All language subtitles for Violent Earth with Liev Schreiber S01E04 1080p WEB h264-BAE_track3_[eng]

Major hazards?
>> from volcanic eruptions are

>> from volcanic eruptions are
pyroclastic flows the rock

Pyroclastic flows the rock
fragments, and gases are moving

Fragments, and gases are moving
at speeds like a jetliner it

At speeds like a jetliner it
will

It can even reshape the
geology of the area.

Nobody can outrun
a pyroclastic flow.

If you are faced with
one, you are dead.

Welcome to violent earth.

I'm liev schreiber.

More than 80% of the earth's
surface was forged by volcanoes.

They helped create fertile
soil for agriculture,

And volcanic gases helped
form our atmosphere.

Without volcanoes, we would
not have life on earth

As we know it.

All around the world,
every single day,

There are 40 to 50 volcanoes
erupting under sea, on land,

Sometimes even under ice.

Our earth is a living,
changing planet.

But when a volcano erupts, it
also has the power to destroy,

Like it did in 2018 at
mount fuego in guatemala,

When a massive eruption
buried the surrounding

Towns in over 6 feet of volcanic
ash in a matter of minutes.

[music playing]

George kourounis: Mount
fuego in guatemala

Is your stereotypical
stratovolcano--

The steep sides, crater at the
top, erupting quite frequently.

Patrick oppmann: And so people
are very much used to the idea

That the volcano is
this living thing.

That was really
considered normal here

And not cause for alarm.

But in 2018, at
fuego, activity

Had been sort of ramping up.

Man: [speaking spanish]

Patrick oppmann: The volcano had
been rumbling for several days.

June 3, around the middle
of the day, a lot of people

Actually got closer
to the volcano

To get film, get
video, get photographs,

Not thinking it was
going to be dangerous.

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: I had
a friend indicating

To me that the volcano had
begun a more eruptive phase.

Patrick oppmann: Jiuwit
was working in support

Of local emergency services,
and they told him to come up

Because they were going to begin
setting up a shelter in case

People had to be evacuated.

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: When we
arrived at the bridge area,

I got out of the
vehicle and started

Recording with my camera.

Patrick oppmann:
Shortly thereafter, you

See this huge cloud
coming down the mountain,

Just sort of engulfing a
whole side of the volcano.

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: We did not
know what the danger

Was that was coming towards us.

When, suddenly, we began
to see that it was coming

Closer, closer, and closer.

Man: [speaking spanish]

The volcano unleashed one
of its most deadly weapons,

A powerful pyroclastic flow.

Pyroclastic flows
are hot, fast-moving

Currents of ash and gas.

Michael poland: They
can go incredibly fast,

Hundreds of miles
an hour, be hundreds

Of degrees in temperature.

And they will just wipe
out anything in their path.

Alexa van eaton:
It's very rare to be

Able to survive
the hot interior of

A fast-moving pyroclastic flow.

The reason for that is that
there's no oxygen to breathe.

It's suffocating, and it burns
you to a crisp, essentially.

These have been known
to overrun entire cities.

This is what took out the towns
of pompeii and herculaneum.

People think that
lava is the most

Dangerous part of a volcano.

But in reality, it's
pyroclastic flows.

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: I felt like I
couldn't breathe well anymore.

The lack of oxygen at
that moment was evident.

It was a very strange sensation.

I said, we must act.

Patrick oppmann: And that's when
they make the fateful decision,

He and the group he was with,
to jump in the pickup they have.

They start racing
down the mountain.

Jess phoenix: Volcanoes
are one of the most

Fascinating geologic
features on planet earth.

They are essentially
windows into the beating

Heart of our planet.

George kourounis: Most of
that magma that's inside earth

Is contained within that crust.

But every now and then, in
certain places, that liquid rock

Makes its way to the
surface, sometimes violently.

Brad pitcher: One example
of these locations

Are areas where tectonic
plates are being ripped apart

From one another, like iceland.

Alexa van eaton: Every volcano
has its own personality.

They look different.

They behave differently.

They erupt on
different timescales.

There are volcanoes that they
don't even look like volcanoes.

Yellowstone is a great example.

There are fields of
volcanic activity.

There was never a huge
mountain in a place like that

But, rather,
volcanism was spread

Out over a very broad area.

George kourounis: If you
wanted to classify volcanoes

In the most basic
division, you've

Got red, effusive
volcanoes, where you have

Liquid lava pouring
out, and then

You've got the gray volcanoes.

