Original upload date: Mon, 19 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT
Archive date: Mon, 20 Dec 2021 23:38:11 GMT
It begins with a series of earthquakes. Then comes a thunderous roar, as the summit of a mountain
splits open. In its place, a lightning-lit, roiling cloud roars downhill, scorching and suffocating
ev
...
ery living thing its path.
Volcano looks at the deadly forces unleashed when the safety valve on the earth's pressure cooker
blows.
-The sight of livid lava makes people run for their lives. But faster and more deadly is pyroclastic
flow, the black cloud of super-heated ash and gas that comes with many eruptions. We'll
examine spectacular pyroclastic events to learn about this most lethal of volcanic weapons.
-Another volcanic killer is the enormous mud slides that come when tall, glaciated volcanoes
explode. Colombia's Volcano Ruiz melted a glacier, and engulfed 22,000 villagers. We'll learn
how the people beneath Mexico's Popocatapetl endure the possibility of a sudden eruption.
-No one can forget the horrific sight of the ash-petrified people of ancient Pompeii. Now people
on the island of Monserrat are at risk of a similar fate.
-When the Philippines' Mt. Pinatubo blew its top, it was the world's largest eruption in 80 years.
Yet even though 100,000 people were at risk, the death toll was under 500. We'll relive the
harrowing eruption and meet the team of heroic volcanologists who predicted it, saving as many
as 10,000 lives.
