0:00:17 > 0:00:20As a geologist, I believe the rocks beneath our feet
0:00:20 > 0:00:24are fundamental to civilisations around the world.
0:00:25 > 0:00:31I'm taking a tour of the Pacific Rim, stopping off at some of the most dramatic, diverse
0:00:31 > 0:00:36and rugged landscapes on the planet, to see how human history has been shaped by the rocks.
0:00:38 > 0:00:43My journey includes the awesome peaks of the Andes.
0:00:44 > 0:00:48The perilous volcanoes of Indonesia...
0:00:49 > 0:00:52..and the breathtaking landscape of Japan.
0:00:54 > 0:00:58'In this programme, I'm in California, but I want to find out
0:00:58 > 0:01:02'what makes millions of people put themselves at peril,'
0:01:02 > 0:01:04in the path of geological devastation.
0:01:22 > 0:01:28California is one of the most geologically volatile and dangerous places on Earth.
0:01:28 > 0:01:32Every day, people that live here are under constant threat
0:01:32 > 0:01:37from devastating earthquakes that cost billions of dollars worth of damage.
0:01:37 > 0:01:41Landslides that sweep away entire towns
0:01:41 > 0:01:43and terrifying firestorms
0:01:43 > 0:01:47that can whip over suburban hillsides at over 70 miles an hour.
0:01:50 > 0:01:52I study these geological hazards
0:01:52 > 0:01:55and I'm intrigued to know why Californians are
0:01:55 > 0:01:59prepared to live with the risks, and how they cope with them?
0:01:59 > 0:02:04What's going through their minds, and is risk embedded in the culture?
0:02:08 > 0:02:14To find the answers to these questions, I'm going on a 3,000-mile journey around California,
0:02:14 > 0:02:17the most populated state in North America.
0:02:17 > 0:02:21Through searing salt pans and deserts, frozen mountain heights
0:02:21 > 0:02:25and narrow canyons, all the way back to the time of the gold rush.
0:02:25 > 0:02:29It's a journey that'll go back a 150 years in human history
0:02:29 > 0:02:31and millions of years in geological time.
0:02:45 > 0:02:48As with all the places I'm visiting around the Pacific,
0:02:48 > 0:02:54California's landscape has been created by huge geological forces.
0:02:55 > 0:02:58I'm starting out from San Francisco,
0:02:58 > 0:03:02a city that's long attracted fortune seekers from across the world.
0:03:03 > 0:03:07I'm heading east to discover what brought them here in the first place.
0:03:23 > 0:03:26Travelling across California you realise that the landscapes
0:03:26 > 0:03:29are as diverse as the people who live here,
0:03:29 > 0:03:33a contrasting mishmash of fertile valleys and barren deserts,
0:03:33 > 0:03:36deep canyons and towering peaks.
0:03:36 > 0:03:39My first stop is up in the Sierra Nevada Foothills,
0:03:39 > 0:03:42the starting point for modern California.
0:03:45 > 0:03:51It was on this ordinary river in 1848, that a carpenter by the name of James Marshall
0:03:51 > 0:03:55made a chance discovery that would transform California forever.
0:03:55 > 0:04:00In fact, I'm underselling it - it would transform the history of the world forever.
0:04:02 > 0:04:06Marshall was one of the first few white settlers in the area
0:04:06 > 0:04:09and he was here to make a living out of lumber.
0:04:09 > 0:04:13He'd been trying to stop timber from blocking the flow of water
0:04:13 > 0:04:15passing through the sawmill,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19and his solution was to blast a deeper channel with explosives.
0:04:24 > 0:04:28Hopping down into the blast zone to check how much sand and gravel
0:04:28 > 0:04:31had been removed, his eye caught sight of something glittering.
0:04:31 > 0:04:33He picked it up and examined it,
0:04:33 > 0:04:37and in his hand was something heavy, very heavy.
0:04:37 > 0:04:39Marshall had discovered gold.
0:04:52 > 0:04:54Just here, near the town of Bridgeport,
0:04:54 > 0:04:58there's a whole string of hot springs and they help explain
0:04:58 > 0:05:00why gold was found here in the first place.
0:05:09 > 0:05:13This pool is called Travertine Hot Spring,
0:05:13 > 0:05:18and the water is really warm even though it's freezing out here.
0:05:18 > 0:05:23And it says here, it tells us there's hot rocks down below.
0:05:24 > 0:05:30Those rocks heat up water underground and force it up to the surface creating these pools.
0:05:30 > 0:05:34Because the water's hot and under pressure, it dissolves the rock,
0:05:34 > 0:05:37forming a kind of mineral soup.
0:05:37 > 0:05:40But not all the water makes it all the way to the surface.
0:05:40 > 0:05:45Sometimes it gets trapped in cracks and fissures, and as it cools
0:05:45 > 0:05:47its cargo of minerals and elements
0:05:47 > 0:05:51gets precipitated out, and amongst them is gold.
0:05:56 > 0:06:03The gold in Sierra Nevada has been exposed by weathering, making it relatively easy to find.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08Ice, water and wind erode the rocks.
0:06:08 > 0:06:11Over time, they're crumbled into fragments
0:06:11 > 0:06:16and get washed down the mountains to form the beds of streams and rivers.
0:06:16 > 0:06:20Some of that crunched-up rock contained fragments of gold,
0:06:20 > 0:06:24which ended up in the hands of the likes of James Marshall.
0:06:26 > 0:06:29Here in the Sierra Nevada in the 1850s,
0:06:29 > 0:06:32the gold was just lying in the stream beds waiting to be picked up.
0:06:32 > 0:06:36The easiest way to find it was to sift the sediments with a pan.
0:06:37 > 0:06:42Ed and Norm Allan are brothers who've spent countless hours working this river.
0:06:42 > 0:06:44OK, Ed, what do I do here?
0:06:44 > 0:06:47Well, first you've got to get some dirt in your pan.
0:06:47 > 0:06:50You're going to get in as deep as you can
0:06:50 > 0:06:53and pull up a load of material.
0:06:55 > 0:06:59What I'm gonna do is I'm gonna start shaking this pan
0:06:59 > 0:07:01back and forth pretty violently,
0:07:01 > 0:07:07and what that's doing is, it's getting the gold down in this crevice at the bottom of the pan here.
0:07:07 > 0:07:09The reason that that occurs,
0:07:09 > 0:07:13is the gold weighs so much more than the rock that it's in.
0:07:13 > 0:07:15- So it sinks down?- That's correct.
0:07:15 > 0:07:20So I can start washing this other material out of the pan.
0:07:20 > 0:07:23- This is a long process.- Yes, it is.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28Fifty pounds a day were considered about all a man could do.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31- Fifty?- Fifty pounds a day.- Wow! - It was hard work.
0:07:31 > 0:07:33The temperature in this canyon
0:07:33 > 0:07:36gets to over a 100 degrees in the summertime.
0:07:36 > 0:07:37It doesn't feel like it today.
0:07:37 > 0:07:40No. But this river's been pretty cleaned out.