Those are the ones that
explode with pulverized lava

That comes out as ash.

And these gray volcanoes
are the ones that you

Really have to watch out for.

Brad pitcher: Fuego volcano is
more of a gray-style volcano.

Patrick oppmann: They're the
ones that don't erupt as often.

But when they do, they can
be absolutely catastrophic.

Man: [speaking spanish]

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: When we
got into the vehicle,

The driver accelerated
in a matter of seconds,

To almost 100
kilometers per hour.

Man: [speaking spanish]

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: And yet the
cloud was very close to us.

George kourounis: There
are numerous people

Standing at the side of the
road, seemingly in shock,

Not fully understanding
the danger they're in.

You see this gray cloud envelop
them as the car motors away.

The thing that got
me is the woman who

Is encouraging to drive faster.

She's just saying, [spanish].

Woman: [speaking spanish]

Jess phoenix: "don't stop."

Woman: [speaking spanish]

Patrick oppmann: And as they
race off down the mountain,

They're honking the horn.

You see people still on
the side of the road.

They're driving by people
who probably only had seconds

Or minutes more to live.

George kourounis:
There are about 800

Million people that
live within 60 miles

Of a volcano on planet earth.

Alexa van eaton: At
fuego specifically,

There are communities as
close as five miles or so

From the summit of the volcano.

Patrick oppmann:
Unfortunately, many of them

Were caught up in
this pyroclastic flow.

[vehicle horns beeping]

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: We were
shouting inside the vehicle,

Get out, evacuate.

[vehicle horns beeping]

Man: [speaking spanish]

Jess phoenix: The video is a
really poignant reminder of how

Sudden and how unexpected
these eruptions can be

And, unfortunately, how deadly.

[horns beeping, siren wailing]

Patrick oppmann: Jiuwit said
when they got to a safe area,

Much lower, then
they got out and they

Realized they were
covered in ash,

That the car had been damaged.

It really is miraculous
that they survived at all.

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: What would
have happened if we

Had waited 10 more seconds?

We would not have
had time to escape.

It really was
seconds and distance

That gave us the advantage
of being able to get away.

[music playing]

It's hard to believe that this
used to be a neighborhood where

People lived.

There were houses here.

This was the main street.

And now it is just tons
and tons of volcanic ash.

It is an incredible
sight to see,

And it makes you
wonder if anybody

Could ever live here again.

Michael poland: The official
death toll was over 200 people.

But there are still many people
that were unaccounted for.

[music playing]

Jiuwit rosas: [speaking spanish]

Interpreter: There
was a community.

Now, there is only
rubble and sand.

Michael poland: There's
a number of warning signs

That volcanoes give.

As magma rises, it starts
to break rock apart,

And that creates
small earthquakes.

There were some that were
recurring in the area.

George kourounis: Then
they started getting

More intense and more frequent.

Michael poland:
You'll see changes

In the shape of
the ground as magma

Rises because of the pressure
that's building beneath it.

Don swanson: As this magma was
slowly rising in mount saint

Helens, it was
shoving the north side

Of the volcano outward at a
rate of about 5 feet a day.

George kourounis:
It was eventually

400 feet, extending out
from where the original side

Of the volcano had been.

Jess phoenix: Unfortunately,
we can't predict exactly when

Volcanoes are going to erupt,
how long an eruption will last,

Or how big it will be.

George kourounis: Mount saint
helens was having these smaller

Eruptions, but
that pressure just

Kept building up and
building up until it

Was on the brink of exploding.

That Sunday morning, may 18,
there were a variety of people

Who were scattered around.

Reid blackburn was
northwest of the volcano.

Fay blackburn: Reid was
born on the east coast

But, when he was about
10, moved to oregon.

He was funny.

He had a very dry wit.

If you got to know him, yeah, he
would become your best friend.

Reid was quite an outdoorsman.

He bicycled.

He climbed mountains.

He backpacked.

We both worked for the columbian
newspaper in vancouver.

Steve olson: He was
doing a time-lapse series

Of photographs of the volcano.

Fay blackburn: And so
he was camped up there,

7 or 8 miles away
from the mountain.

They considered it safe.

Don swanson: But
when it erupted,

The scale was far bigger
than we anticipated.

[music playing]

On the morning of may
18, I was in vancouver.

And suddenly, the traces
on the seismograph

Started just moving back
and forth, back and forth.

George kourounis: The side
of the mountain gave way.

And what was once a
beautiful, serene forest

Turned into hell on earth.

That big bulge on the side of
the volcano actually slid away.

