Original subtitles

(dramatic music)

NARRATOR: Here we are in Kennesaw, Georgia,

A quiet town in the southeast of the USA,

roughly 40 kilometres from Atlanta, with about 30,000 inhabitants.

For the last 30 years a very special experiment

has been taking place here.

All the inhabitants have to be armed...by law.

- All my friends have guns here.

It's kinda known that Kennesaw is a gun-toting city...for sure.

- And I think it just makes it a safer place.

I'm not out, flaunting my guns, or those kinds of thing.

But I just believe, you know, that it's a deterrent.

NARRATOR: So who lives in Kennesaw,

a town where guns are carried openly,

even in bars, schools or while shopping?

The Woods family have invited us to their home.

Both parents grew up here, and a year ago had their child here.

Father, Brian, works in IT,

and always has his 9mm pistol by his side.

- There's an old saying, that "I'd rather have it and never need it,

"than need it and not have it."

That's kind of... I believe they probably stop

ore incidents than they start, you know

But, yeah, I do feel safer.. We live in dangerous times.

You hear on the radio there's so much stuff that happens daily.

NARRATOR: In this gun-crazed town

this is a completely normal way of thinking,

and we will hear it again and again.

Because he wants to protect his family,

the 38-year-old has a lot more than just a pistol.

What we get to see in his cellar is a real arms depot.

There are tons of ammunition and four assault rifles.

This is completely legal in Kennesaw and also very common.

Brian is a real gun lover

who passionately cares for his "babies."

But he is not the only gun-crazed person in the family.

His wife Kim has also been shooting since she was a child.

- I keep it in the house with me.

Usually, if I'm downstairs in my house, I have it there.

If I go upstairs, it goes upstairs with me.

Um...I'm a stay-at-home mom.

I have small direct-sales job on the side.

But me and my son are at home all day,

and a lot of times now on the news you hear about home invasions,

stay-at-home moms. That's a concern of mine.

NARRATOR: But gun law in Kennesaw is from 1982.

At this time the crime rate and gun control were heated topics.

Therefore a small town in Illinois banned gun ownership completely.

And as a reaction to this the town council in Kennesaw,

a very conservative town, decided to make gun ownership compulsory.

But there are exceptions.

If all residents were forced to own firearms,

this would be against the US Constitution.

Our next stop is a very interesting shop on the main road.

It is run by one of the co-initiators of the gun law...

..the 80-year-old Dent Myers,

and he sells - what else? - all kinds of guns.

Even incredibly old ones from the civil war.

And these souvenirs:

T-shirts, baseball caps

that say "It's the law in Kennesaw".

- Everybody poo-pooed us.

They said there would be blood running on the streets, shoot-outs.

It was fun and games for a while,

and then they found out how it actually affected everybody.

So, everybody kind of said, "Well, we can do that."

NARRATOR: Yes, in this town there is lots of pride for this unique law.

- I think that's very cool. I am all about it.

I have multiples at my home and I have one that I keep in my vehicle.

- So, you have a firearm in your car right now?

- I do. - Will you show it to me?

- You don't mind showing me? - No.

NARRATOR: Even this is completely legal here.

It is possible to have a gun on you at all times.

MAN: I have a concealed permit.

- I am allowed to conceal it. - Yeah.

Yeah. But if you open it up here...

- Responsible gun owner. - Wow.

- You can see it is unloaded.

This is serrated.

It has a wax centre, so when it enters somebody,

it's gonna do maximum damage.

I don't want to have to shoot twice, basically.

NARRATOR: Thanks to the law, about 90 % of the residents of Kennesaw

own a firearm, but does this really make the town safer?

What do the police think about this?

Officer Kieffer takes us out with him on patrol.

- You may want to think twice before you enter someone's home

in the city of Kennesaw to harm that family.

Because they may own a firearm and be trained with that weapon.

If I was a criminal, common sense would tell me

that I'm going into a city where the majority of the people

own firearms and train with firearms.

And if I go into that home there's a possibility I'm gonna get shot at.

I may think twice and go to the next city over.

NARRATOR: So, the police, too, believes

in the deterrent hypothesis.

