Fort Tejon earthquake |
| 00:38:19 |
The radiocarbon dates show |
| 00:38:21 |
that the earthquakes occur |
| 00:38:24 |
they occur about every 145 years |
| 00:38:27 |
It's been 125 years since the great |
| 00:38:31 |
The chances are really quite |
| 00:38:34 |
within our lifetime |
| 00:38:35 |
we're going to see another great |
| 00:38:41 |
"Give me the number of dead you |
| 00:38:44 |
that you are estimating |
| 00:38:46 |
and I will try to work it out on |
| 00:38:48 |
"Estimates of injured range |
| 00:38:53 |
with an unknown number trapped in |
| 00:38:57 |
At this time the numbers of dead may |
| 00:39:02 |
To train disaster agencies |
| 00:39:04 |
and to alert the public the state's |
| 00:39:06 |
Emergency Services stages |
| 00:39:10 |
"I would like to clarify what's |
| 00:39:13 |
of a radioactive release problem |
| 00:39:17 |
Alex Cunninham |
| 00:39:19 |
director of the California Office |
| 00:39:23 |
"The scenario for this exercise is |
| 00:39:25 |
that an earthquake occurred |
| 00:39:30 |
actually about 30 miles northwest |
| 00:39:33 |
along the San Andreas Fault |
| 00:39:36 |
Its magnitude, for exercise |
| 00:39:46 |
"And believe me |
| 00:39:48 |
at this level on |
| 00:39:50 |
And I recommend strongly now |
| 00:39:52 |
I can't handle a delicate issue |
| 00:39:55 |
I recommend very strongly that if |
| 00:39:57 |
that you are going to have to come |
| 00:40:00 |
"We need to have an update |
| 00:40:02 |
as of this time on the number of |
| 00:40:06 |
"All the hospital beds in northern |
| 00:40:10 |
Southern county looks like |
| 00:40:13 |
But the Needs Assessment Team |
| 00:40:14 |
back half an hour and will give us |
| 00:40:16 |
"Hold on a second. We got to |
| 00:40:20 |
"The State of California is |
| 00:40:24 |
handle a moderate earthquake |
| 00:40:26 |
And the citizens who have been |
| 00:40:28 |
are reasonably well prepared |
| 00:40:30 |
But when we talk about a |
| 00:40:32 |
something in the area of an 8 |
| 00:40:34 |
or an 8.3 no level of government |
| 00:40:36 |
and particularly the |
| 00:40:38 |
are prepared for such an event |
| 00:40:41 |
It's no longer a question of if |
| 00:40:44 |
It's simply a matter of when |
| 00:40:46 |
Scientists are telling us |
| 00:40:47 |
because of recent seismic activity |
| 00:40:49 |
and other phenomena |
| 00:40:51 |
that the great earthquake will strike |
| 00:40:55 |
some time in the next 30 years |
| 00:40:58 |
Unfortunately, many people say well |
| 00:40:59 |
if it's 30 years away |
| 00:41:00 |
we don't have to worry about it |
| 00:41:02 |
It's not 30 years away |
| 00:41:03 |
It could happen tomorrow |
| 00:41:05 |
it could happen next month |
| 00:41:07 |
But sometime in the next 30 years |
| 00:41:09 |
we're going to have it |
| 00:41:10 |
and people damn well better |
| 00:41:14 |
Distantly aware of |
| 00:41:17 |
most Los Angeles residents remain |
| 00:41:20 |
and traffic jams of daily life |
| 00:41:23 |
Too few know the mathematics of terror |
| 00:41:26 |
At the time of the 1857 quake 11,000 |
| 00:41:32 |
Today there are more than seven million |
| 00:41:36 |
Many remember the impact of |
| 00:41:39 |
But the 8.3 earthquake |
| 00:41:41 |
which scientists now predict |
| 00:41:43 |
will be a shock 800 times as strong |
| 00:41:48 |
a natural disaster |
| 00:41:58 |
Thirty-five hundred years ago |
| 00:42:03 |
these ruins too held a civilization |
| 00:42:07 |
Here, long before the Parthenon |
| 00:42:10 |
the maritime community of Akrotiri |
| 00:42:13 |
that rivaled the splendors of |