0:07:40 > 0:07:42People pan over where we're panning almost every day.
0:07:42 > 0:07:45So do you really get gold in here?
0:07:45 > 0:07:49Yes, we sure do. Yes, there's gold in this river.
0:07:49 > 0:07:52- Do you want to see some gold from here?- Yeah.
0:07:52 > 0:07:53Let me put my pan down.
0:07:57 > 0:08:00That's beautiful. Look at that.
0:08:00 > 0:08:04That nugget was found right here, last March.
0:08:04 > 0:08:05Wow! How much is that worth?
0:08:05 > 0:08:08About 90, and that's 23-carat gold right out of the river.
0:08:08 > 0:08:10Norm!
0:08:10 > 0:08:14Norm! I think I've got something.
0:08:14 > 0:08:15Let me look at it.
0:08:18 > 0:08:20Oh, yes.
0:08:20 > 0:08:23That's very nice.
0:08:23 > 0:08:25- That's very nice.- Good.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28- That's at least a clinker. - A clinker?
0:08:28 > 0:08:31- A clinker.- Oh, right, it's the same.
0:08:31 > 0:08:33- That's a beauty, all right. - I'll be having that.
0:08:33 > 0:08:37- "Finders keepers" it says on that sign up there.- That's what it says.
0:08:37 > 0:08:39- Thanks, that's great.- My pleasure.
0:08:39 > 0:08:42That's a nice one too. I'm going to keep going, actually.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45- I think you've got the fever. - Yeah, absolutely.- The gold fever.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47I know, it's completely addictive.
0:09:09 > 0:09:12Within weeks of Marshall's discovery,
0:09:12 > 0:09:14people were running through the streets,
0:09:14 > 0:09:16shouting about gold in the mountains.
0:09:16 > 0:09:23From all around the world, thousands began pouring into what was then the tiny coastal port of San Francisco
0:09:23 > 0:09:27and working their way by hook or by crook into the mountains.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32The dramatic red cliffs at Malakoff Diggins looked natural,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35but they're one of many huge quarries the miners left behind.
0:09:35 > 0:09:39Historian Jim Hendley, has explored how risking everything
0:09:39 > 0:09:44to make a fortune became the bedrock for the modern Californian mindset.
0:09:44 > 0:09:49Oh, sure, it's an illusion to think that miners were grizzly old men.
0:09:49 > 0:09:51They're young men, coming from the east coast,
0:09:51 > 0:09:54who grew up in a technological environment
0:09:54 > 0:09:58and they had concluded that there's a lot of gold here,
0:09:58 > 0:10:01but it's not big nuggets, it's little fine dust.
0:10:01 > 0:10:06By the end of 1848, it's a business, it's an industrial operation
0:10:06 > 0:10:10that requires a scale that a single person can't do.
0:10:11 > 0:10:17Within a couple of years, the pans and picks were replaced by mass mining on an industrial scale.
0:10:17 > 0:10:22A quarter of a million miners were to reshape the Californian landscape.
0:10:22 > 0:10:25But how did this ambition to make money
0:10:25 > 0:10:27transform the culture of California?
0:10:27 > 0:10:33Big towns like San Francisco and Sacramento become the supply centres
0:10:33 > 0:10:37to these miners, and there becomes a culture of mining the miner.
0:10:37 > 0:10:41There's more money to be made in supplying the miner with his needs
0:10:41 > 0:10:43and relieving him of his gold,
0:10:43 > 0:10:50than there is to be made standing in a stream that's cold or standing out in the rain like we are here.
0:10:50 > 0:10:53It's... it's a nasty environment doing this.
0:10:53 > 0:10:58The infectious nature of mining as a risk taking venture,
0:10:58 > 0:11:02infected the merchants in the same way, it was OK to take big risks.
0:11:02 > 0:11:05So you had this growing commercialisation very fast,
0:11:05 > 0:11:07lots of entrepreneurs coming through,
0:11:07 > 0:11:10and then is there a real start of a risk-taking culture?
0:11:10 > 0:11:14It is a risk-taking culture, and that is what it's really all about,
0:11:14 > 0:11:19because nobody is here to criticise you for making a mistake.
0:11:20 > 0:11:24You look around, everybody else has made mistakes
0:11:24 > 0:11:26and they get up and try again. That's OK.
0:11:26 > 0:11:32That's the mindset, and it goes from the miner, to the banker,
0:11:32 > 0:11:36to the commerce and commercial people right through the line.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39So it was in this culture of "anything goes" freedom
0:11:39 > 0:11:41that the Californian mentality was born.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46It was all down to the geology, down to gold.
0:12:02 > 0:12:09Gold was a geological jackpot that transformed California into a magnet for risk-takers.
0:12:09 > 0:12:14In fact, they took enormous risks just getting to the gold fields in the first place.
0:12:18 > 0:12:21California's loosely divided into three,
0:12:21 > 0:12:24a low range of mountains along the Pacific Coast,
0:12:24 > 0:12:27a wide, fertile central valley
0:12:27 > 0:12:31and in the east, the biggest mountain range in the state,
0:12:31 > 0:12:33the Sierra Nevada.
0:12:41 > 0:12:45This virtually impenetrable mountain range, was a barrier
0:12:45 > 0:12:49that filtered out all but the most determined of gold seekers.
0:12:51 > 0:12:53It's easy to see why.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55Towering above me is Mount Whitney.
0:12:55 > 0:12:58At well over two-and-a-half-miles high,
0:12:58 > 0:13:01it's the tallest peak in the continental United States.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05Crossing the Sierra Nevada really was a formidable task
0:13:05 > 0:13:08and one that forged a pioneering spirit.
0:13:08 > 0:13:12But further south, trails could be even worse.
0:13:12 > 0:13:15Especially here.
0:13:17 > 0:13:19Death Valley,
0:13:19 > 0:13:22a 250-mile long desert,
0:13:22 > 0:13:24one of the hottest places on Earth.
0:13:37 > 0:13:41The thousands who flocked westward in 1849,
0:13:41 > 0:13:45became famously known as the "California 49ers".
0:13:45 > 0:13:51Some of them tried to shorten the route by cutting across Death Valley.
0:13:51 > 0:13:53For the early pioneers who saw this landscape,
0:13:53 > 0:13:55which to me is absolutely magnificent,
0:13:55 > 0:13:59it must have been absolutely terrifying.
0:14:04 > 0:14:07Stumbling into uncharted territory,
0:14:07 > 0:14:12the immigrants wandered about for weeks in this barren waste of dried up lakes
0:14:12 > 0:14:14and weird salt formations.
0:14:15 > 0:14:19Once here, it was virtually impossible to escape.
0:14:27 > 0:14:33This is Bad Water, the lowest point in the western hemisphere, 85 metres below sea level.
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Certain times of the year you do get water here.
0:14:36 > 0:14:41It floods in through some of these canyons and transforms this place into a shallow lake.
0:14:41 > 0:14:47The trouble is the water can't get out, it just evaporates away leaving behind all this salt.