Avalanche is the largest
landslide in recorded history.

Michael poland: And
as the volcano failed,

It instantly exposed
the magma that

Had been accumulating
in the volcano itself

To atmospheric pressure.

And it's like shaking that can
of soda and then opening it.

All of the gas that was trapped
in that magma suddenly came out.

There wasn't a vertically
directed explosion the way

We typically think of
a volcanic eruption.

Instead, it blasted
out sideways.

Brad pitcher: So when this
lateral blast occurred,

It was this hot gas and
ash and pulverized rock

That traveled at
speeds of 400, possibly

Even 500 miles per
hour, creating what

We call a pyroclastic surge.

I've sort of described
it as a stone hurricane.

It just obliterated
everything in its path.

Michael poland: It dropped
trees like matchsticks,

And they were all radiated
away from the volcano.

The size of the
devastated area

Was about the size of chicago.

I rushed to the air park
and jumped on a plane.

There was this
tremendous ash column

Rising out of the volcano.

Some of the footage shows
lightning in the cloud.

One of the things that
happens with an ash cloud

Around a volcano
is that the ash,

As it rubs across each other,
generates static electricity

And generates these
huge lightning bolts.

Man: Dirty thunderstorms,
some people call it.

Alexa van eaton: And volcanic
eruptions do create thunder.

But there are also other
thunderous components

To an explosive eruption.

You can have rapid expulsion--

Man: Ooh, [bleep]

Alexa van eaton:
--And air pressure

Waves, essentially shock waves
that create thunderous sounds.

[loud eruption]

Reporter: Perhaps for most
people within washington

And oregon, the real
impact came in the form

Of choking, volcanic ash.

For the folks that were
in the ash cloud, really,

Day turned to night.

And ash starts raining
out of the sky.

Even in the cars,
your eyes were watering.

Your throat was burning.

Volcanic ash is not
like fireplace soot.

It's pulverized rock fragments
that are very, very small.

And when you get
enough pulverized rock,

It can destroy buildings.

It ruins roads.

It covers crops and can cause
famine if there's enough of it.

Michael poland: Ash and
airplane engines don't mix well.

Ash melts at about
the temperature

That jet engines operate.

So if an airplane flies
through an ash plume

And sucks that ash into the
engine, it can melt that ash.

And then it starts
coating the engine.

And it can cause
the engine to fail.

This happened in 1989 with the
eruption of redoubt in alaska.

A passenger, 747, flew into that
ash plume and all four

Engines died.

There was a recording
of the pilots when

They lost power to the engines.

Pilot assistant:

They hurtled through
the air before they

Were able to regain their
engines and have a safe landing.

But this was a very
eye-opening event.

So that's why we see
air traffic diverted

Because of a volcanic eruption.

[music playing]

We flew figure eights around
the south side of the volcano

All morning long.

During that time, I
just didn't understand

How people could survive that.

I was called by a friend.

And, um, she said, did you
know the mountain erupted?

And so we started
talking and saying,

Yeah, reid will come home now.

About 1 o'clock
is when I started

Getting worried because I
hadn't heard from anyone.

[audio logo]

The number one question
I get asked about volcanoes

Is, is yellowstone going
to erupt and kill us all?

I heard it's due.

[drum beat]

Michael poland: I
think yellowstone

Has become a bit of a bogeyman
in terms of volcanoes.

It's not really possible for
any volcano to be overdue.

Volcanoes don't work that way.

They don't work on schedules.

George kourounis: The
thicker part of the crust

Is moving over top
of yellowstone.

So the lid on that pot
is getting more solid.

So the odds of it erupting
are actually reducing.

But it's pretty much
impossible to predict

The exact moment in time when
a volcano is going to erupt.

Michael poland: And anticipating
the size of an eruption

Is still a real problem
for volcanology.

George kourounis: When mount
st. Helens erupted on may 18th,

1980, it exploded with
such force, it took

Everyone completely off guard.

[music playing]

One of the people that was
about seven or eight miles

Away from the volcano
was a photographer

Named reid blackburn.

I went to my sister's home
and we started a vigil there.

I think we all thought
maybe he'd get out.

Because by that time, they
had footage from a reporter

From a seattle station who
had been camped up there.

Dave crockett (voiceover):
I've left the car behind.

And as you can tell
probably from this picture--

[breathes heavily]

--I'm walking towards
the only light

I can see on top of a ridge.

I started up a logging road,

And that's when the ash hit.

Dave crockett (voiceover):
Feel the ash now in my eyes.

