“Megaquake 10.0” History Channel Special Features NEES Projects

The History Channel will present Megaquake 10.0 on Wednesday, January 12, at 9 p.m. Eastern Time. The two-hour, non-fiction special explores one of the most deadly and perplexing mysteries that surrounds planet earth: huge megaquakes.

The largest quake ever recorded was a 9.5 earthquake off of Chile in 1960, but new research shows how even larger quakes close to 10.0 just might be possible. Through interviews with top earthquake experts and cutting edge scientific experiments, the special reveals that more than three billion people on earth are in immediate danger from the next big one and how a real 10.0 might actually happen on US soil–in places you might not expect.

Several NEES laboratories were contacted and interviewed during the production phase including Oregon State University; University of California, San Diego; University of California, Davis; and the University of Buffalo, SUNY.

Dr. Hermann M. Fritz, Associate Professor, School of Civil and Environmental Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology, said, “This documentary will include some of our experiments during fall 2010 at Oregon State University (OSU) with the Tsunami by Landslide project.“ Tom Albrechcinski, NEES@Buffalo site operations manager, said, “NEES@Buffalo provided high-resolution video footage of the projects including NEESWood, Georgia Tech Ports, the commissioning of the UB-NEES Nonstructural Component Simulator (NCS) “Hospital Room” tests and corresponded by email to clarify content.” The filmmakers filmed at both the W.M. Keck Center for Active Visualization in the Earth Sciences (KeckCAVES) and the Center for Geotechnical Modeling (CGM) at UCDavis. Dr. Ross Boulanger, NEES@UCDavis PI, is featured in the web short, which will be on the History Channel’s website.

For program details, visit Megaquake 10.0.

The History Channel is part of A&E Television Networks (AETN) and is the leading destination for revealing, award-winning, original non-fiction series and event-driven specials that connects history with viewers in an informative, immersive and entertaining manner across multiple platforms.

credit: http://nees.org/announcements/qmegaquake100historychannelspecialfeaturesneesprojects