| 00:42:18 |
In frescoes artists painted |
| 00:42:20 |
the sunlit landscapes of man |
| 00:42:23 |
the years in Eden when the Earth |
| 00:42:30 |
Upon the walls were mirrored |
| 00:42:32 |
and pleasures of a small world |
| 00:42:34 |
in which the simplest acts of |
| 00:42:38 |
and even the gods often behaved |
| 00:42:43 |
Over the wide sea, returning seamen |
| 00:42:48 |
and creatures from the shadowy lands beyond |
| 00:42:51 |
told of odysseys across |
| 00:42:56 |
Now they are gone |
| 00:42:58 |
abruptly vanished in |
| 00:43:01 |
All that remain are a half-excavated |
| 00:43:06 |
a few amphoras in orderly array |
| 00:43:08 |
life and death filed on |
| 00:43:14 |
One of the scientists trying to |
| 00:43:18 |
Dr. Christos Doumas of the University |
| 00:43:23 |
through the remains of a city |
| 00:43:24 |
that died thirty-five centuries ago |
| 00:43:28 |
"This is an ancient street leading |
| 00:43:31 |
flanked on the left by |
| 00:43:35 |
and on the right by the West House." |
| 00:43:38 |
"Now here's where you |
| 00:43:40 |
"Yes, we found frescoes |
| 00:43:44 |
that we are discovering here a very |
| 00:43:50 |
of the Bronze Age." |
| 00:43:52 |
"The houses are individual |
| 00:43:56 |
There are several stories |
| 00:43:58 |
and we have indoor plumbing |
| 00:44:02 |
with the drainage system |
| 00:44:04 |
"So you had a society of individual |
| 00:44:11 |
"Yes. And every house was |
| 00:44:21 |
"And here we can see how |
| 00:44:25 |
The basement, as in |
| 00:44:27 |
many of the houses |
| 00:44:31 |
goods a variety of crops like barley |
| 00:44:38 |
lentils, various nuts like almonds." |
| 00:44:43 |
"So they had a pretty good diet |
| 00:44:45 |
I mean it was varied." |
| 00:44:46 |
"Yes. And they were consuming |
| 00:44:48 |
because we found shells of |
| 00:44:51 |
and remains of dried fish |
| 00:44:57 |
"The city was captured by |
| 00:45:01 |
this staircase shows |
| 00:45:02 |
that it was broken before the |
| 00:45:05 |
"So this probably caused |
| 00:45:08 |
"Yes. It was a warning |
| 00:45:10 |
"And then after the earthquake |
| 00:45:12 |
the major eruption occurred." |
| 00:45:15 |
"Yes. It destroyed almost everything |
| 00:45:18 |
as you sea and then the site was |
| 00:45:26 |
Before the great warning tremors |
| 00:45:28 |
Akrotiri lay on the flank of a |
| 00:45:32 |
unaware that miles below |
| 00:45:34 |
the Earth's crust was in movement |
| 00:45:45 |
Soon after the quake |
| 00:45:46 |
the island exploded in one of historical |
| 00:45:51 |
Suddenly a mountain had disappeared |
| 00:45:54 |
its walls collapsed into a volcanic |
| 00:45:58 |
by the inrushing sea |
| 00:46:05 |
A vast searing cloud of pumice and |
| 00:46:10 |
and surged over the Mediterranean |
| 00:46:12 |
with an impact on history that |
| 00:46:18 |
"We're inside the caldera |
| 00:46:20 |
Behind me are the layered walls |
| 00:46:22 |
which record its long history |
| 00:46:24 |
The black layers are basaltic |
| 00:46:26 |
the red ones a tephra ejected |
| 00:46:30 |
"These prehistoric layers once |
| 00:46:32 |
formed a great volcano over |
| 00:46:36 |
About 3,500 years ago |
| 00:46:39 |
the entire volcano erupted destroying |
| 00:46:44 |
At the top today you can see a |
| 00:46:47 |
and ash which records |
| 00:46:50 |
That layer is over 100 feet thick." |
| 00:47:00 |
Human beings still cling to the |
| 00:47:03 |
that now surrounds emptiness |
| 00:47:05 |
Today several thousand islanders |
| 00:47:09 |
and fish or search for sponges |
| 00:47:14 |