It's getting very
hard to breathe.

[breathes heavily]

Alexa van eaton: For those who
were downwind of the ash fall,

You couldn't even see your
hand in front of your face.

Dave crockett (voiceover): It's
pitch black, just pitch black.

This is-- this is hell on
earth I'm walking through.

He had made it out on foot.

And so we thought, well,
maybe reid made it out.

But he's just stuck in
the wilderness someplace.

[engine roaring]

Don swanson: We were flying
around trying to figure

Out what had happened.

And in that process, we
saw this car down there.

So we thought, well, perhaps
there's some survivors.

They could see the car
because it was in a clearing.

But it was just
all a sea of ash.

Jess phoenix: There was very
little left of the vehicle

That you could just see exposed.

Don swanson: Reid
blackburn was in a car.

We could see his head.

He was otherwise buried by ash.

[music playing]

I think he did get
to see the eruption

And would have run into
his car for shelter.

He gets in the
car, hoping it's ok.

But it isn't.

Steve olson: Before he could
turn on the car or move at all,

The blast had reached him,
blew out the windows of his car

And immediately filled
the car with ash.

He would have drowned
in the ash, essentially.

He would have died
of ash asphyxiation.

Fay blackburn: When I got
his personal effects back,

His wallet, the
leather disintegrated.

But the cards inside it,
they just look like they're

Burnt on the edges.

On the envelope, it did say,
body number 11 skeletonization.

So to me, that means there
was no flesh left on his body.

That's how immense that
magnitude was of that blast.

[intense music]

Alexa van eaton: There are lava
flows that reach the ocean.

And there are tour
boats who drive up.

From out of nowhere,
comes lava bombs.

[people screaming]

[crashing]

[music playing]

George kourounis: The hawaiian
islands are fascinating.

As the pacific plate moves
over a hotspot under our crust,

It forms these islands through
a series of volcanic eruptions.

The most active volcano on
the big island is kilauea.

[drum beat]

Woman: When people
think of volcanoes,

They often think of those
tall, pointy volcanoes.

Kilauea is different.

It's a shield volcano.

It's flatter.

And it has, sort
of, gentle slopes

That lead down to the ocean.

Scott mclean: There's
several neighborhoods,

And communities, and houses that
are built on the actual volcano.

It was pretty benign, at
least in the past few years.

And then in 2018,
everything changed.

[music playing]

Alexa van eaton:
There were essentially

Two eruptions in one.

There was explosive
activity at the summit.

And then there were fissures
opening up with fountains,

Essentially curtains of lava
rising tens to hundreds of feet

Into the air.

Those fissures opened
up into neighborhoods.

Reporter: Many residents
have been forced to evacuate

Their homes, and
they're not sure when,

Or whether they'll have
anything to return to.

[picture flash]

Volcanoes emit
a range of gases.

When you have an
erupting fissure,

There's so much gas
coming out so forcefully.

It can actually sound like
the roar of a jet engine.

During eruptions, those gases
can escape significantly more

And can create what we
call vog, or volcanic fog.

And it happens, when you get
these small particles of sulfur

Dioxide gas that can be
suspended in this humid air,

It burns your eyes,
stings your skin.

Lava is almost difficult
to wrap your mind around.

It's liquid rock, about 2,000
degrees fahrenheit and molten.

The heat that you experience
when you're close to lava

Is almost undescribable.

For the most part,
lava flows travel slowly.

And there are things that
you can walk away from.

On rare occasions,
they can be very fast.

If they're in a channel,
they flow like a river,

Many, many miles per hour.

[music playing]

Alexa van eaton:
In 2018, there were

Lava flows that reached
the ocean in what's

Called an ocean entry.

And there are tour
boats who drive

Up to the lava ocean entry.

Reporter: A group on a
tour boat was getting

A close look early
Monday morning when

Something terrifying happened.

From out of nowhere, under
the ocean, comes lava bombs.

[people screaming]

Alexa van eaton: Lava bombs are
large chunk of magma or lava

That's been expelled from
an explosive eruption.

They're really hazardous.

You don't want to get
hit by one of these.

Lava bombs are
stunningly terrifying.

These things can move
up to 190 miles an hour

And are anywhere from the size
of a golf ball to a small suv.

As these lava bombs
fly through the air,

They get cooled.

So when they hit you, it's
not like you're getting

Hit by some sticky lava.

You're getting hit
by a piece of rock

That is still extremely hot.

[people screaming]

Reporter: A clump of rock
ripped through the roof

Of the tour boat.

