00:00On September 16th, 2023, without warning, the Earth began to shake.
00:10A low and strange vibration that hit the Earth's crust.
00:14This triggered all the seismic alarms on the planet.
00:18For nine days in a row, the Earth vibrated at a frightening rate,
00:22and scientists had no idea what was going on.
00:26During this time, in Greenland, it was a total disaster.
00:34It was not an earthquake.
00:36That, they knew.
00:38This particular rhythm told them.
00:40We live on giant tectonic plates,
00:43and they constantly move by sliding on the magma like icebergs on the ocean.
00:47Sometimes, by moving like this, they rub against each other,
00:51collide, or break.
00:54And all this causes incredible discharge of energy,
00:57which sends shock waves through the ground.
00:59It is at this moment that we feel the Earth shaking,
01:01and this is what we call an earthquake.
01:03These vibrations are called seismic waves.
01:06Seismometers perceive them as a rumbling.
01:09During a typical earthquake,
01:11these waves create a whole bunch of different frequencies.
01:14It is a chaotic mixture of low and high frequencies,
01:17as if you were pressing all the keys of a piano at the same time.
01:21But what is strange in the case of the earthquake in Greenland,
01:24is that the signals were not at all of the same type.
01:27It was a regular vibration at a unique frequency,
01:30as if a machine was vibrating under the ground,
01:33as if a piano key was being hit again and again,
01:36creating a repetitive and disturbing sound.
01:39It turned out that what they heard was not the noise
01:42that the tectonic plates make when they break.
01:45It was a phenomenon that seismologists had never observed before.
01:49Days went by,
01:51and the mysterious noise did not stop.
01:54Vibrations occurred every 90 seconds,
01:57and resonated throughout the world.
01:59Seismologists were increasingly desperate.
02:02They had absolutely no idea what they were dealing with.
02:05They had to bring together a vast international team
02:08made up of 68 specialists from 15 different countries.
02:12For several days,
02:14all these scientists would collect seismic data,
02:17satellite images, and make complex calculations.
02:20Until they finally found the culprit.
02:23It was water.
02:25The problem came from an isolated and deserted region
02:28in eastern Greenland.
02:30This place is full of fjords,
02:32narrow sea arms,
02:34located between high cliffs,
02:36deep valleys filled with water,
02:38and surrounded by imposing rocky walls.
02:40In this region,
02:42located in the middle of steep peaks and glacial water,
02:44the air is calm.
02:46The landscape seems frozen in time.
02:48Nothing has changed for years,
02:50until the day when...
02:54A colossal landslide occurred in the Dixon Fjord.
02:58One of the steep mountain slopes
03:00overlooking the fjord at an altitude of 1,220 meters
03:03collapsed in a gigantic quake.
03:05Imagine a huge piece of mountain
03:07breaking and crashing into the fjord.
03:11A deluge of rocks and ice fell on the water.
03:14The impact was simply apocalyptic.
03:1725 million cubic meters of debris.
03:19That's enough ice and rocks
03:21to fill 10,000 Olympic pools
03:23or 10 large Giza pyramids.
03:25And all this matter was projected into the water
03:28with such force
03:30that it resulted in a tsunami of 110 meters high,
03:33higher than the Statue of Liberty.
03:35But the craziest thing is that this incredibly powerful wave
03:38was stuck between the narrow cliffs of the fjord
03:41and it couldn't escape.
03:43It was a bit like water
03:45violently shaking in a bathtub.
03:47For nine days,
03:49the mega-tsunami continued to shake
03:51a path through the fjord.
03:53That's why we heard this continuous rumbling.
03:56It was the rhythmic wave of the water
03:58cracking against the walls.
04:00The shock waves spread
04:02into the depths of the earth's crust.
04:04Vibrations so powerful
04:06that they were captured by seismometers
04:08from all over the world.
04:10This phenomenon was so rare,
04:12so unprecedented,
04:14that scientists were stunned.
04:16It was a perfect combination of elements.
04:19A glacier weakened by years of warming
04:22no longer had the strength to bear
04:24the weight of the mountain above it.
04:30The collapse was inevitable
04:32and chaos literally shook the earth.
04:35There are often people in this area,
04:37in cruise ships for example.
04:39Another chance that no one
04:41has lost their life in this disaster.
04:43But it didn't take long.
