NOVA on the Japan quake

After giving a heads-up here about the show being on, I did watch it. Twice, in fact. It was called "Japan's Killer Quake" and it was fascinating. I don't know how they gathered so much information in that short a time -- it was the kind of thing you hope to see many months after a disaster. Yet it was only a couple of weeks after the quake when they made this show. Amazing.

There was quite a bit of new footage of the tsunami striking towns and farms. The power of this tsunami was unimaginable. As one observer said, it's not even water by the time it hits you. It's a moving debris field, carrying houses and cars and boats and entire villages. It's not water you're facing; it's more like a bulldozer coming at you. You can't survive.

For me, there were two highlights in the show. One was the tourist's video of the liquifaction that was occurring all around him. The ground was literally liquifying, and this steady amateur videographer recorded it all, including the ground opening up fissures, and then closing, and opening, etc. I think the guy deserves a reward for being a stalwart person. His camera didn't even shake.

Another highlight was Chris Goldfinger, a marine geologist from Oregon State University, who lived through the quake at a Japanese airport and reported ever so calmly about what it is like to live through five full minutes of the ground shaking. That's a very long quake. This one just wouldn't stop.

They revealed new scientific data on the show, including the surprising fact that the ground literally dropped as much as three feet onshore because of the quake, making the oncoming tidal wave taller in comparison and enabling its passage over the many, towering sea walls Japan had built for just this eventuality. This lowering of the ground paved the way for the enormous destruction that followed.

It was an amazing show and I hope you saw it. Please free to add your own comments. What did you think?

NOVA Japan earthquake show

Annie tells me that although her local listings said there would be a NOVA episode last night on "Japan's Killer Quake", when she tuned in, the show was about birds instead.

I don't know why this happened because in my area the Japan quake show was indeed aired. It was very good, too. It hardly focused on the nuclear repercussions, instead centering on the quake and tsunami. There was quite a bit more footage than we've seen on the news and it made me understand the violence of the quake itself, which never really came across in the news footage. Same with the tsunami. They covered the effect on various villages and you got a good sense of how unstoppable the water was. There was also some, but not that much, coverage of the human devastation. Mostly it focused on the physical aspects of the quake and tsunami. There's only so much you can show in an hour.

If the show wasn't on in your area last night, keep an eye on your listings. It's bound to air soon and you don't want to miss it.