But the truth is that in the whole state of Georgia

the crime rate has dropped in the past few years,

without compulsory gun laws for citizens.

Our question is if the gun legislation

could not become a problem.

REPORTER: If you're go on a call and there's domestic violence,

do you worry that there might be guns in the house?

That's always in the back of my mind.

I presume with every call there to be

a situation of violence with a firearm,

regardless of going to a home or not.

Most people that own firearms own 'em for a law-abiding reason.

NARRATOR: Just like the Woods family,

who shouldn't really have to be concerned about violent crime.

In this affluent town there is almost no crime,

and it’s been like this since before

the gun ownership law was introduced. Statistically,

it is far more dangerous to keep weapons in the house with children.

Just like the family's one-year-old son.

- I am not gonna hide it from my son.

I will let him know that these are tools,

no different from than a hammer or an axe.

I wouldn't give him an axe, it's just as dangerous.

I'll take him out shooting a gun like that

probably when he's five to six years old,

somewhere in that age range.

NARRATOR: Like every week,

the family is on their way to the shooting range.

There are four of these ranges in the Kennesaw area,

and even on a Monday evening it is very busy.

It is very clear that in this gun-crazed town

there are many shooting enthusiasts like Brian and Kim.

The shop next door sells about 150 handguns and rifles per week.

Business is booming, and the market seems

not to have been saturated yet.

One hour of shooting costs $15,

and you have to bring your own ammunition and weapons.

But here, of course, most people have them at home anyway.

Brian's son is watching from outside,

and he's already gotten used to the noise.

Dad's favourite gun to shoot is his self-built, $3,000 assault rifle.

(gunshot)

(gunshot)

(gunshot)

NARRATOR: After a few rounds, it's Mum's turn.

But, of course, she chooses to use her own pistol.

The 32-year-old grew up in "gun city"

and has been shooting since she was a child.

So it's no surprise; three shots, three bullseyes.

(gunshot)

- Yeah, family time for us is shooting together.

My mom, my dad, my sister,

my brother-in-law, my sister's kids, you know,

my son eventually one day, we'll all shoot as a family

For us, that's how we spend quality time.

NARRATOR: An interesting fact, the name Kennesaw derives

from the Cherokee language and means..."graveyard."

We are travelling on to our next mysterious destination,

which lies in Ethiopia.

Dazzling colours and surreal formations,

the Dallol, a fascinating display of nature that only happens here,

a mysterious and dangerous place in the salt desert of Ethiopia.

We're meeting Yirga, our guide for the next couple of days.

Without a knowledgeable local and plenty of water,

shooting in the desert would be impossible.

YIRGA: Yes, very good, very good.

NARRATOR: With 140 litres of water in the trunk,

there's hardly any space left for our equipment.

Yirga is 33 years old

and has been guiding tourists to the salt plains for years.

This region in the northeast of Ethiopia is his home.

We also have two drivers and a cook with us.

- You're a good cook. - Yes.

NARRATOR: "Complicated" could be the correct word.

As part of the preparation, we had to get lots of different permits

so that we'd be allowed to shoot in the desert.

Our journey to the Gateway To Hell begins in Mekele

in northern Ethiopia.

From here the Dallol is 174 kilometres away.

This doesn't sound like much,

but in Africa this can easily become an adventurous journey.

We should reach our first stop, Berhale, in about two hours.

With each kilometre behind us the landscape becomes more barren

and the temperatures are rising.

It's no surprise that soon we bump into some camels

which are the most important mode of transport for the locals.

We've reached the small town of Berhale

which is really more of a village, but it has its own chief of police.

NARRATOR: The tourists are the most important source of income here.

The chief of police seems to have taken this to heart

and suddenly wants more money than previously arranged.

A policeman has to accompany all tourists going into the desert.

But, of course, this service is not free of charge.

Here this is a lot of money.

20 euros is almost the average monthly wage.

Then on the right-hand side we see the Erta Ale

an active volcano.

It is very significant for the desert.

YIRGA: Try to park.

NARRATOR: Here we see a nomad village by the side of the road.

These people make their money with tourists, too.

For the next two days, this will be our base camp.

Simple huts are very typical for the region

as everyone sleeps there or outside under the stars.

