DISASTER EARTH

National Geographic will take you inside the Earth itself and into a not so distant future to reveal the threats of DISASTER.

The island of La Palma, off the northwest coast of Africa, is the picture of tranquility. La Palma's beauty however belies a hidden danger -- a secret threat that two scientists suspect could forever change the world. Investigators Simon Day and Steven Ward believe that the island of La Palma may someday trigger a tsunami the likes of which no human has ever seen - a mega-tsunami. It's a controversial theory, but Day and Ward stand by their research. Follow them as they gather evidence to support their case on the island of La Palma - from caves harboring cryptic clues to dramatic craters and computer models. According to their research, under the worst-case scenario, a massive chunk of La Palma could break free and plunge into the sea-spawning waves that could rip across the Atlantic at staggering speeds and destroy coasts from Canada through the United States, the Caribbean and all the way down to Brazil.

 

We've all heard the warning: it's only a matter of time before a devastating earthquake hits a major American city and wipes it off the map. Scientists now believe that day could be sooner than we thought. And it's not Los Angeles or San Francisco that's in danger. But Seattle, Washington, the crown jewel of a region called Cascadia in America's Pacific Northwest. Scientists fear Cascadia could suffer a catastrophe of global proportions: a megathrust earthquake. It is the largest earthquake the planet can create. A megathrust near Indonesia in 2004 triggered a tsunami that killed more than a quarter million people. What is Cascadia doing to prepare? And what will happen when the mega-thrust strikes?