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| Synopsis: Discovery Channel's original
special, "America's Tsunami: Are We Next?", premiering in the
U.S. on Sunday, December 18, at 9 PM (ET/PT), reveals new geological evidence
that seafloor uplift from the 9.2 magnitude Great Sumatra earthquake -
not a giant underwater landslide as previously thought - caused the devastating
December 26, 2004, Asian tsunami. The groundbreaking Indian Ocean expedition
and new scientific findings enabled scientists to use data to improve
computer-generated tsunami wave models and better predict the next tsunami
wave. Specifically, scientists point to the northwest region of the United States (northern California and coastal areas of Oregon and Washington) as being most at risk for a tsunami event because its fault lines are a mirror image of those in the Indian Ocean subduction zone. Scientists estimate that tsunami events happen every 200 to 400 years on the West Coast - the last occurred on January 26, 1700 - and with a fault line located just 50 miles off the coast along the Cascadia Subduction Zone, this region is thought to be the next target, with potential waves as high as 90 feet. "America's Tsunami: Are We Next?" follows an international team of 27 scientists led by Dr. Kate Moran from the University of Rhode Island. The distinguished team quickly mobilized last May and was the first team to reach the tsunami epicenter. Using state-of-the-art camera equipment, the special shows never-before-seen footage of the epicenter and the massive and dramatic geologic changes that caused gigantic waves. (Courtesy Discovery Network, 2005) Production Credits: "America's Tsunami: Are We Next?" is an original production produced for Discovery Channel by Darlow Smithson, broadcast on Discovery Channel in the U.S., on BBC One in the U.K. and ProSieben in Germany. For Discovery Channel, Peter Lovering is the executive producer. A version of this special will air in international markets at a later date. Airdate: It premiered on The Discovery Channel on Sunday, December 18th, 2005. |
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