This mysterious place, with its vivid colours,

is right in the middle of the salt desert.,

1,200 square kilometres of salt.

But how did this vast plain come to exist?

This area lies below sea level

and is close to the Red Sea,

which has flooded the region multiple times

in the past thousands of years.

The extreme heat then evaporated all the water

and all that was left was the salt.

And this is where we want to go.

This part of the region is called Dallol,

but the locals call it the Gateway To Hell.

Acid splutters from the ground

and temperatures of up to 60 degrees are common;

One of the most extreme places on Earth,

dangerous and fascinating.

On this journey you are sometimes even faced with obstacles

that weren't there a few days ago.

Like this lake, for example.

- Wow.

NARRATOR: The ground is so salty

that even rainwater turns into salt water.

The desert is flooded about every four months,

and all the tracks in the ground vanish.

This is very dangerous

as the drivers can then easily lose their way.

So we head back to the base camp

in the hope that tomorrow the water will be gone.

It is the next morning. In order to avoid

the sweltering midday heat we're heading off early.

We have a two-hour drive ahead of us

but only a couple of kilometres are between us and the Dallol.

Even if, after the heavy rainfalls the water hasn't gone completely,

we still want to try our luck.

At walking pace we start making our way towards the Dallol.

To be honest, this is quite an absurd sight.

We are in the middle of the desert

and are driving through clear, calm water.

Then we can see the first sheets of salt on the ground.

Some of them are multiple metres thick,

but in other places they are so thin that we could fall through.

The salt desert, a fascinating sight.

Around us, nothing but salt.

But even this area is inhabited... by nomads -

the Afar. The salt is their livelihood.

Yirga takes us to meet them.

NARRATOR: The Nomads have been living

and working in this region for hundreds of years.

With an axe they break large blocks out of the ground.

These salt plates are broken down by the men

and then sold at market as table salt.

NARRATOR: Because of middlemen the price rises again.

In the capital Addis Ababa one salt plate already costs two euros.

For transporting the heavy salt plates the Afar use their camels.

How hard is the work at around 40 degrees?

NARRATOR: With primitive tools the Afar manage to shape

almost every salt block to the exact desired shape.

- Good? No good?

- Good? No good? - Good, good, good.

NARRATOR: Backbreaking work, but the Afar do this daily...

in the desert...

..at up to over 40 degrees, in the glaring sun, with no shade at all.

For us our journey continues on the crusty salt plains

that are sometimes as sharp as razors.

This is quite a hazard for the tyres.

NARRATOR: The hard sharp salt

has cut the tyre of our support vehicle,

so the soldiers quickly become the car mechanics.

Here in the desert it is often necessary to improvise.

But we don't want to lose any time and carry on with just one car.

The security has to come with us, so they have to sit on the roof.

After just a few metres, the next surprise.

Yirga shows us one of the lowest points in Africa.

This basin is 160 metres below sea level,

and volcanic activity in the area makes this liquid,

consisting of salt water, sulphur and potassium carbonate.

We now have a 45-minute walk ahead of us...all uphill.

And the temperature has now reached 44 degrees.

- Let's go.

NARRATOR: Loaded up with water bottles and the camera equipment

we begin our ascent.

Behind this hill we are supposed

to finally find the Dallol and its vivid colours.

Past surreal salt formations,

we make our way in this dangerous terrain.

One of the first signs.

A bubbling spring between two broken salt plates.

The cavernous ground is treacherous.

But it was all worth its while.

We have arrived at our destination.

In the basin the heat builds up.

The smell of sulphur lies in the air.

A sea of colour that only exists here.

An absolutely unique place.

And this is how this phenomenon occurs.

This region has been flooded by the Red Sea over and over again.

Underneath the surface of the Earth

the ground water comes in contact with hot magma

and is pushed upwards out of the ground.

At the surface the water evaporates and only leaves the salt behind.

While the water is transported upwards through the Earth,

it washes minerals out of the volcanic stone,

and this is the reason for the vivid colours and the acrid acids.

NARRATOR: So that's definitely not a good idea, then.

Nevertheless, this place is still fascinating.

Scientists once tried to determine the acidity levels,

but the measuring devices couldn't display the figures anymore.

