hazards from volcanic eruptions are pyroclastic at speeds like a jetliner. man: [speaking spanish] jess phoenix: it will obliterate trees. it will take out people. 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 g
major hazards? from volcanic eruptions are pyroclastic flows the rock fragments, and gases are moving 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 stereotyp
these are satellite images taken before and after the eruption. entire communities are now completely covered in this thick blanket of volcanic dust, and some buildings have collapsed. tonga s prime minister says that in addition to massive ash clouds, some areas were hit by 15-meter tsunami waves, wiping out every single home on at least one island. the full extent of the crisis, though, is still unknown. all of this ash is preventing planes from landing at the capital s airport. and the island s key communication cable has been severed, essentially cutting off tonga from the outside world. scientists say the eruption is a once in a millennium event so massive, in fact, that super sonic air pressure waves could be seen from space and were felt as far away as the uk. remarkably, just three deaths have been reported so far. but that number could still grow as aid workers gain access to the island. nasa is calling it a