Nearly two dozen
people were hurt.

13 of them were taken
to the hospital.

So it caused actual injury.

Now, nobody died.

But it is a real example
that you cannot predict

Everything about a volcano.

Alexa van eaton:
People, for years,

Have been able to boat ride
up to that lava ocean entry.

And so even when you think
you know a volcanic hazard,

It can change on a dime.

[music playing]

Reporter (voiceover):
This really does look

Like hell on earth in a
place that is heaven for so

Many people who live here.

[music playing]

Kilauea erupted at a
series of 24 fissures.

Where the lava
was really flowing,

There was a whole
bunch of locals there.

Daryl clinton
(voiceover): You might

Want to step back on this one.

We knew that there was
this guy, daryl clinton,

Trying to protect
his friend's house.

Reporter (voiceover): Uh,
where's the safest place to be?

Daryl clinton
(voiceover): I don't know.

And we quickly put
a microphone on him

And just started
asking him questions.

Reporter (voiceover): So, daryl,
why the hell are you here?

Daryl clinton
(voiceover): Oh, I'm

Just trying to save
these structures

For, uh, some friends of mine.

Daryl, who's strong-willed,
he doesn't want

To abandon the house.

So he stays behind.

It was close to one of the
lava vents that opened up.

And he was staying
there to put out fires.

Man: When the lava came in,
he would douse it with water.

Where darryl was--

The jet sound was
just continuous.

Man (voiceover): You're good.

You're good.

You're all safe.

The fissure near
daryl was number 17.

Fissure 17 was the
first one to really,

Really dump volumes of lava.

It was very explosive in nature.

It was hard for me to believe
that anyone in their right mind

Would want to be there.

Man [voiceover]:
You're all right.

Reporter (voiceover): When
you hear the explosions

And you're out on the
lawn, what's the strategy?

Daryl clinton (voiceover):
Look up and watch them.

Keep your eye on them.

Reporter: That was the strategy.

And it worked pretty well
for him, until it didn't.

Friday we interviewed him.

And on Sunday morning,
we got word that somebody

Had been hit by a lava bomb.

And as soon as I
heard that, I was

1,000,000% sure that's daryl.

There I was upon
the third floor deck.

Most of the lava bombs
were ejected pretty

Much straight up in the air.

But every now and again,
there would be one that would

Come out like a line drive.

I was on the phone with daryl,
and the line just went dead.

[intense sound]

I woke up.

And I was on fire
up against the wall.

And, uh, that's when I knew
something bad had happened.

It was a lava bomb.

I knew I'd been hit
with one of those things

That I've been trying to keep
away from the house all week.

Last one to hit the
house, it got me.

It's literally being
hit by a boulder.

So you'll break bones.

You will immediately start
getting third degree burns.

Daryl was on his porch.

It's made out of wood.

Not only did it hit
daryl, it also was

So hot that it started a fire.

There was lava rock all over.

I was on fire.

And I felt intense pain.

[drum beat]

I went to push myself up.

And then I collapsed.

And I looked at my leg
and realized that my foot

Was pretty much detached.

I think I'm going
to bleed to death.

I was like, oh, this is it.

I'm dead.

I'm going to die.

There was nothing I could do.

I couldn't move.

Daryl was on the top
floor of the house.

He was lucky in that his
ex-wife, lisa, had been there.

[music playing]

Daryl clinton (voiceover):
We drove about seven miles.

And then eventually,
an ambulance came.

It was the most extreme force
I've ever felt in my life,

Just so powerful.

Reporter: He had
multiple surgeries.

It was a long, arduous process.

As far as recovery goes, he'll
never, never be recovered.

However, he's a remarkable
person and adapts, and goes on.

700 houses were
completely destroyed.

2,000 people were
displaced from their homes.

A whole section of
this part of the island

Was completely reformed forever.

How can you not show a little
bit of respect to mother nature?

Because, I mean, daryl's
story is a perfect example

Of what nature can do.

[audio logo]

[music playing]

Reporter: This is colombia's
newest national cemetery,

The once thriving river
community of armero buried

Under thousands of tons of mud.

The worst lahar
that ever occurred

Was the eruption of
nebahat del ruiz in 1985.

It was a relatively
small eruption,

But the volcano was
covered in snow and ice.

And that fed a really large
lahar that went many, many miles

Down a river valley and
absolutely destroyed

The community of armero.

Man (voiceover): A mile-wide
river of mud 15 feet deep.