Despite this, some companies still tried

to commercially extract minerals from the ground here.

In the distance we can see derelict houses

and steel constructions that are witnesses to their failure.

In the 1960s multiple firms wanted to mine for potassium carbonate,

which is a main component in fertilisers,

but the surrounding conditions were too harsh and they gave up again.

This is also the place where the official heat record was measured

that hasn't been beaten to this day.

It lies at a consistent temperature of 43 degrees Celsius

during the day and during the night.

We, too, are leaving the Dallol,

one of the most extreme and mysterious places on Earth.

From Ethiopia we are travelling on to Myanmar.

This mysterious place is probably

the most unusual oil field in the world.

And it is extremely dangerous.

(speaks own language)

NARRATOR: And all this just for a few drops of crude oil.

Today is Mya Gyi’s big day.

NARRATOR: This is the Minhla region in central Myanmar.

It is a poor region

where agriculture is the main source of income.

But a few soldiers of fortune are on the hunt for the big bucks

and are searching for oil.

It is backbreaking work

for the almost 10,000 oil hunters

that haul one of the most important commodities out of the ground,

almost purely by hand.

Mya Gyi only lives a few hundred feet away from the oil field

in his little hut that he shares with eight other workers.

A year ago he moved here in order to follow his dream

of becoming an oil hunter, and today his dream could come true.

(speaks own language)

NARRATOR: Mya Gyi himself has worked his way up from a simple worker

to an independent oil hunter,

and now has eight employees.

Together with them he lives, sleeps and eats here.

To date Mya Gyi hasn't made the big oil find yet,

but this could change soon.

NARRATOR: Today is the day he finds out

if his latest drilling endeavour was successful.

While his employees are already going over to the drilling tower,

Mya Gyi has to go to his old oil well.

But it isn't a very lucrative one.

He can only collect oil once a day after it has gathered over night.

NARRATOR: A simple but ingenious method to collect oil.

Mya Gyi's most important tool - a motor that operates the winch.

(motor sputters into life)

NARRATOR: The special thing about the region surrounding Minhla

is that while crude oil reservoirs are usually hundreds of metres

beneath the ground,

here the black gold lies just 150 metres beneath the surface.

Down there Mya Gyi's plastic pipe fills up with ground water

and crude oil.

He then separates it by hand at the surface.

This method of oil production carries quite a risk,

as crude oil contains carcinogenic substances such as benzene.

(speaks own language)

NARRATOR: Every drop is valuable and worth money.

While Mya Gyi is collecting his oil pipe by pipe,

100 metres away his workers are drilling a new well for their boss.

For Mya Gyi a new well carries substantial financial risk.

He had to pay $600 to the private land owner in order

to be allowed to drill in this area,

and his employees cost him another $350.

He has spent all this money without even knowing

if there will be any oil in the ground.

In his head Mya Gyi has almost reached his goal,

because all around the drill hole a layer of oil has begun to form.

Environmental protection is not a big concern here.

A few times a day private oil traders come to the field

to collect the full barrels.

After three days of drilling, it is finally time.

The well is finished, but every drill is luck of the draw.

In total, Mya Gyi has already lost $6,000

through unsuccessful projects.

But he has made the same amount of money through productive oil wells.

On the basis of the soil that is stuck to the drill head,

Mya Gyi collects clues as to whether he has struck oil.

(speaks own language)

NARRATOR: Mya Gyi is thrilled.

If he strikes oil today,

he won't have any financial problems for a while.

Through the holes in the conveyor pipe the oil and ground water

will later flow into the well.

Despite all the risks, a job in the oilfields

is by far the best-paid job in the region,

and well owners like Mya Gyi

can technically make hundreds of dollars every day.

In comparison to that, the average income per capita in Myanmar

is about $900 per year.

Mya Gyi does not only have a lot of responsibility towards his family,

but also to his workers. If a new well fails,

he cannot immediately employ them again

because he doesn't have the money to do so.

This is the reason for the high hopes

that everybody puts into each well.

More and more ground water is spouting from the hole,

but no sign of any oil yet.

Hours pass, and still...

...just water.

