Earthquakes - Recap

Nimoy shows us a handheld film of men aboard an Alaskan freighter recording an earthquake in 1964. Nimoy says ancient folklore came out with explanations for earthquakes but now science is used to determine how earthquakes happen. Nimoy talks about a significant number of famous quakes in history: the earthquake of 1906 in San Francisco,

Nimoy mentions how scientists uncovered the fact that the earth’s crust has many plates that lead to earthquakes. He calls it a “mosaic”. The plates are divided by region such as the North Pacific plate to the North American plate. Nimoy talks about the San Andreas fault line in California. Nimoy explains how the faults movements together with the plates has lead to many quakes. He mentions how in 1933 Paramount was shooting a movie and we see actual footage of an earthquake happening.

He explains how computer technology and ultra sensitive instruments track the movements of the fault line. A man Dr. Peter Ward who works for earthquake research gives his thoughts on quakes. Nimoy says that on average ten quakes are recorded in California every day. He says that over time a bulge has come around the San Andreas area sign of a giant quake about to come.

The episodes focuses back on the earthquake that happened in Alaska in 1964. He mentions how the harbor was totally destroyed and over 100 lives were lost. The earthquake measured at 9.2 was also accompanied by giant tidal waves (which are referred commonly as Tsunamis)

The episode then goes back to the science of predicting earthquakes. Nimoys says quasars and radio antennas might predict a variation that could fortell earthquakes. Another area used to predict earthquakes Nimoy points out is the strange behavior of animals from monkeys, to dogs, horses and even insects like the common cockroach. He also mentions how USC often creates models of earthquakes to get information to try to save lives on future earthquakes.

Nimoy also explains how a couple of British astronomers say that in 1982 a series of epidemic earthquakes will happen due to the nine planets alignment He explains that radiation from the sun will cause damage to earth’s atmosphere.

The shift then goes back to the San Andreas fault line. Nimoy points out the many homes near the fault line and how they are all at risk. Nimoy comments that another earthquake in San Francisco could be disastrous. Nimoy then goes in length about the different dangers and results that earthquakes would case from house fires, to the potential destruction of the Golden Gate bridge in San Francisco and most notably the death toll that would happen with any major quake. Nimoy then points out the high earthquake probably in areas such as New York and Boston also due to dangerous fault lines.

Nimoy ends the episode by telling us that we should prepare ourselves for earthquakes and to use the information available to predict the next quake.


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