0:14:47 > 0:14:51Just like those early pioneers, it's easy to get into these valleys
0:14:51 > 0:14:55but really difficult to get out and get on to the gold fields beyond.
0:15:04 > 0:15:12Death Valley is so dry because it lies in the range shadow of the Sierra Nevada mountains.
0:15:12 > 0:15:18Clouds coming east from the Pacific dump their load of rain as they pass over the cold mountain heights,
0:15:18 > 0:15:22leaving the air dry and clear here on the other side.
0:15:24 > 0:15:29The stranded pioneers only just made it across, having killed their oxen for food
0:15:29 > 0:15:32and burned their wagons to cure the meat.
0:15:33 > 0:15:40It's legendary adventures like this that became woven into the Californian risk-taking psyche.
0:16:00 > 0:16:02Bodie Ghost Town.
0:16:02 > 0:16:06Elevation - 2,500 metres.
0:16:06 > 0:16:08Population - zero.
0:16:10 > 0:16:13This is what greeted many who came to make their fortune.
0:16:13 > 0:16:18A harsh mining town in the middle of a mountain wilderness.
0:16:18 > 0:16:26Prospectors the world over were blinded by the slim possibility of making a better life from gold.
0:16:26 > 0:16:29For many, though, this is what lay in wait.
0:16:29 > 0:16:32A tough life in bitter isolation.
0:16:36 > 0:16:42In the year following Marshall's discovery, 100,000 so-called 49ers
0:16:42 > 0:16:44poured into California
0:16:44 > 0:16:48and towns like these sprung up throughout the state.
0:16:48 > 0:16:51It was here that these young ambitious men came
0:16:51 > 0:16:53to gamble with their futures
0:16:53 > 0:16:57and although hopes were high, the odds were stacked against them.
0:16:59 > 0:17:03You may think James Marshall was a lucky man, but he wasn't.
0:17:03 > 0:17:09He was just one of many for whom gold would bring nothing but broken dreams.
0:17:09 > 0:17:12He didn't own the land where he made his discovery,
0:17:12 > 0:17:17and his sawmill went down the pan as soon as all the able-bodied men
0:17:17 > 0:17:20were dazzled with the hunt for gold.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25Although the chances of success were small, miners went to any lengths.
0:17:25 > 0:17:29Many who came risked everything and ended up with nothing.
0:17:43 > 0:17:47On my journey, it's becoming clear to me how the rush for gold
0:17:47 > 0:17:50laid the foundation for a risk-taking culture.
0:17:52 > 0:17:57Thanks to the geology of California, the ultimate home of the American dream was born.
0:17:57 > 0:18:01If you took a chance, the world could be yours for the taking.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05With the construction of the Trans-Continental Railway in 1869,
0:18:05 > 0:18:10it was suddenly no longer a five-month ordeal to get here.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13And as if gold hadn't drawn enough risk-takers to California,
0:18:13 > 0:18:16there was another geological jackpot to pull them in.
0:18:23 > 0:18:28I'm on Highway 150 near Ojai, Santa Barbara.
0:18:28 > 0:18:33Right here on the roadside, this black gooey stuff is oozing out of the hillside.
0:18:33 > 0:18:38It's a naturally occurring tar and it's a sign that beneath these rocks
0:18:38 > 0:18:42lies another fortune-spinner, black gold.
0:19:00 > 0:19:02Kern County in the Central Valley
0:19:02 > 0:19:06sits on top of one of the largest oil fields in California.
0:19:06 > 0:19:12The whole landscape here has been completely transformed into a vast sea of oil wells.
0:19:12 > 0:19:15The scale of this is absolutely immense.
0:19:15 > 0:19:18There's something like 50,000 oil wells here.
0:19:18 > 0:19:23To give you an idea of how massive the oil field must be underground,
0:19:23 > 0:19:28they pump out about 220 million barrels of oil every year here.
0:19:28 > 0:19:32But there's still 3.5 billion barrels left in the ground.
0:19:34 > 0:19:38The crude oil here formed from plankton that lived
0:19:38 > 0:19:42on the surface of the ocean over six million years ago.
0:19:42 > 0:19:45As they died, they settled to the ocean floor.
0:19:45 > 0:19:51They were covered with a layer of mud, eventually breaking down into compounds of hydrogen and carbon,
0:19:51 > 0:19:54the building blocks for fuels and plastics.
0:19:56 > 0:20:01The whole of Central California is one enormous valley,
0:20:01 > 0:20:04the San Joaquin Valley, and its formation
0:20:04 > 0:20:08is key to how the oil got here in the first place.
0:20:08 > 0:20:14This area used to be a huge section of seabed that's been lifted up by geological forces.
0:20:14 > 0:20:18As it was raised up, this sand and silt layer that contained the oil
0:20:18 > 0:20:20was bent and contorted,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24trapping the oil and leaving it down in the ground ready to be tapped.
0:20:26 > 0:20:34So the richest land-based oil wells in the United States were formed, thanks to the forces of geology.
0:20:45 > 0:20:48Just like the influx of the 49ers of the gold rush,
0:20:48 > 0:20:52thousands poured into the state in search of their own gushers.
0:20:52 > 0:20:57For some, it would become a personal passport to instant wealth.
0:21:02 > 0:21:06With all that oil and the gold before it, this state had
0:21:06 > 0:21:11an ingrained mentality of commercial risk taking and speculation.
0:21:11 > 0:21:17Huge numbers of money-minded entrepreneurs poured in, selling everything from Levis jeans to cars.
0:21:22 > 0:21:25New industries are often regarded as risky because
0:21:25 > 0:21:29they're trying to find a footing in an uncertain area of commerce.
0:21:29 > 0:21:33But in California, cutting-edge ideas were embraced.
0:21:33 > 0:21:39This made it the perfect place for new ways of making money, like the movies.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51People say film-makers came here because of the great weather and fabulous locations.
0:21:51 > 0:21:55I'm sure there's something in that but its not the only state with good weather.
0:21:55 > 0:21:58Just as important is the bedrock of innovation.
0:21:58 > 0:22:04A culture that was open and hungry for new ideas, new industries and creativity.
0:22:04 > 0:22:08The natural place for an upstart industry like film.
0:22:11 > 0:22:14That culture continues today.
0:22:18 > 0:22:23Silicone Valley is the largest concentration of high technology in the United States.
0:22:23 > 0:22:27Just like the gold, the oil and the movies,
0:22:27 > 0:22:32it's no surprise that this 20th-century industry emerged in California.
0:22:32 > 0:22:35New hi-tech ventures can be just as risky.
0:22:35 > 0:22:38Think back to the collapse of the dotcom movement.
0:22:38 > 0:22:42But if you are successful, the rewards can be huge.
0:22:46 > 0:22:50In California, you really can turn up with nothing and become a self-made millionaire.
0:22:50 > 0:22:53Thousands have done just that.
0:22:53 > 0:23:00It's no surprise Californians are so positive and have this "who dares wins" attitude.
0:23:00 > 0:23:07But what I want to know is whether this explains why they're prepared to live with geological peril?
