Series : Equinox - Channel 4 UK Show title : A Sense of Disaster First shown : 10th May 1999 Catalogue Number :

Many lives could be saved if earthquakes could be accurately predicted. In California, ‘earthquake sensitives’ claim to be able to tune in to impending seismic activity; in China, a fusion of modern science and ancient philosophy has already had some predictive success. In Japan and America, scientists are looking to animals to discover how they might have ‘a sense of disaster’ which is attuned to the electromagnetic waves that presage earthquake activity. 00.30—05.30 The idea that the Earth sends out messages before an earthquake, and that plants, animals and even humans might have a ‘sense of disaster’ that allows them to tune in to these signals. The ‘earthquake sensitives’ in California who believe their bodies act as receivers of signals that allow them to predict where earthquakes are due to happen. 05.30—10.30 The low priority of earthquake prediction in the US Geological Survey. Partially accurate prediction of the 1989 California earthquake in which 89 people died. A sceptical scientist in Japan who believes that so little is known about how earthquakes happen, it is pointless trying predict them. 10.30—13.30 The idea of precursors as elusive signals emanating from the Earth prior to an earthquake. The Old Faithful geyser, which lost the regularity of its gushing shortly before two big earthquakes in the region. 13.30—20.30 The potential importance of the ultra low frequency electromagnetic waves that emerge from deep within the earth — ‘the Earth’s secret soundtrack’. After years of monotony, the soundtrack showed major changes in the run-up to the 1989 earthquake and its aftermath. 20.30—29.00 Earthquake prediction in China — the ‘whole Earth philosophy’, a fusion of modern science and ancient philosophy. Monitoring of a wide range of variables, from radon levels to bird behaviour. Accurate prediction of an earthquake in 1995: the authorities forced people to leave their homes, and as a result only 11 died. 29.00—35.30 The Chinese earthquake of 1975 in which 250,000 people died in spite of an accurate prediction of the earthquake location (but not its magnitude). The one area that took the warnings seriously, where only one person died. 35.30—40.00 The Kobe disaster in Japan, where no prediction was made in spite of the country having the most expensive earthquake prediction programme in the world. 40.00—45.30 The investigations of a Japanese physicist into how low frequency electromagnetism affects the behaviour of plants and animals — from plants vibrating to catfish flipping. Other examples of unusual animal behaviour prior to earthquakes — rats and cats leaving houses, pigeons nervous and wanting to fly free. 45.30—end Exploration of the ability of bees to respond to ultra low frequency electromagnetic radiation. The magnetometer that is in the brains of many animals — perhaps even in humans — that allows them to tune in to impending earthquakes, and gives them a ‘sense of disaster’.

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