Episode Information

Northern Europe, the most densely populated place on earth, isn’t somewhere you’d expect to find earthquakes. It is hundreds of miles from any of the world’s known active earthquake zones. But the new science of paleo-seismology is revealing a different story.

Seismologists have discovered that ancient fault lines, thought to be dormant and running through the heart of Europe’s major industrial areas are in fact on the move and could hit Europe at any time. Earthquakes have hit Europe before. Experts have discovered fault lines that made volcanoes erupt in the middle of France, Roman ruins ripped apart by massive forces in Cologne, major cities flattened in the Middle Ages, massive tsunamis hammering lakes in the middle of Switzerland and proof of quakes so big Europe’s cities wouldn’t stand a chance. The film follows the work of scientists looking at this evidence and examines what could happen if another big quake hit.