Steep paths link them with the ports |
| 00:47:18 |
much of their fresh water |
| 00:47:19 |
and occasional visitors arrive |
| 00:47:26 |
Today the centers of Western |
| 00:47:29 |
have moved far beyond Santorini |
| 00:47:31 |
Insulated from the rumors and |
| 00:47:35 |
it has settled into the ways of |
| 00:47:51 |
Upon the cliffs workmen build |
| 00:47:53 |
and repair structures using |
| 00:47:56 |
and pumice of the explosion |
| 00:47:57 |
that once destroyed their island |
| 00:48:00 |
In the fields around them |
| 00:48:02 |
farmers tend vineyards |
| 00:48:03 |
and reap grain planted |
| 00:48:08 |
The pumice is even sold for profit |
| 00:48:10 |
was once exported for the |
| 00:48:13 |
more than a century ago |
| 00:48:23 |
Intermittently strong tremors still |
| 00:48:27 |
but the widows of Santorini remain |
| 00:48:32 |
by which life endures |
| 00:48:35 |
Beneath them one plate slides |
| 00:48:37 |
under another in endless movement |
| 00:48:40 |
even the gods may change |
| 00:48:42 |
but prayer remains a step |
| 00:48:45 |
for reassurance and certainty |
| 00:49:05 |
On Good Friday |
| 00:49:06 |
worshippers are surrounded by frescoes |
| 00:49:08 |
that describe not the joys of life |
| 00:49:15 |
Yet for the devout islanders |
| 00:49:17 |
faith holds a triumphant hope |
| 00:49:20 |
Out of death's darkness life returns |
| 00:49:23 |
a flame passed from candle to candle |
| 00:49:32 |
In the ritual of twenty centuries |
| 00:49:34 |
again find a ancient recognition |
| 00:49:37 |
In the Easter story of resurrection |
| 00:49:40 |
they tell their own |
| 00:49:55 |
After the resurrection joy |
| 00:49:58 |
the breaking of eggs to release |
| 00:50:10 |
Across the island |
| 00:50:11 |
after forty days of fasting |
| 00:50:13 |
the villagers feast and dance |
| 00:50:41 |
The world has changed many time |
| 00:50:44 |
since this woman lived in Santorini |
| 00:50:46 |
Her gods have vanished |
| 00:50:49 |
The streets on which she walked now |
| 00:50:54 |
Yet in these dancing rhythms of life |
| 00:50:57 |
she might hear echoes of another time |
| 00:51:00 |
the refrains of home |
| 00:51:04 |
Imperceptible to living generations |
| 00:51:07 |
the change goes on |
| 00:51:09 |
toward a future |
| 00:51:12 |
already have begun to outline |
| 00:51:17 |
By its present drift |
| 00:51:19 |
Africa, in its clockwise movement |
| 00:51:22 |
will close the Mediterranean |
| 00:51:23 |
and collide with southern Europe |
| 00:51:26 |
raising great new mountain ranges |
| 00:51:41 |
In Africa itself the sea at last will |
| 00:51:46 |
isolate eastern Africa |
| 00:51:49 |
invade a domain once held by |
| 00:51:58 |
In the Americas, as elsewhere |
| 00:52:00 |
life will be radically altered |
| 00:52:05 |
Mecca for millions of fugitives |
| 00:52:09 |
Los Angeles may have to doctor its |
| 00:52:14 |
Set at the edge of the Pacific Plate |
| 00:52:17 |
it is moving relentlessly |
| 00:52:20 |
at the rapid of two or three |
| 00:52:24 |
Ten million years from now |
| 00:52:26 |
San Francisco will find |
| 00:52:27 |
that for a time its scorned southern |
| 00:52:40 |
New York may become part of a |
| 00:52:44 |
as the expanding Atlantic floor |
| 00:52:54 |
Compared to Earth's history |
| 00:52:56 |
man's tenure has be dazzling |
| 00:52:59 |
In ten thousand years he has |
| 00:53:03 |
built cathedrals, invented the means |
| 00:53:08 |
His computers can project |
| 00:53:11 |
of continents 200 million years |
| 00:53:15 |
But where man will be none can predict |