0:23:15 > 0:23:19To dig deeper, I'm heading back to San Francisco.
0:23:22 > 0:23:24Jutting out into a natural harbour,
0:23:24 > 0:23:28you'd think there couldn't be a better place to build a city.
0:23:28 > 0:23:30The early settlers probably thought that too.
0:23:37 > 0:23:43At first sight, you get that same thrill of excitement that must have greeted the immigrants.
0:23:45 > 0:23:49When the first miners came running through the streets in 1848
0:23:49 > 0:23:53with bags full of gold, there were only 800 residents.
0:23:53 > 0:23:57Within two years, there were over 30 times as many.
0:24:00 > 0:24:04Today, San Francisco has all the hallmarks of the liberal,
0:24:04 > 0:24:09open-mindedness that grew out of those early gold rush days.
0:24:09 > 0:24:14Japantown, Chinatown, Russian Hill and the Italian Quarter,
0:24:14 > 0:24:18they all reflect the world-wide influence of the gold rush.
0:24:26 > 0:24:30These streets look great in Hollywood car chases,
0:24:30 > 0:24:35but I'm amazed that they even considered building a grid system on such steep slopes,
0:24:35 > 0:24:38let alone a network of cable cars.
0:24:38 > 0:24:42In a culture where anything is supposed to be possible,
0:24:42 > 0:24:45this must have seemed like a triumph over nature
0:24:45 > 0:24:47and all that troublesome topography.
0:24:49 > 0:24:53But Mother Earth has dealt a cruel blow to San Francisco.
0:24:54 > 0:25:00All 43 of her hills and 800,000 residents
0:25:00 > 0:25:04lie right across the most geologically unstable zone in California.
0:25:07 > 0:25:09The San Andreas Fault.
0:25:22 > 0:25:28In 1906, a colossal earthquake tore through San Francisco.
0:25:28 > 0:25:34The city was almost completely destroyed, leaving over half the population homeless
0:25:34 > 0:25:36and at least 3,000 dead.
0:25:37 > 0:25:42Today, inhabitants are still prepared to take huge risks
0:25:42 > 0:25:45even though the warning signs are right under their noses.
0:25:47 > 0:25:50Just south of San Francisco, in Hollister, you can see
0:25:50 > 0:25:54what happens when a fault cuts right under people's homes.
0:25:56 > 0:25:58If you take this wall here, there's a lot of cracks in it,
0:25:58 > 0:26:02there's one running across here, there's one down here, right across.
0:26:02 > 0:26:07Here's another one, that's a big one, and the whole thing gets twisted around and also bent down.
0:26:07 > 0:26:12In fact there's a steep slope in the garden where the fault line passes through and goes off,
0:26:12 > 0:26:15crosses the pathway and it continues on to the side of the road.
0:26:15 > 0:26:19At the side of the road, the kerbstone is offset.
0:26:19 > 0:26:22There's a little crack in the Tarmac which continues off.
0:26:22 > 0:26:24If I don't get killed here,
0:26:24 > 0:26:26over in the old kerbstone,
0:26:26 > 0:26:28there's a bend and this is all broken,
0:26:28 > 0:26:32the fault crosses the park, there's that gentle slope.
0:26:32 > 0:26:35It literally slices the neighbourhood in two.
0:26:38 > 0:26:44The Earth's surface is covered in giant plates which float around on a plastic-y interior.
0:26:44 > 0:26:49The whole of California is one big collision zone where two of the plates meet.
0:26:49 > 0:26:53The San Andreas Fault carves right through California
0:26:53 > 0:26:58where the Pacific plate is grinding past the North American plate.
0:26:58 > 0:27:02Several kilometres beneath my feet, huge stresses are building up.
0:27:02 > 0:27:06As the enormous pressure builds up as the two plates try to move,
0:27:06 > 0:27:08eventually the rocks can't take it any more.
0:27:08 > 0:27:12Friction is overcome and the two plates move and slip past each other,
0:27:12 > 0:27:16and that's what radiates out massive seismic waves,
0:27:16 > 0:27:19the violent shaking that we feel during an earthquake.
0:27:21 > 0:27:25San Francisco is rocked regularly by terrifying earthquakes.
0:27:25 > 0:27:29One of the worst was in October 1989.
0:27:29 > 0:27:35At 5.04pm, there was a huge earthquake at Loma Prieta near Santa Cruz.
0:27:35 > 0:27:40The quake killed 63 and injured nearly 4,000.
0:27:41 > 0:27:48I'm close to the spot where a double-decker highway, Interstate 880, once stood.
0:27:48 > 0:27:52It wasn't designed to withstand the huge stresses
0:27:52 > 0:27:55created by the buckling and shaking earth, and it collapsed.
0:28:02 > 0:28:06If it wasn't for the fact that there was a World Series baseball game on TV,
0:28:06 > 0:28:10it would have been gridlocked with rush-hour traffic when the earthquake struck.
0:28:10 > 0:28:13Even so, 42 people were killed
0:28:13 > 0:28:16when the upper concrete tier collapsed down on the lower one,
0:28:16 > 0:28:18crushing the vehicles.
0:28:25 > 0:28:30So why are people in California prepared to live with this kind of geological threat?
0:28:30 > 0:28:36Is this all down to a culture of risk-taking or is something more subtle going on?
0:28:36 > 0:28:41Someone who's been looking into these attitudes is psychologist, Doctor Christine Rodriguez.
0:28:41 > 0:28:48Well, the California culture has had a risky streak since 1849 with the advent of the gold rush.
0:28:48 > 0:28:54But this risk taking culture does not really have anything to do with
0:28:54 > 0:28:56the riskiness of the physical environment here.
0:28:56 > 0:29:00There's earthquake risk, there's wildfire hazard risk,
0:29:00 > 0:29:03there's landslides, there's floods, there's droughts, you name it.
0:29:03 > 0:29:11But that does not have an impact on a culture so much, because people's perception of risk is very faulty.
0:29:13 > 0:29:19People tend to not understand probabilities very well.
0:29:19 > 0:29:21That's what keeps Las Vegas in business.
0:29:21 > 0:29:25You know, you talk to people about what is their retirement plans
0:29:25 > 0:29:27and they'll say, "I'm counting on winning the lottery".
0:29:27 > 0:29:31The chance is less than being struck by lightning in the state of California,
0:29:31 > 0:29:34but a lot of people really think of that as their retirement plans.
0:29:34 > 0:29:40How do people in California feel about earthquakes? Do they accept there's a risk there?
0:29:40 > 0:29:44They do accept them, but most of the time people just tune it out.
0:29:44 > 0:29:47They want to live here and earthquakes come with the package
0:29:47 > 0:29:50and they just would rather not think about it.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54It's a denial mechanism and people use denial mechanisms
0:29:54 > 0:29:58in many parts of their life, to avoid facing things that are unpleasant.
0:29:58 > 0:30:02Like a conflict with their boss or with their children.
0:30:02 > 0:30:05We tune out the risk that we're taking getting into our car to drive to work,
0:30:05 > 0:30:07we just as soon not think about it.
