Blue Planet Page #4

---

You can see its smoke

all the way from space.

Here, two great plates

are slowly crushing together...

...pushing up the Himalayas...

...the highest mountain range on Earth.

From just beneath us,

the snow-capped peaks...

...stretch over a thousand miles

towards the horizon on the left.

Almost all of North America,

here on the right...

...lies upon a single plate.

On the left, the Pacific plate

is sliding northward past it...

...at the stately pace of a halfinch per year.

The Gulf of California, in the center...

...marks the boundary

between the two plates.

Along this boundary...

...the infamous San Andreas Fault

runs northward.

Using satellite pictures...

...a computer can take us on

an imaginary flight along the San Andreas.

The actual height of the terrain

has been exaggerated...

...to accent the network of valleys

formed by the fault's many traces.

As the two plates slide past one another...

...they lock together in some places.

The strain builds.

Near San Francisco,

the strain reaches the breaking point.

Something has to give...

...and when it does,

we are rocked by an earthquake.

Magnified by the computer...

...first a sharp wave,

traveling at 10,000 miles an hour...

...moves out from the epicenter.

Then comes a series of rolling waves.

These inflict most of the damage.

It is impossible to know yet

how many more fatalities there are...

...following this earthquake, which hit at

5:
04 yesterday, in the middle of rush hour.

The earliest efforts to rescue

came last night from all sorts of people:

Cops, firemen, people right here

in the neighborhood who...

...risked their lives to rescue strangers.

Everything started shaking.

I started running.

I didn't know where to run 'cause...

...l was getting too scared...

...and my mom couldn't get me

because the floor was moving too hard.

Some buildings, though still standing,

had to be demolished.

In time, the houses and highways

are rebuilt...

...better designed to withstand

the next earthquake.

People will always be subject

to nature's powerful whims.

In Japan, another fault zone...

...millions live with the same uncertainty.

One day, almost certainly...

...we'll learn to predict earthquakes.

But, in the meantime,

we try to live in harmony...

...with our sometimes turbulent planet.

After each assault, we pick up the pieces,

and carry on.

And sometimes, we wonder

if there could be any other place...

...as wonderful in all the universe.

But, now, a new force...

...as threatening as any in nature...

...has begun to change the Earth.

We are that force.

To our ancestors,

only a few centuries ago...

...the forests, oceans and skies...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes