NOVA "Deadliest Volcanoes" & "Deadliest Earthquake" on WXXI-TV

Pictured: Damaged apartment block in Concepcion, Chile

Credit: Courtesy of WGBH

Tune in for back to back episodes as NOVA investigates two of the most dangerous natural disasters.

Travel with scientists who are attempting to discover how likely volcanoes are to erupt, when eruptions might happen and how deadly they could prove to be in NOVA: Deadliest Volcanoes airing Wednesday, January 4 at 9 p.m. on WXXI-TV (DT21.1/cable 11/cable 1011). Millions of people around the world live in the shadow of active volcanoes. Under constant threat of massive volcanic eruptions, their homes and their lives are daily at risk from these sleeping giants. From Japan’s Mount Fuji to the “Sleeping Giant” submerged beneath Naples to the Yellowstone “supervolcano” in the United States, travel with scientists from around the world who are at work on these sites.

In 2010, epic earthquakes all over the planet delivered one of the worst annual death tolls ever recorded. The deadliest strike was in Haiti, where a quake just southwest of the capital, Port-au-Prince, killed more than 200,000, reducing homes, hospitals, schools and the presidential palace to rubble. In exclusive coverage, a NOVA camera crew follows a team of U.S. geologists as they first enter Haiti in the immediate aftermath of the tragedy. It is a race against time as they hunt for crucial evidence that will help them determine exactly what happened deep underground and what the risks are of a new killer quake. NOVA: Deadliest Earthquake airs Wednesday, January 4 at 10 p.m. on WXXI-TV (DT21.1/cable 11/cable 1011).

Barely a month after the Haiti quake, Chile was struck by a quake 100 times more powerful, unleashing a tsunami that put the entire Pacific coast on high alert. In a coastal town devastated by the rushing wave, NOVA follows a team of geologists as they battle aftershocks to measure Earthquake. Could their work, and the work of geologists at earthquake hot-spots around the U.S., lead to a breakthrough in predicting quakes before they happen? NOVA investigates intriguing new leads in its gripping investigation of a deadly scientific conundrum.

PBS' premier science series helps viewers of all ages explore the science behind the headlines. Along the way, NOVA programs demystify science and technology, and highlight the people involved in scientific pursuits.