next on a second look. it's been called a tsunami magnet. crescent city, california. crescent city got hit hard two times. but crescent city sits on top of one of the most dangerous quake faults in the world.

25 years, years after, we'll tell you what the city of shenobel faces to clean up a nuclear spill. good evening everyone, i'm frank somerville. when the quake hit in japan, most people in the bay area braced. it runs from the crescent city area north all the way down to canada's vancouver island. it's an area that scientists say is overdue for a magnitude quake the size of a nine. we have two reports beginning with our science editor john

fowler who brought us this report in february 28, 2001. the same day a magnitude 6.8 quake hit near washington. the sea floor is waving toward the continent. that's what triggered today's earthquake. the entire cascade mountain range and the mount st. helen's eruption are from rising rock. the so called cascadous eruption zone threatenings california's coast. geological evidence near southern oregon shows that huge earthquakes magnitude nine or even greater have happened regularly every 300 years or so along the coast. one is due now. the 7.3 quake that hit petrolia may have been a precursor to the mega quake that would be the biggest in recorded

history. >> one could come soon, one could come 200 years from now. but we're certainly not at the beginning of the cycle. we're some where being the latter part of it. >> if it should rupture and send out a tsunami, we would have probably 10 or 12 minutes notice on that one. so we have some of these very close to home and we like to study the ones that are farther away from home to see what we can learn from them. >> the whole west coast of the unite is potentially vulnerable to tsunamis. and oregon and washington state particularly hard. >> reporter: dr. robert alhemir runs the geological lab. he says the quake could one day unleash a magnitude nine quake as it did about 1700.

that could create a tidal wave that would hit all the way down the coast of california. a preview of what could happen came in 1964 when a tidal wave washed out four of crescent city streets. the tsunami that dr. alhemir is talking about would be bigger than that one. >> it could be along the ocean. >> how about san francisco. >> that's where you would see the largest tsunami action would be along the western side. we'll tell you about plans to open the area near the senombi reactors. but first, we'll take you to where the biggest tsunami hit in 1954. plus, two of the most

powerful earthquakes ever recorded. lap

on christmas day in 2004 an earthquake measures 9.0 and possibly as high as 9.3 hit beneath the ocean off the west coast of somatra. it triggered massive waves. the area receivedded major damage. a year later the area was still struggling to recover. >> reporter: scientists say the tsunami hit the coast of soáus south asian with the power of 62 bombs. the water came ashore with such deadly force when it finally retreated, the scene left

behind appeared barren, lifeless, hopeless. 90% of the population perished. in the island of somatra, 159,000 people were swept away. in sri lanka, more than 35,000 died, another half million lost their homes. in all it's estimated more than 216,000 people lost their lives across 12 countries that day. but that week, something else happened. hundreds of millions of the dollars began pouring in to aid those left behind. some of the money was raised by musicians in a star studded concert. some from the governments of other countries and some given by average citizens across the globe. a year later, the money donated and nongovernmental organizations or ngo manpower is making a visible impact. rebuilding is under way from

the -- >> seemed like everything was destroyed and i mean when i went this time i was surprised to find that everything looked pretty normal. >> reporter: sanantica just returned from the region. still some officials say over all the recovery effort is moving much too slowly. >> reporter: if you ask me i think it's taking far -- >> if you ask me i think it's taking far too long he says. >> reporter: for example, fewer than 20% of the displaced victims with without houses. >> the common question from the tsunami survivors is where is my home. that's still the basic question. but now you're getting the same question. what can i do to protect my family. >> reporter: the recovery will

take years, possibly a decade. the victims left behind are hoping people across the world will not forget their plythe. and to keep a close watch on the charities and governments doing the work. >> when we come back, on a second look. how the two most powerful earthquakes in history affected one small town on california's northern coast. and a bit later would you go for a tour near shanobel. it might be safer than you think.

at magnitude 9.0 the earthquake that hit japan was the most powerful ever recorded there. but sitting in the middle of one of the most active seismic

forms, quakes have been occurring there. much of the negota was built on landfill, and after the quake was finished, the town was destroyed. two and a half months early, the biggest quake ever recorded hit prince of sound. >> reporter: visitors are often surprised to find how quiet the ocean can be along the north coast of california. in crescent city's bay the water comes in in slow washes that are hardly waves at all. but the degree along the sea

wall tells us that crescent city has seen some very big waves. in fact, this town just south of the oregon border saw the biggest wave ever to hit the united states. the tsunami of 1964. 29 blocks of the city, the entire business district was wiped away. buildings were lifted off their foundations and set down some where else. other buildings simply crumbled, 11 people died. it began with a massive 9. 9.2 earthquake in alaska march 27, 1964. >> devastated alaska has begun the task of rebuilding after the biggest earthquake ever recorded. anchorage was in the center of the severe shock that ripped down fourth avenue the main shopping street. the loss of life was miraculously small. with statistics still being colated days later, it appears not more than 100 lost their

lives. however the loss in property is staggering. conservative numbers bring it to $100,000. about 1:00 the next morning, the first wave hit crescent city. there would be a series of four waves. the first wave came in to about here second street. about a quarter mile from the ocean. it was the biggest wave anyone here had ever seen but not one big enough to damage buildings or injure anyone. about 30 minutes later, another wave came, this one some what smaller. that led people to think that may be the worse was over. some people came down and started to clean up debris around their buildings. a third wave came in bigger than the first, and that told some people maybe they ought to seek shelter after all. about 45 minutes later came the monster. 20feet tall. wallly griffin who ran the town's newspaper then jumped in his car when he saw the fourth

