''Mega Disasters'' is an American documentary

television series A television show – or simply TV show – is any content produced for viewing on a television set which can be broadcast via over-the-air, satellite, or cable, excluding breaking news, advertisements, or trailers that are typically placed ...

that originally aired from May 23, 2006 to July 2008 on

The History Channel History (formerly The History Channel from January 1, 1995 to February 15, 2008, stylized as HISTORY) is an American pay television network and flagship channel owned by A&E Networks, a joint venture between Hearst Communications and the Dis ...

. Produced by Creative Differences, the program explores potential catastrophic threats to individual cities, countries, and the entire globe. The two "mega-disasters" of the

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami An earthquake and a tsunami, known as the Boxing Day Tsunami and, by the scientific community, the Sumatra–Andaman earthquake, occurred at 07:58:53 local time (UTC+7) on 26 December 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of northern Sum ...

and Hurricane Katrina in 2005 inspired the series and provided a reference point for many of the episodes.
Excepting only two shows devoted to

man-made disasters Anthropogenic hazards are hazards caused by human action or inaction. They are contrasted with natural hazards. Anthropogenic hazards may adversely affect humans, other organisms, biomes, and ecosystems. They can even cause an omnicide. The fr ...

, the threats explored can be divided into three general categories:

meteorological Meteorology is a branch of the atmospheric sciences (which include atmospheric chemistry and physics) with a major focus on weather forecasting. The study of meteorology dates back millennia, though significant progress in meteorology did not ...

geological Geology () is a branch of natural science concerned with Earth and other astronomical objects, the features or rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Eart ...

, and

cosmic Cosmic commonly refers to: * The cosmos, a concept of the universe Cosmic may also refer to: Media * ''Cosmic'' (album), an album by Bazzi * Afro/Cosmic music * "Cosmic", a song by Kylie Minogue from the album '' X'' * CosM.i.C, a member of ...

hazards. The Series mostly airs on

Viceland Viceland (stylized in all caps), and Vice TV in the United States, are brands used for television channels owned and programmed by Vice Media. Viceland launched on February 29, 2016, with two branded cable channels; the American version (rebra ...

Format

Each episode of the series generally follows this pattern: #An introduction teasing the catastrophic outcome of the threat. #A background on the science and scientists warning about the threat. #A presentation of previous similar disasters. #A recap of the evidence. #A hypothetical scenario using 3D

computer animation Computer animation is the process used for digitally generating animations. The more general term computer-generated imagery (CGI) encompasses both static scenes ( still images) and dynamic images ( moving images), while computer animation re ...

to visually depict the details of a potential disaster.

Episodes

Season 1 (2006)

Season 2 (2007)

Season 3 (2008)

Notes

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mega Disasters History (American TV channel) original programming Documentary films about disasters Documentary television series about industry Documentary television series about technology 2006 American television series debuts 2008 American television series endings 2000s American documentary television series English-language television shows Disaster television series