(speaks own language)

NARRATOR: Mya Gyi tries to keep his spirits up.

But his team are suspecting that this is a bad sign.

The oil is so impure that he won't be able to separate it

from the water and mud.

From his experience Mya Gyi knows that he hasn't struck oil,

if, even after hours of work, he can't extract

any pure oil from the ground.

NARRATOR: Mya Gyi makes the only valid decision

for himself and his team; he closes the hole.

Now he only has to deliver the news to the workers.

They haven't found any oil, and the past day’s work was for nothing.

Although, of course, they are getting paid

the employees are extremely disappointed.

NARRATOR: And so the search continues

in the mysterious oil fields of Myanmar.

Fukushima. In 2011, a reactor accident occurred here

in the local power plant.

A nuclear catastrophe with serious consequences.

For most it is still a mystery as to how life

continues here after the disaster.

- This park is decontaminated It's officially clean.

(dog barks)

NARRATOR: Abandoned pets...

..fear of radioactively contaminated food...

..and concern about the long-term effects of the catastrophe.

- We have to continue examining the radioactive contamination.

- WOMAN: Why? - Why?

Because food...some food was still contaminated.

NARRATOR: A life in cramped emergency shelters.

(speaks Japanese)

NARRATOR: Since the tragedy of Chernobyl, we know that the effect

on the residents where such a catastrophe has occurred

lasts for many years.

Here in Tokyo everything seems as if nothing had happened,

but what is the situation outside of the capital?

The city Koriyama lies in the prefecture of Fukushima,

and is about 60 kilometres away from the reactor

where the accident occurred.

The contamination was especially severe there in 2011.

Once we have arrived in Koriyama,

we notice measuring devices in multiple places.

These machines measure the radioactivity in the area,

and at the moment they are giving the all clear.

All the readings are within the norm.

But how is this possible after what happened?

Radiation expert Joe Moross is sceptical

about these measuring instruments.

He has asked us to meet him in this public park,

so that he can show us these benches.

(Geiger counter clicks)

NARRATOR: According to Joe's Geiger counter,

they are heavily contaminated.

The measuring results skyrocket.

- The company that was meant to decontaminate the park

was hired to the stones and the sidewalks, but not the benches.

The benches are controlled by a different city department,

and they would have to hire a crew to clean the wood or change it.

NARRATOR: Joe Moross knows exactly what he is talking about.

The engineer has been living and working in Japan for 25 years

and is an expert in the field of radiation measurement.

But why are the official Geiger counters

showing normal levels of radiation?

- They are pretty accurate and when we put our sensor next to them,

the readings agree, but if you nearby,

you find sometimes a different reading

because the places they put these are where they have cleaned up.

(Geiger counter clicks)

NARRATOR: It is not life threatening to sit on these benches once.

Therefore it is possible for Joe to work with just his bare hands,

but if one was exposed to this level of radiation

for a prolonged period of time,

it would have a serious effect on your health.

The engineer doesn't trust the official bodies in Japan anymore,

so he and his team have developed an affordable Geiger counter

for private use.

The idea behind this is for people

to measure the radiation in their homes or to attach it to their cars

and collect data while running their daily errands.

The collected data is then uploaded, and by doing this,

a contamination map is created,

which is independent from the official data provided

and much more accurate, too.

- The government put out information for Tokyo and Fukushima

but I live in Chiba, and there was no information for my city,

so I started measuring myself.

And then we found out that everybody wanted to know

not what the reading was nearby or in their city,

they wanted to know what the reading was at their house

or in their street where they're walking.

NARRATOR: Joe Moross takes us to the ghost town of Minamisoma,

which is located about 20 kilometres from the reactor.

We arrive in the ghost town.

Up until November 2013, this was a locked-off, no-go zone.

But now the radioactivity levels have sunk to a level

that makes it possible to spend a couple of hours here.

Everywhere it is possible to see how rapidly

the people had to escape.

They had to leave all their belongings behind,

and have, to this day, for fear of radioactive contamination,

not retrieved them.

This restaurant was additionally destroyed by the earthquake.

The fridge is still full of food supplies.

In this pre-school we find a calendar

from the day that time stood still.

It was 11th March, 2011.