wave coming and headed inland as fast as he could. he escaped. >> it would have been six or 7 feet above our heads. >> reporter: griffin told us about a family near this creek that piled into a row boat when they saw the wave coming thinking to ride it out. they did until the receding wave sucked them into this culvert that was not then covered by a barge. >> so they went in and drowned in there. >> yeah, they drowned inside. >> reporter: how many people? >> seven i think. >> of the seven. >> one survived. >> reporter: sandra nus came downtown in daylight and was shocked by what she saw. >> total chaos. there were cars inside of the buildings, refrigerators, stoves all kinds of things just laying around in parking lots

and in stores and in the -- everywhere it's just total mess. >> reporter: 180 houses and stores were bulldozed. running along the coast is a massive fault line called the cascadous abduction. and danger says when that slips away which could happen any time it will unleash a tsunami that will wreak havoc on much more than crescent city. the alaska quake that triggered that tsunami that hit crescent city was the second largest quake ever recorded. the largest had hit four years before. a magnitude 9.5 off the coast of chile in south america. the tsunami it generated moved up the pacific slamming into hawaii and california. >> chile devastated day after day by volcanic eruptions which spread havoc around the entire

rim of the pacific ocean. thousands are dead. over 2 million homeless. whole cities have been reduced to shambles. in a year marked by tragic earthquakes, chile has been hit by the biggest tragedies by far. every pacific island felt their colossal forces. along the california coast it swept in at an angle ripping installations and causing heavy damages. japan and okinawa felt the impact. 1960 emerges as the most disastrous earthquake year of modern time.

looking inside the shanobel power plant. the role scientists played in designing the plant. and we'll tell you about plans to allow tourists to visit the shanobel nuclear spill zone.

japan's damaged nuclear power plants have -- next month the world marks the 25th anniversary of the worse nuclear disaster in history. the 1986 reactor leak and explosions in the ukraine. it spewed radiation upward and led to 31 radiation deaths in the near by area. in recent years, united nations scientists have said their earlier estimates of 12, 12,000 deaths were probably too high. one of the most vexing problems has been the structure built around the plant.

there's been plans to build another structure over it. but when we filed this report, it already had serious flaws. >> reporter: ukrainian workers today are still risking their lives, surveying inside the lethally radio active nuclear plant. >> they all eventually failed so they had to use the -- what they called the biobots and that was soldiers from the russian army. >> reporter: livermore lab engineer holliday heads to shanobli regularly. the men who dawned crude gear

and shoveled nuclear debris just after the blast. the air crews who dropped sand and chemicals on the reactor. this pilot died from radiation sickness designated a hero of the soviet union. but now with a new international agreement, help is on the way. it springs from this lab here at the bay area at nasa. >> we now have the technology and the experience for being able to go into another remote dangerous place. in this case in another country on earth. >> when the reactor exploded it blew the lid off the reactor literally. and it blew it off, created all this destruction around here and the lid fell back down like a manhole cover into the reactor core. >> reporter: out the bottom flowed more than 100-tons of

melted reactor fuel mixed with debris. >> lava very similar to what you get during a lava explosion. and it also was very reactive. >> reporter: so dangerous a single snapshot was worth any sacrifice. >> it's an extremely valuable picture obviously. whoever took it was a hero. >> reporter: doctors say standing here a single minute would kill a photographer. to save lives, the u.s. is now developing this robot for the challenge of charnoble. >> the high radiation that makes this a very difficult problem. >> reporter: the intense radiation destroys not only electronics but even rubber and glass. engineers created a high tech armoured robot like this with special cameras and mechanisms

to explore the hellish alien world inside charnoble. no one has any idea what to do with the remains of the c hanoble reactor. >> we get experience in that most hazardous of environments where humans have not gone. where radiation levels like that have not been seen. and we will get to validate our technologies and apply them to our clean up and god for bid another nuclear accident. >> reporter: in the years since john filed that report, the sense of danger around charnoble is less. in fact, the ukrainian government is now working plans to ease restrictions around charnoble and allow tourists

limited action around the area. reporter magna filed this story. >> reporter: we're driving to charnoble, it doesn't feel like a place where the world's worse nuclear accident occurred almost 25 years ago. the sun lends a charm to the homes we passed. postcards from soviet days scatter the floor. a doll forgotten in the rush to leave. in all nearly 350,000 people were forced to abandon their homes. this village is called valicia which means behind the forest. as you can see now it has been completely consumed by the forest. when the villages were evacuated about 10 days after the nuclear leak, people thought they would be allowed to come back home.

but as you can see that wasn't the case. >> this is the memorial. so many people died after the accident. >> one person was burieded in of it. not buried but his body wasn't found. about 30 people in one month died all highly radiated. >> reporter: cook who's our certified guide from the ukraine center of emergency says the death toll is hard to calculate but it's less than people feared. estimates put the number at 4,000. but if world's health organization points to 4,000 incidents of thyroid cancer among children from the affected areas. >> so now it's eight or in seven, nine. >> radiation is not found into normal but cook says it's not a health risk if you're just here for the day. >> we've been here just

minutes. but it's not for sure, especially levels of radiation is not allowed. >> reporter: we're not the only visitors. the town was evacuated the day after reactor number four exploded. before the soviet union admitted it has a serious problem at one of its nuclear plants. yospichcov wasn't born yet, but he says it's important for people to vet so they can see the damage caused by the nuclear reactor. >> reporter: a chance for people to see for themselves the relics of a nuclear

catastrophe frozen in time. >> and that's it for this week's second look. i'm frank somerville. we'll see you again next week.