04:45A tourist boat,
04:47failed in the region two days earlier,
04:49managed to escape the tsunami
04:51by the greatest chance.
04:53That doesn't mean there were no losses.
04:55The waves destroyed an inhuman site
04:57located nearby.
04:59It had remained intact for more than 200 years.
05:02They also took the shelters
05:04of a research station
05:06located 70 km away.
05:08The vibrations traveled from Greenland
05:10to the South Pole in less than an hour.
05:12This shows how dangerous
05:14such events can be.
05:19And this is not the only place
05:21where such catastrophes occur.
05:23In the beautiful Californian community
05:25of Rancho Palos Verdes,
05:27the ground moves so fast
05:29that it overwhelms the houses.
05:31The ground has always been quite unstable
05:33in this region.
05:35Its geology is unique.
05:37It rests on a furniture floor,
05:39rich in clay,
05:41and is on a fault line,
05:43which makes it prone to landslides.
05:45This means that this area
05:47is exposed to slow underground movements
05:49that spread over years and years,
05:51even in the absence of exceptional
05:53meteorological phenomena.
05:55It has been so for decades,
05:57but the movement is generally slow
06:00Imagine that you found a tree
06:02near which you played
06:04when you were children,
06:066 meters from its original location.
06:08For decades, the inhabitants adapted.
06:10They built their houses
06:12on adjustable beams.
06:14This allowed the inhabitants
06:16to move with the ground.
06:18This strategy has worked well
06:20until today.
06:22Recently, the situation
06:24has deteriorated significantly
06:26in the community.
06:28It is currently 0.3 meters per week.
06:30It is as if your tree
06:32had moved 290 meters
06:34since your childhood.
06:36The last two years have also been marked
06:38by heavy rains,
06:40and the weather has degraded.
06:42This has increased the ground's water hold.
06:44The ground has become heavier
06:46and more prone to rapid movements.
06:48Today, this idyllic place
06:50by the sea has turned
06:52into a sinister area.
06:54Cracks have appeared in the cupboards,
06:56gardens and roads,
06:58growing day by day.
07:00The streets are now distorted
07:02and the landscape looks like
07:04a delusional amusement park.
07:06The houses that were still standing
07:08have been torn from their foundations,
07:10some even cut in half.
07:12The door of a house
07:14was raised 2.5 meters from the ground.
07:16Entire neighborhoods were plunged into chaos.
07:18Public services had to cut
07:20the gas and electricity
07:22for an indefinite period
07:24of possible catastrophes.
07:28The Portuguese Bend neighborhood
07:30is the hardest hit.
07:32Its inhabitants live literally
07:34on the edge of the gulf.
07:36This neighborhood has always benefited
07:38from an impregnable view of the ocean
07:40and a pleasant sea breeze.
07:42Horses and bridges walked
07:44in these streets lined with trees.
07:46But today, it is as if
07:48an earthquake had occurred.
07:50Except that this time,
07:52only if the earth stopped moving
07:54under their feet.
07:56So the inhabitants do not give up.
07:58Some had to leave,
08:00but many are determined
08:02to stay and fight
08:04despite the immense damage.
08:06However, saving their property
08:08costs them hundreds of thousands of dollars.
08:10They installed generators
08:12to get light
08:14and set up sewage systems
08:16and pumps to drain groundwater
08:18due to landslides.
08:20They also installed
08:22independent power plants
08:24to store energy.
08:26The inhabitants do everything
08:28they can to operate
08:30their sewage systems
08:32with generators.
08:34They hope to be able
08:36to evacuate all the water
08:38from these infernal landslides.
08:40They are determined to fight,
08:42but they will need the help
08:44and support of the government
08:46to fight this disaster.
08:48In the United States,
08:50we do not usually think about it.
08:52New maps and data show
08:54that thousands of people
08:56could be in danger.
08:58Scientists have managed
09:00to create the first detailed map
09:02indicating where these landslides
09:04could occur in the future,
09:06count by count.
09:08This map is based on numerous statistics
09:10and on more than a million incidents
09:12that have occurred in the past.
09:14According to this map,
09:16thousands of people could suffer landslides,
09:18which could lead to
09:20unforeseen disasters in certain regions.
09:22Fortunately, the inhabitants
09:24and engineers now have solid
09:26information at their disposal.
09:28But all this shows
09:30how vulnerable we are
09:32to natural disasters
09:34and how important it is
09:36to always remain vigilant.
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