0:30:07 > 0:30:14But sometimes that nervousness about the environment is still there, so what we'll do is displace it.
0:30:14 > 0:30:20Everybody in California seems very, very concerned about tornadoes in Oklahoma
0:30:20 > 0:30:24or hurricanes on the Gulf Coast.
0:30:24 > 0:30:26When I was visiting Puerto Rico, the big thing there,
0:30:26 > 0:30:31instead of focusing on their earthquake hazard and on their hurricane hazard,
0:30:31 > 0:30:34they were fascinated with earthquakes in California.
0:30:34 > 0:30:37So there's a basic human trait to misjudge risk.
0:30:37 > 0:30:41- But this is particularly bad when you live in such a perilous environment.- Yes.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45We have so many risks perceived inaccurately.
0:30:49 > 0:30:55There's undeniably a history of risk-taking here, when it comes to making money and fortune seeking.
0:30:55 > 0:30:57But when it comes to geological disasters,
0:30:57 > 0:31:00it seems like Californians aren't risk-takers after all.
0:31:00 > 0:31:05It's more that they avoid thinking rationally about the odds in the first place.
0:31:05 > 0:31:08I don't think it's unique to Californians.
0:31:08 > 0:31:12With natural disasters, our mind plays all sorts of tricks on us.
0:31:12 > 0:31:15We avoid thinking about life's dangers in order to cope with them.
0:31:15 > 0:31:19We bury our heads in the sand and we don't really realise that we're doing it.
0:31:19 > 0:31:25Unfortunately this human trait may leave many Californians unprotected
0:31:25 > 0:31:27from the real sources of danger.
0:31:28 > 0:31:32You'd think that with such a catalogue of disasters behind them,
0:31:32 > 0:31:35Californians would be more prepared for catastrophe.
0:31:35 > 0:31:37Instead they seem to carry on as normal.
0:31:37 > 0:31:42Somehow the lessons of history have been ignored.
0:31:53 > 0:32:01This is the San Francisquito Canyon, site of one of California's worst catastrophes.
0:32:01 > 0:32:04Built in the 1920s by engineer William Mullholland,
0:32:04 > 0:32:10the St Francis Dam was one of several crucial water supplies for Los Angeles, further south.
0:32:10 > 0:32:15But on the 12th March 1928, the dam gave way.
0:32:15 > 0:32:22A ten-storey wall of water surged towards the Pacific, wiping out everything in its path.
0:32:22 > 0:32:27The flood destroyed 1,200 homes, and over 500 lives were lost.
0:32:27 > 0:32:33A disaster second only to the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906.
0:32:39 > 0:32:45It's incredibly eerie to revisit the site of such a devastating disaster.
0:32:45 > 0:32:49It's also quite difficult to know what goes where, it's a bit of a jigsaw here.
0:32:49 > 0:32:54I guess one side of the dam was over there and it swings over
0:32:54 > 0:32:59where we are and goes to the other side in the shadowy ravine there.
0:32:59 > 0:33:03These massive concrete blocks are all that's left of the dam.
0:33:03 > 0:33:09The remains were blasted away with dynamite, almost as if to erase the memory of it forever.
0:33:17 > 0:33:21These huge chunks are all that's left of the front of the dam.
0:33:21 > 0:33:25The side facing downstream away from the reservoir,
0:33:25 > 0:33:32was built of a series of concrete steps, and here they are lying on their side like giant tombstones.
0:33:34 > 0:33:38To find the reason why the dam failed, you have to clamber up
0:33:38 > 0:33:43above the dam site itself, onto the steep sides of the ravine.
0:33:47 > 0:33:50This is probably the spot where the dam gave way.
0:33:50 > 0:33:53You can see why when you look at the rock.
0:33:53 > 0:33:57This is a rock called schist which is made up of lots of little slippery layers -
0:33:57 > 0:34:00you can see them glinting in the sun.
0:34:00 > 0:34:06This whole slope is made of those same slippery layers which are pointing down slope.
0:34:06 > 0:34:10They probably just gave way and took the dam with it.
0:34:14 > 0:34:21So with weak layers of rock forming the dam's eastern foundation, it's not surprising it gave way.
0:34:21 > 0:34:26The steep valley sides were in fact a result of an ancient mega landslide,
0:34:26 > 0:34:32so the entire mountain was a vast mound of rubble.
0:34:32 > 0:34:35The valley that Mullholland thought was so ideal for a dam,
0:34:35 > 0:34:39was because of those weak rocks underfoot, riddled with landslides.
0:34:39 > 0:34:44You can see them all around here disfiguring the grassy slopes.
0:34:44 > 0:34:50Mullholland accepted all the blame for the disaster, telling the coroner that he envied the dead.
0:34:50 > 0:34:55He resigned and seven years later he died a virtual recluse.
0:34:55 > 0:35:02'The tragic story of the dam disaster should have been a warning, that much of the rock in California
0:35:02 > 0:35:06'is unstable and susceptible to devastating landslides.'
0:35:06 > 0:35:08But it seems to have gone unheeded.
0:35:08 > 0:35:14Similar mistakes have been made to this day, right next to people's homes.
0:35:24 > 0:35:28I'm travelling along the Pacific Coast Highway, north of Los Angeles.
0:35:28 > 0:35:32Landslides happen somewhere along this stretch of coast every few years.
0:35:32 > 0:35:35But it doesn't seem to stop people living here.
0:35:35 > 0:35:38With the Californian population ever increasing,
0:35:38 > 0:35:41more and more people are spreading along the coast.
0:35:41 > 0:35:47Competition for a piece of the idyllic Californian lifestyle is driving people into the danger zone.
0:35:50 > 0:35:55Steep slopes made of weak sedimentary rock are found all over California.
0:35:55 > 0:36:01I'm standing on a mountain of it, 200 metres of sand, silt and gravel.
0:36:01 > 0:36:04Down there is La Conchita.
0:36:16 > 0:36:18Sandwiched between the Pacific Ocean
0:36:18 > 0:36:21and steep walls of crumbly sedimentary rock,
0:36:21 > 0:36:24La Conchita had been a disaster waiting to happen.
0:36:30 > 0:36:38'Early in 2005, the Californian coastline endured a record-breaking winter storm.'
0:36:38 > 0:36:44It rained continuously for five days so that the ground became completely saturated with water.
0:36:48 > 0:36:53One January afternoon, the hills above La Conchita suddenly gave way.
0:36:53 > 0:37:01Nearly half a million tons of debris slid down the mountainside, ploughing into the community below.
0:37:01 > 0:37:07Ten people were buried alive as a wall of mud engulfed their homes.
0:37:08 > 0:37:14Virginia Costas watched from her upstairs window as the landslip careered towards her home.
0:37:14 > 0:37:18I didn't know what it was. I thought it was a train but it was much too loud to be the train.
0:37:18 > 0:37:22So I looked out my window and that's when I saw just the mountain moving
0:37:22 > 0:37:29with fences and treetops and bushes and garage doors.