It is no surprise that the people in Fukushima,

even outside the evacuation zone, are worried,

especially for the wellbeing of their children.

There are too many opposing opinions

about the effects of the reactor accident.

In this hospital children from the region

are regularly checked for radioactive contamination for free

and, if need be, also treated.

One of these children is Toshiya

who has come to the hospital with his pre-school teacher.

The nurse measures the radioactivity on the skin

and on the hair with a special Geiger counter.

But she finds no increased levels of radioactivity.

This means that Toshiya has not been in contact

with contaminated materials.

But the risk of this happening is ever present.

But there is another hazard lurking:

severe cell damage by consuming radioactively contaminated food.

And this is why the little boy has to spend four minutes

in this so-called baby scan,

which was especially designed for testing children.

So that it is easier to lie still,

Toshiya is allowed to play on the computer.

And it seems to be working. The high-tech machine performs

a so-called gamma spectroscopy. Luckily,

the results are normal.

- We have performed over 50,000 examinations,

and maybe er... one third are children.

Half a year after the disaster,

when we started looking at the issues,

we found that people in this area were exposed to radiation.

The detection rate of radioactive materials

showed a clear decline.

But we have to continue to examine the level of contamination.

WOMAN: Why? - Why?

Because the food...some food was still contaminated.

NARRATOR: Radioactivity in food is a daunting topic.

How dangerous is the food here?

The production and sales ban on food from Fukushima

has been loosened now,

but the information for the public is, as always, contradictory.

We buy some products from the region

and hand them in to a laboratory.

Here, the public can hand in their food

and get it tested free of charge.

With this special device, the Atomtex,

the amount of radiation in the food is determined.

For the test we have to cut up some of the products.

A standard examination just from the outside with a Geiger counter

is not sufficient when it comes to food.

The next day we get the results back.

None of the purchased items showed

any signs of radioactive contamination.

(speaks Japanese)

NARRATOR: We are left with an uncomfortable feeling.

Especially regarding the fish,

with it being one of the main staple foods in Japan.

There are often reports that radioactively-contaminated water

from the reactor spills into the sea.

What the long-term effects will be is impossible to say at the moment.

Back to Joe Moross in the ghost town of Minamisoma.

The engineer has to check the sensor

that his team has placed here to measure radioactivity.

Joe doesn't trust the readings provided by official bodies.

The equipment seems to have failed and is sending false information.

Joe immediately discovers what the reason for the problem is.

(sensor bleeps)

- We wanted to make sure that the sensor is working

and it wasn't that something had blocked it

or that an animal had chewed through the wires.

But it's clear, now that I am here,

that all this snow is so thick that it's covering the ground

and shielding the radiation and making the reading a bit lower.

NARRATOR: On our way back to the car we meet a human being, after all.

Builders are tearing down

a radioactively-contaminated building.

We are told that wood isn't as easy to clean as stone, for example.

The contaminated waste is taken out of the city by the lorry load.

At the moment, the Japanese government is planning

to permanently block off one of the ghost towns

and store all of the polluted waste there.

The owners of this furniture took everything outside

to be collected, but it seems as if half way through they gave up.

- I have seen families where

the father wanted to take everything with them,

and the mother was, like, "No, leave it behind. We've got to go."

"Let's just leave."

It's a very dynamic situation when you're evacuating.

And some people want to keep their things,

but they want to go, and they're torn.

NARRATOR: We are visiting the Endo family,

who experienced exactly this situation.

They, too, had to flee from the radioactive radiation.

They have been living in an emergency shelter for years,

and for the parents everything is about their children.

The father doesn't want to be filmed.

He is ashamed because of the cramped living conditions.

(speaks Japanese)

NARRATOR: The Endo family were very unlucky.

They lived just outside the official evacuation zone

and were therefore not able to get compensation

from the reactor’s owner Tepco.

All the others in the settlement at least get

a monthly payment of euros as recompense.

(speaks Japanese)

NARRATOR: 160,000 Japanese people had to leave their homes

after the reactor catastrophe, and a large proportion of them

are still waiting to be rehoused into real homes.

But the authorities don’t want to set an official time frame

on when this will happen.

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