Brad pitcher: When
it comes to rest,

Now you've got this hardened,
almost like concrete substance

That can be, like,
quicksand when people

Are trying to get out of it.

And because this town was
almost completely covered,

Rescuers had no real means
of getting in to help anyone.

[music playing]

It killed over 20,000 people.

Brad pitcher: What is terrifying
about the nebahat del ruiz

Eruption is that there's another
volcano in the united states

That has eerie similarities
to that volcano.

And it is mount rainier
in washington state.

Jess phoenix: Mount rainier
keeps me up at night

Because it poses
such a great threat

To the surrounding communities.

Tacoma and south
seattle are built

On 100 foot thick,
ancient mud flows

From eruptions of mount rainier
from millions of years ago.

George kourounis: The
summit is very cold,

Lots of snow, glaciers, ice.

And when it eventually
erupts, that

Is all going to
melt very quickly

And head towards
these towns below.

In fact, it has about
eight times the amount

Of glaciers and snow
as nebahat del ruiz

Had when it erupted in 1985.

Man: There's the
potential to have a much

More catastrophic mudflow.

[music playing]

These things can
be very destructive

If you get caught in one.

The chances of
survival are minimal.

There's only a few
stories of people that

Have survived being in lahars.

[music playing]

Venus dergan: I just was praying
that I would be able to swim

Or crawl out of it.

[music playing]

I tried to hang on as we
were being swept downstream.

The bark on the trees
were just scraping.

I could feel it on
my legs, on my arms.

She can't really
pull herself up.

And the logs are too big.

Reporter: That lahar
flow took out hundreds

Of homes and other structures.

27 bridges altogether
were knocked down.

Venus dergan: At one point, I
went under the logs and the mud.

And I just resigned
myself that this was it.

I wasn't going to
get out of this

And that I was going to die.

The next thing I knew,
roald somehow got to me

And grabbed my arm.

And he physically yanked
me up out of the mud,

Up onto the log with him.

And we hung on for dear life
and just rode on this huge log

Down the river.

And when it finally stopped,
we jumped to the embankment.

There was a huge hillside
that we had to crawl

Up, full of shrubs and trees.

And roald and I
didn't have any shoes

On because the mud flow had
knocked our socks and shoes off.

She's severely
injured at this point.

Venus dergan: My
wrist was fractured.

The bark had shaved
most of my skin

Off of my face, my
arms, my torso, my legs.

It seemed like hours.

Roald finally found a clearing.

And there were some men.

He started screaming
at the top of his lungs

That we needed help.

Randy (voiceover): We helped
him get her up on the bank.

We covered her up.

She was visibly in shock.

I looked like a mud
sculpture, is what I was told.

They were trying to
get it out of my eyes.

It was in my hair.

Brad pitcher:
Volcanic ash is made

Up of hardened magma that has
a bunch of gas bubbles in it.

And so it becomes these sort
of sharp, glassy fragments.

And then if it gets on your
skin, wiping that off can be,

You know, extremely painful.

Venus dergan: By that point,
my helicopter had come.

The gentlemen lifted me up and
put me into the helicopter.

[picture flash]

We were the only two at that
point that they had found alive.

But we won fate that day.

Fortunately, we survived on
intuition and the grace of god.

[music playing]

The eruption of
mount st. Helens

Completely revolutionized
the field of volcanology.

Steve olson: It taught
us an incredible amount

About the dangers of volcanoes
and the damage that they can do.

Alexa van eaton: And
it changed the way

We model volcanic eruptions.

And so most models use the
data from mount st. Helens.

Jess phoenix: And it showed
governments the importance

Of having a multidisciplinary
team of emergency response

Personnel and
scientists who were

Trained in different aspects
of volcano monitoring.

[music playing]

Now volcanoes are much better
monitored in the united states,

From the remote aleutian
islands of alaska

To the well-known places like
mount st. Helens and kilauea.

Venus dergan: As humanity grows
and humans take over areas

Of the planet where these
type of events happen,

We can't stop them.

So we need to learn how to be
ready when a situation like

This arises.

We'd have to learn how
to coexist with it.

It took venus
more than two years

To recover from her injuries.

Though she and roald eventually
ended their relationship,

They have stayed in
touch, forever bonded.

They were among the lucky ones.

The eruption of mount st. Helens
was the worst volcanic disaster

In us history.

And 57 people lost their lives.

For more information
on volcanoes

And what you can do to combat
the growing climate crisis,

Please go to
cnn.Com/violentearth.

I'm liev schreiber.

Thanks for watching.

Good night.