0:37:29 > 0:37:35The street was covered. So it hit the top-storey windows of my home.
0:37:35 > 0:37:41Wow! And there's crosses and things like that, so I guess houses under there? I mean, what's the story?
0:37:41 > 0:37:45Houses are buried, people were buried, ten fatalities.
0:37:45 > 0:37:49- Ten?- The emergency workers lived in my home for a week.
0:37:49 > 0:37:55What they dug out were crayon books and Halloween costumes and the things of daily life.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59I don't know if you were aware of the story of the Wallet family,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02but they were staying here temporarily with my friend Charlie
0:38:02 > 0:38:04who owned the house across the street.
0:38:04 > 0:38:10He lived in his bus temporarily to give them a place to stay.
0:38:10 > 0:38:15His wife and three children were in the house and he went down to the store.
0:38:15 > 0:38:17That's when it occurred at 1.30 in the afternoon.
0:38:17 > 0:38:22They were walking up the street just like you and I just walked up, when the hill let go
0:38:22 > 0:38:27- and buried his children and his wife. - So he saw the thing come down? - He saw it bury all five houses.
0:38:27 > 0:38:33Charlie lost his life and his friend lost his family, his wife and his three children.
0:38:33 > 0:38:37On this street we all had birthdays, December one, two and three.
0:38:37 > 0:38:40Charlie's was the first.
0:38:52 > 0:38:56Maybe it's understandable that after nearly a century,
0:38:56 > 0:39:00people forget about historical events like the San Francis Dam disaster.
0:39:00 > 0:39:04But here in La Conchita, there had been a much more recent warning.
0:39:04 > 0:39:10The hillside had already plummeted into the town ten years earlier, burying nine homes.
0:39:10 > 0:39:12Miraculously no-one was killed.
0:39:12 > 0:39:17Despite this near-miss, people went on living in a danger zone.
0:39:17 > 0:39:20My father lives here full-time.
0:39:20 > 0:39:22He wanted to come back to the house.
0:39:22 > 0:39:27He helped me repair it and expects to be here
0:39:27 > 0:39:30with the risks. He thinks it's worth it.
0:39:30 > 0:39:37Others have sold because Los Angeles commuters would like a beach house
0:39:37 > 0:39:41and have purchased the properties knowing the risks.
0:39:41 > 0:39:44- So this is still a place that people want to buy?- Oh, yes. - Even this street?
0:39:44 > 0:39:50The house next door to me was sold three months after the slide, in March. The slide was January.
0:39:50 > 0:39:53They know they're buying a house at the base of a landslide zone?
0:39:53 > 0:39:57Correct. But just go up ten minutes up the road
0:39:57 > 0:40:01and fixer-uppers started a million dollars with a view like this.
0:40:01 > 0:40:05Gosh! It's got an amazing hold on people, this place, hasn't it?
0:40:05 > 0:40:09It does. It does, you stay here any longer it'll hold you too.
0:40:10 > 0:40:14So why do people cling to their homes in the face of certain danger?
0:40:14 > 0:40:19Somehow lessons from history about landslides seem to have been forgotten.
0:40:19 > 0:40:24Dr Susanna Hoffman is an anthropologist who's found similar stories all over the state.
0:40:24 > 0:40:29California in a funny way has been a cutting-edge of coastalisation.
0:40:29 > 0:40:34Tons of people moving to the coast for good life,
0:40:34 > 0:40:39the view, for the recreational activities.
0:40:39 > 0:40:45Part of the good life has also lead to this incredible, unbridled development
0:40:45 > 0:40:52in which any private piece of land could suddenly become 25 lots or 300 lots. People will move into it.
0:40:52 > 0:40:58It's a cultural illusion that we can have good life and there is no consequence.
0:40:58 > 0:41:01There's no price, there's no risk here.
0:41:01 > 0:41:05In La Conchita, we've had these repeated landslide disasters
0:41:05 > 0:41:07but people still want to live there, why is that?
0:41:07 > 0:41:10Actually, it's one of the hardest things to understand.
0:41:10 > 0:41:12We call it "place attachment".
0:41:12 > 0:41:16In disasters, people repeatedly go back to where it was before,
0:41:16 > 0:41:20even if there's extent danger and they know it's going to happen again
0:41:20 > 0:41:23or they're aware that... it's very likely.
0:41:23 > 0:41:26So now also as well as place attachment, you get the fact
0:41:26 > 0:41:30that it's somebody else's responsibility to make everybody safe.
0:41:30 > 0:41:34The government or somebody should do something about it.
0:41:34 > 0:41:38But it's becoming increasingly clear that people have to take
0:41:38 > 0:41:42some responsibility for the acknowledgement of the extent dangers around them.
0:41:42 > 0:41:47Society has to understand that they can't put up a wall,
0:41:47 > 0:41:50they can't change a beach, they can't protect against the waves.
0:41:50 > 0:41:55There's no physical solution to disasters, the solutions are social.
0:41:57 > 0:42:04Instead of learning from repeated disasters and moving away, people prefer to live with the risks.
0:42:04 > 0:42:06They look for a safety net to protect them.
0:42:06 > 0:42:12But I'm not convinced it's a battle you can ever win when you're dealing with mother nature.
0:42:24 > 0:42:29I can't deny that California is breathtakingly beautiful.
0:42:29 > 0:42:35The views from the mountains down onto the Los Angeles basin are world-famous.
0:42:35 > 0:42:40People are prepared to pay any price for a house on the hilltop.
0:42:40 > 0:42:42But is it a price worth paying?
0:42:42 > 0:42:45If earthquakes and landslides aren't bad enough,
0:42:45 > 0:42:49there's another catastrophe just waiting to sweep over these hills.
0:42:51 > 0:42:58In October 2003, a fire exploded into life in Southern California.
0:42:58 > 0:43:02Freak conditions had coincided to create a towering firestorm
0:43:02 > 0:43:06that stretched from LA to the Mexican border.
0:43:06 > 0:43:09It was the worst wildfire in California's history.
0:43:09 > 0:43:14Nearly 4,000 homes were destroyed and 24 people lost their lives.
0:43:22 > 0:43:27Houses are continuing to be built in areas where raging fires are a dead certainty.
0:43:27 > 0:43:31They're inevitable because here, the environment, the landscape,
0:43:31 > 0:43:35the climate, the vegetation is primed for them.
0:43:38 > 0:43:41The steep slopes of Southern California's mountain ranges
0:43:41 > 0:43:48form an ideal habitat for highly flammable brush vegetation called chaparral plants.
0:43:48 > 0:43:50There's some common ones here.
0:43:50 > 0:43:57This one is called chamise, it's the most abundant and flammable plant in Southern California.
0:43:59 > 0:44:02Dotted around here is a lot of sage brush.
0:44:02 > 0:44:08The unique thing about them isn't just that they've adapted well to a hot Mediterranean climate,
0:44:09 > 0:44:13it's that over thousands and thousands of years they've evolved to live within
0:44:13 > 0:44:17and benefit from a good fire.
0:44:17 > 0:44:20They actually require it to stay healthy.
