00:00A magnitude 15 earthquake has the potential to completely destroy our planet and evaporate all the water in a matter of seconds, leaving Earth uninhabitable.
00:11Over half a million earthquakes happen annually, but none have a magnitude of 15.
00:1690% of quakes occur in the terrifying Ring of Fire zone located around the Pacific Ocean.
00:23The ground there is like jello. It shakes almost constantly.
00:27The most powerful earthquake to have ever struck Earth had a magnitude of 9.5.
00:33That much power can lengthen or shorten the day.
00:36But there's probably an earthquake in the confines of your own home now caused by a speck of dust landing on a table.
00:43But it has a power of negative 15 magnitudes.
00:48Earthquakes happen when tectonic plates move.
00:51They're like Lego pieces that are not properly secured.
00:54And when they move up, down, or hit one another, the ground also moves, triggering earthquakes.
01:00This tectonic energy acts like a battery.
01:04It stores energy for a long time, up to 500 years.
01:08When this stored energy is released in a sudden burst, the consequences are horrifying.
01:14Even the strongest structures submit to this relentless force that leaves a trail of destruction in its path.
01:21In some instances, earthquakes can even trigger tsunamis, amplifying the chaos.
01:27Such a crazy amount of power can split the ground open and cause severe damage.
01:32The strength of an earthquake is measured by the Richter scale, but now it's being replaced by the moment magnitude scale.
01:40When there's an earthquake, we hear about how strong it is.
01:44It's usually from 1 to 10.
01:46Luckily, we haven't had a Richter scale earthquake yet.
01:50The most powerful earthquake to have ever happened in modern history occurred in Chile in the 60s.
01:55It was around 9.5 on the Richter scale, and it altered Earth's rotation and messed up the length of the day by around 2 milliseconds.
02:04It also triggered a massive tsunami and affected a vast area of 155,000 square miles.
02:12The Richter scale doesn't actually have a limit.
02:15Still, anything above 25 doesn't need measuring, because if that ever happened,
02:20we would simply turn into dust, and nobody would care to measure this disaster.
02:25As we said, the strongest earthquake had a magnitude of 9.5.
02:30If this magnitude had been just 0.5 stronger, it would have created a ruptured line 2,174 miles long.
02:40That is almost seven times the size of Wyoming.
02:44A magnitude 11 earthquake would create a crack halfway around the world.
02:48Massive tsunamis would hit coastal areas, destroying everything,
02:52and Earth would get into a massive environmental crisis.
02:56If you love hiking, you would have new mountains to explore, created by the terrifying earthquake.
03:02Even the temperature would increase because of volcanic eruptions and the resulting greenhouse gases.
03:08It would turn our planet into a hot oven.
03:11The safest places would be far away from any buildings, seas, oceans, and mountains where there would be a low chance of a landslide.
03:20Countries unprepared for earthquakes would be totally destroyed, and cities would turn into piles of rubble and dust.
03:27Going up on the Richter scale would only make things worse.
03:31But don't worry, an earthquake of that power is impossible.
03:35Earth's crust doesn't have enough energy to produce such earthquakes.
03:39But there is something that has much more power and can produce mega earthquakes.
03:45Asteroids are powerful enough to destroy our planet, as we all know from the dinosaur era.
03:51That asteroid was around 6 miles long, and it caused massive damage to the planet.
03:56It triggered earthquakes that shook the ground constantly for months.
04:00These terrifying quakes were about 50,000 times stronger than the Chile earthquake.
04:06They also triggered a tsunami that was 30,000 times more powerful than the Indian Ocean tsunami.
04:12And the latter was one of the most devastating tsunamis to have ever struck Earth.
04:18The earthquakes caused by the asteroid had a magnitude of 11,
04:21making it the most powerful and scariest natural disaster ever.
04:25And let's hope it stays that way.
04:27The Indian Ocean tsunami affected only certain areas of the world.
04:32Meanwhile, the asteroid tsunami affected every part of the world and had 33-foot-tall waves.
04:38Even if you had traveled to the most remote place on Earth,
04:42you wouldn't have been able to hide from this grim reaper.
04:45A 15-magnitude earthquake wouldn't be 15% stronger than the Chile earthquake.
04:51The scale doesn't work like that.
04:52It would be around 100 million times more powerful than a 9.5-magnitude quake.
04:59It could make all the water on Earth evaporate,
05:02leaving us devastated and without any H2O to survive.
05:05All ecosystems would collapse.
05:08All food chains would be broken.
05:10And only some super-strong bacteria would probably survive the impossible.
05:14That is, only a fraction of the frightening things that could happen.
05:19The ocean is like the AC for our planet.
05:22Without it, Earth would be super-hot.
05:25The ocean also serves as a shield from the sun's powerful rays.
05:29It acts as a heat absorber and cools Earth.
05:32Scientists think that the most dangerous thing would be the inability of Earth's crust
05:37to survive the violent shakes of the 15-magnitude earthquake.
05:40If our planet miraculously survived and didn't turn into dust,
05:45there would be massive openings in its crust.
05:48The ground would become gelatinous.
05:50It would randomly move up, down, left, and right.
05:53And no building would survive that.
05:55Our civilization would be brought back to the Stonehenge era.
06:00Tectonic movements like this are devastating.
06:03A similar thing happened in Japan
06:04when tectonic plates moved 165 feet from each other
06:08and then snapped back together,
06:11creating a 9-magnitude earthquake.
06:14No place on Earth is immune to this bone-chilling natural phenomenon.
06:19Still, certain places have higher chances of being destroyed than others,
06:22like the Ring of Fire, where 90% of earthquakes happen.
06:27This is a place where earthquakes are almost everyday occurrences.
06:31The Ring of Fire is located in the Pacific Ocean.
06:34It forms a ring around the continents that surround the Pacific.
06:36There, several tectonic plates meet, creating highly unstable ground.
06:42To make the problem much more terrifying,
06:4575% of active volcanoes are located in this area.
06:4990% of dormant volcanoes are also there,
06:52making this place extremely dangerous.
06:55Scientists carefully study this region
06:57to find a way to predict when the next earthquake might strike.
07:01The Ring of Fire is not the only place at risk of earthquakes.
07:06In California, along the San Andreas Fault line,
07:09two tectonic plates have been storing power for more than 200 years.
07:14The San Andreas Fault is 715 miles long
07:17and has the potential for a massive earthquake.
07:20This region has its fear of violent earthquakes
07:22like the one that happened in San Francisco in 1906.
07:26It had a magnitude of 7.8 on the Richter scale.
07:30Scientists' predictions are terrifying.
07:33They say that the chance of a 6.7 magnitude earthquake
07:36is very high in the area.
07:39If all hell starts to break loose,
07:41you should know how to survive.
07:43Avoid anything that might fall on you,
07:45like windows, closets, or unstable ceilings.
07:48The official phrase from emergency experts is
07:51drop, cover, and hold on.
07:53Stay low to the ground.
07:56Hide under something stable like a table
07:58and remain there until the shaking stops.
08:01Make sure to stay in your shelter for another minute or two
08:03just in case there are aftershocks or loose debris.
08:06Use your nose and smell for gas.
08:09If you do smell it, don't turn the lights on
08:11or do anything that might ignite it.
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