Hestia Homeschool for Young Wild Women

When we were down in the Smokies on vacation last month we watched several excellent shows on the tsunami on PBS.  I am sure that this NOVA will be equally as excellent.  While reading about natural disasters is interesting, and often graphically explains the feelings of the survivors, there is nothing like seeing the devastation on video to bring it home.

Several years ago, the county below us was devastated by a flood.  Several people died.  We went down to offer help and assistance (my husband is a pharmacist and I am a former social worker who is particularly skilled in grief work.While we had seen what the flood had done to Falmouth on television and in the news, we were unable to comprehend how severe the devastation was until  we got there. It looked like a war had hit that little town.
A beach in southern Thailand destroyed by a tsunami after an earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Richter scale struck off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.

On December 26, 2004, at 7:59 a.m. local time, an undersea section of the Earth's crust slipped along a 700-mile-long fault off the coast of Sumatra, setting in motion a train of destructive waves called tsunamis that left more than 250,000 people dead. NOVA traces exactly what happened, and why, on NOVA "Wave That Shook the World , " airing Tuesday, March 29 at 8/7 p.m. CT on KET2 (and KET4 in digital wide screen) and Monday, April 4 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1.

Before 2004, the Indian Ocean's most-devastating tsunami was caused by the titanic eruption of the volcano Krakatoa in 1883. Immediately following the March 29th airing of NOVA "Wave That Shook the World , " KET2 revisits this earlier disaster with Krakatoa , a docudrama airing at 9/8 p.m. CT. Krakatoa also airs Sunday, April 3 at 9/8 p.m. CT on KET1.

NOVA 's "WaveThat Shook the World" tells the minute-by-minute story of the 2004 tsunami, featuring video footage and scientific analysis of the onrushing waves that spread for 3,000 miles around the Indian Ocean basin. NOVA interviews eyewitnesses, including one of the few people who survived when a train carrying 1,500 passengers along a coastal route in Sri Lanka was swamped by the waves.

Some geologists estimate that the earthquake that caused the disaster measured 9.3 on the Richter scale, making it the second largest on record. The quake occurred near the surface of the sea floor where one plate of the Earth's crust is slipping beneath another, creating periodic releases of pent-up energy.

Krakatoa addresses a catastrophe at the southern end of Sumatra, in the strait separating the island from Java. There, in the late spring and summer of 1883, the volcano Krakatoa came to life with ominous rumblings that culminated in the largest volcanic explosion ever recorded. Krakatoa itself was obliterated by the explosion, which was heard thousands of miles away. Airborne debris spread around the world, producing vivid sunsets for years.

NOVA is produced by WGBH Science Unit. Krakatoa is produced by Pioneer Productions in association with Channel 4 UK. The programs are closed-captioned for the deaf and hard-of-hearing.

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• #1 Comment from my78novata 
  3/24/05 4:40 PM | Permalink

  I remember watching NOVA when I was a kid. I ahvent in year