0:44:22 > 0:44:27Chaparral plants contain oils and resins that actually promote fires,
0:44:27 > 0:44:30and most contain seeds that won't germinate until after a fire.
0:44:32 > 0:44:36Plants like these have evolved so that they're not destroyed by the flames.
0:44:36 > 0:44:39Many of them have a large base or root crown like this.
0:44:39 > 0:44:42The top of the plant burns but the root survives.
0:44:42 > 0:44:46Within weeks, their crown has started to sprout and grow again,
0:44:46 > 0:44:50and after about a year or so, it could be up to four feet tall.
0:44:57 > 0:45:03South facing slopes become extremely hot and dry because they face directly into the sun.
0:45:03 > 0:45:09As hot air rises, it preheats the vegetation above so the fires spread even faster.
0:45:10 > 0:45:15The steep terrain accelerates the fires in other ways too.
0:45:15 > 0:45:20Canyons funnel air currents and ridges increase the wind speed flowing over them.
0:45:20 > 0:45:24Each year, the hot desert Santa Anna wind
0:45:24 > 0:45:28acts like giant bellows, blowing westwards directly towards people's homes.
0:45:31 > 0:45:36In 2003, they fanned the inferno into a ten-metre wall of flames,
0:45:36 > 0:45:40blasting them faster than cars could drive to get away.
0:45:40 > 0:45:4514,000 fire-fighters were called in from across the USA.
0:45:45 > 0:45:47The fire raged for days.
0:45:47 > 0:45:51Only when it reached the sea did it finally run out of fuel.
0:45:54 > 0:45:57So why do people here continue to build in the fire belts?
0:45:57 > 0:46:02Author Mike Davis has observed some very interesting attitudes.
0:46:02 > 0:46:08People tend to have a schizophrenic attitude toward the landscape.
0:46:08 > 0:46:14They regard the landscape as a benign, sunny, giving environment,
0:46:14 > 0:46:16until something happens.
0:46:16 > 0:46:20And then people tend to have an overreaction, a paranoia.
0:46:20 > 0:46:26So here you have people living in an absolutely controlled environment.
0:46:26 > 0:46:31Every aspect of their environment has been carefully planned and regulated and it's wholly artificial.
0:46:31 > 0:46:35But right next to them is the chaparral covered hills.
0:46:35 > 0:46:40You can live in a landscape like this for 30, 40, even 50 years before it burns,
0:46:40 > 0:46:44but when it does burn you get catastrophic fires.
0:46:44 > 0:46:49So the view from the backyard is looking at the equivalent of a lake full of gasoline or crude oil.
0:46:49 > 0:46:53But it has the power to sweep away this entire development.
0:46:53 > 0:46:59Are people in these communities surprised when wildfires burst up in their midst?
0:46:59 > 0:47:03Well, probably with the exception of a few old-timers most people are hysterical.
0:47:03 > 0:47:06They are always searching for anyone to blame.
0:47:06 > 0:47:11Not in the location of the housing or the ecosystem. They want to see the hand of an arsonist
0:47:11 > 0:47:17lurking in the trees or the bush, the maniac with his lighter in his hands.
0:47:17 > 0:47:20Although it's almost immaterial whether there's an arsonist or not.
0:47:20 > 0:47:26Given enough fuel mass, enough unburned chaparral, wildfire happens.
0:47:26 > 0:47:29That's the message the landscape's trying to tell the suburbs.
0:47:29 > 0:47:33It seems like those communities have to be told, "You can't do that."
0:47:33 > 0:47:36But that's very much against the Californian mindset.
0:47:36 > 0:47:38Well, of course it is.
0:47:38 > 0:47:43Or rather it's against the culture of people who still want to imagine
0:47:43 > 0:47:48they're living on the Jacksonian frontier, that they have this personal freedom
0:47:48 > 0:47:55to ride their motorbikes or drive their four-wheel drives, to live in big homes.
0:47:55 > 0:47:59Everything about this form of settlement is contradictory
0:47:59 > 0:48:03and ironic and in my way of thinking, ultimately unsustainable.
0:48:03 > 0:48:08After a while, what you end up with are dead bodies as a result of this.
0:48:21 > 0:48:27It seems staggering to me that people have ignored these lessons for over 100 years.
0:48:27 > 0:48:30Today, seven million people live amongst the chaparral.
0:48:30 > 0:48:34The lure of somewhere beautiful is simply too tempting.
0:48:34 > 0:48:40But if we can blame people, not nature, the threat seems somehow more controllable.
0:48:46 > 0:48:52FLICKS THROUGH RADIO STATIONS
0:49:09 > 0:49:12With over 500 miles of freeways in LA
0:49:12 > 0:49:17you can't go anywhere without a car, which means only one thing.
0:49:17 > 0:49:19HORNS TOOT
0:49:22 > 0:49:26Heading back to LA, you realise why so many people head for the hills.
0:49:26 > 0:49:28The traffic is terrible.
0:49:30 > 0:49:34You have to admire the positive attitude of the people here.
0:49:34 > 0:49:38But sometimes it's almost as if they feel they're invincible,
0:49:38 > 0:49:41and there are signs of this way of thinking all over the place.
0:49:54 > 0:50:00If building homes in a fire belt is an act of faith, then take a look at this.
0:50:00 > 0:50:05This cathedral is built almost entirely of glass but it sits,
0:50:05 > 0:50:10just like the rest of LA, alongside one of the world's most dangerous earthquake zones.
0:50:13 > 0:50:19Nothing can really quite prepare you for this dazzling piece of religion turned showbiz.
0:50:21 > 0:50:26Built in the 1980s, the Crystal Cathedral towers 12 storeys high
0:50:26 > 0:50:30and is made from 12,000 glass panes.
0:50:35 > 0:50:38Regardless of what you think about churches and religion,
0:50:38 > 0:50:42there's no getting away from the fact that this is incredibly impressive.
0:50:42 > 0:50:46I'm still not sure I'd rather be standing here in a big quake, though.
0:50:50 > 0:50:53Remarkably, according to the cathedral's founder,
0:50:53 > 0:50:58Reverend Robert Schuler, it's designed to be earthquake-proof.
0:50:58 > 0:51:02The world's leading consultant on builders and architects
0:51:02 > 0:51:06when it comes to earthquake-proofing structures
0:51:06 > 0:51:09is a Christian, and he's been my guest here.
0:51:09 > 0:51:14He said, "If you know an earthquake is coming, let me tell ya, run into the cathedral."
0:51:14 > 0:51:21- That's courtesy. - That's the safest building in all of California, barring none.
0:51:21 > 0:51:25That symbolises what, at the heart, a true Christian should become.
0:51:25 > 0:51:31The prayer is, "Lord, make my life a mirror to reflect your love to all I meet,
0:51:31 > 0:51:35"and a window for your light to shine through."
0:51:35 > 0:51:39So can you, through prayer, avert natural disaster?
0:51:39 > 0:51:41- Is that possible?- I don't really...
0:51:41 > 0:51:45I can't say yes, but I'm not sure that that's the right answer.
0:51:45 > 0:51:52But all I can say is I went through disaster when our farm home was the centre of a tornado.
0:51:52 > 0:51:56We escaped with our lives but everything, all of the animals,
0:51:56 > 0:52:01all of the buildings, all of the crops in the fields were sucked up and we never saw a hair of it again.
0:52:01 > 0:52:05And you never look at what you've lost.
0:52:05 > 0:52:08- You always look at what you have left.- It's that positive outlook.
0:52:08 > 0:52:12Absolutely. You know, what's the option? What's the alternative?
0:52:12 > 0:52:19Absolutely. I just wonder if people in Los Angeles that have very strong Christian beliefs,
0:52:19 > 0:52:24I'm curious as to whether they're praying against earthquakes or what?
0:52:24 > 0:52:29Oh, I don't know. I never pray against earthquakes because I have no control over them.
0:52:29 > 0:52:33And I don't think God's in the business of creating them and launching them.
0:52:33 > 0:52:37If he is, that's his business, and I'm not gonna try to defend him.
0:52:42 > 0:52:47At first glance this would seem to be the ultimate image of Californian trust in God.
0:52:47 > 0:52:51It's designed to withstand a major seismic shake. But to be honest,
0:52:51 > 0:52:53if you were at all worried about earthquakes,
0:52:53 > 0:52:56you wouldn't choose to build everything in glass.
0:52:56 > 0:53:01Instead, this seems to cry out a very different kind of statement.
0:53:01 > 0:53:05It seems to shout out a triumphal message of invulnerability,
0:53:05 > 0:53:09a confident defiance in the face of disaster.
0:53:13 > 0:53:20'To me, it does seem like a brazen symbol of the Californian belief that man can conquer nature.'
0:53:20 > 0:53:22Maybe he can.
0:53:22 > 0:53:24But time will tell.
0:53:36 > 0:53:41For the end of my journey, I'm heading back to the mother of all make-believe,
0:53:41 > 0:53:46home of the disaster movie itself - Hollywood.
0:53:52 > 0:53:56In my travels, I've come across plenty of different ways in which
0:53:56 > 0:54:00people escape from the reality of geological disasters.
0:54:00 > 0:54:08They misjudge the odds, they forget history all too quickly, they blame humans for natural occurrences.
0:54:08 > 0:54:10But I have to say that there's something weird
0:54:10 > 0:54:17about escaping the reality of geological disasters through the Hollywood fantasy of disasters.
0:54:17 > 0:54:23Here at Universal Studios, they've actually turned the whole disaster-movie experience
0:54:23 > 0:54:27into a ride which you can relive again and again.
0:54:28 > 0:54:31'I'm meeting up with James Ulmer, author and movie journalist,
0:54:31 > 0:54:35'who knows all about the blurring of fact and fiction on the silver screen.'
0:54:35 > 0:54:38Universal fantasy - this is what we do.
0:54:38 > 0:54:41- ANNOUNCER:- 'We're taking you into the heart of this set,
0:54:41 > 0:54:45'stopping the train to allow you to take some amazing pictures.
0:54:45 > 0:54:47'Have your cameras ready.'
0:54:47 > 0:54:51Why is Hollywood fascinated by the disaster movie?
0:54:51 > 0:54:54Here we are at the War Of The Worlds set.
0:54:54 > 0:54:58Tom Cruise in this movie plays a character
0:54:58 > 0:55:03who is an emotional cripple, OK? Who is healed by disaster, OK?
0:55:03 > 0:55:08And the only way he can rescue his family is to go through disaster and come out the other end.
0:55:08 > 0:55:12Americans like to see that because we are so desensitised to everything around us,
0:55:12 > 0:55:16especially in California, where we all go around in SUVs.
0:55:16 > 0:55:21We amputate our legs because we drive a car, the SUVs are like huge tanks.
0:55:21 > 0:55:26We celebrate the whole idea of...
0:55:26 > 0:55:29being so desensitised to the world.
0:55:29 > 0:55:32It's not that the disaster films make us less sensitive.
0:55:32 > 0:55:35Oh, God, no. The movies follow life.
0:55:35 > 0:55:37I don't think they push us toward anything.
0:55:37 > 0:55:41But I think they do celebrate the fact that we're cutting ourselves off
0:55:41 > 0:55:47and the only way that we can feel anything is to be tilted in a tram and going into the pond.
0:56:03 > 0:56:05He's a bit tamer these days, I think.
0:56:05 > 0:56:08Yeah, Plexiglas.
0:56:08 > 0:56:10Plexiglas.
0:56:10 > 0:56:17One of the things about disaster films is that no matter how big the disaster and how awful it is,
0:56:17 > 0:56:21society pulls together in the end.
0:56:21 > 0:56:22So it creates social cohesion.
0:56:22 > 0:56:26Absolutely. If you talk to people who lived through the riots in Los Angeles,
0:56:26 > 0:56:30which were in 1994, you'd think, "Oh, my God, it was horrible.
0:56:30 > 0:56:34"There were floods, fires, people were burning down the buildings."
0:56:34 > 0:56:39Most of the people who lived through that, and I was one of them, it was our favourite time to be in LA.
0:56:39 > 0:56:43It was the only time where people drew together
0:56:43 > 0:56:49and found a common cause and could really relate to each other on a individual basis.
0:56:49 > 0:56:53The idea that, you know, there's a whole industry built around this
0:56:53 > 0:56:56is something that I think just helps us cope with it.
0:56:56 > 0:56:58RUMBLING
0:57:16 > 0:57:19What was that? You're very calm.
0:57:19 > 0:57:22- I am...- You seem very calm.
0:57:22 > 0:57:26- This is what I mean. I'm completely jaded to this.- You're used to this, is it, in California?
0:57:26 > 0:57:28In California, unless you have...
0:57:28 > 0:57:34That was a 4.2 earthquake. Unless you have a six-point earthquake, you know, I give a seismic yawn.
0:57:44 > 0:57:49So is it only really movies that make Californians sit up and take notice?
0:57:49 > 0:57:54Maybe the land of make-believe is the only way they can acknowledge the risks around them.
0:57:54 > 0:57:57At least, until the next catastrophe.
0:57:59 > 0:58:04The geology, gold and then the oil, has shaped the Californian mindset,
0:58:04 > 0:58:07which, I have to say, I really admire.
0:58:07 > 0:58:10It's free thinking, optimistic and adventurous.
0:58:10 > 0:58:15Because of the Californian geology, you can live the American dream.
0:58:15 > 0:58:18If you're successful, you can have whatever you want.
0:58:18 > 0:58:22But it seems to me that it's just a cultural illusion.
0:58:22 > 0:58:26Because that same geology can turn the dream into a nightmare.
0:58:29 > 0:58:32It's the same story all round the Pacific Rim.
0:58:32 > 0:58:37If you can't suffer the downsides, you can't enjoy the benefits.
0:58:44 > 0:58:47Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd - 2006
0:58:47 > 0:58:50E-mail subtitling@bbc.co.uk