1
00:00:05,960 --> 00:00:11,640
Something new is happening
on Planet Earth,
big enough to be seen from space.

2
00:00:13,680 --> 00:00:18,720
Hot spots buzzing with the energy
of millions of people.

3
00:00:19,400 --> 00:00:22,640
For the first time
in human history,

4
00:00:22,640 --> 00:00:26,840
more of us live in cities
than in the country.

5
00:00:26,840 --> 00:00:30,400
But these are cities
on a different scale.

6
00:00:31,480 --> 00:00:35,960
In just 50 years,
we've seen the birth, the growth

7
00:00:35,960 --> 00:00:39,080
and now the dominance
of the megacity.

8
00:00:43,520 --> 00:00:46,480
Sprawling, seething, noisy,

9
00:00:46,480 --> 00:00:49,440
polluted, crammed with 10 million,

10
00:00:49,440 --> 00:00:53,880
15, sometimes even
30 million people.

11
00:00:53,880 --> 00:00:58,440
These cities are complicated,
fragile places,

12
00:00:58,440 --> 00:01:00,680
constantly on the edge.

13
00:01:02,400 --> 00:01:06,000
These are places overcrowded
in squalor.

14
00:01:07,440 --> 00:01:12,200
But these are also the most
exciting places on the Earth...

15
00:01:13,160 --> 00:01:16,720
..brimming with optimism
and fun and energy.

16
00:01:16,720 --> 00:01:19,000
Wahey! Arrgh!

17
00:01:19,000 --> 00:01:23,560
Love them or loathe them,
fear them or embrace them,

18
00:01:23,560 --> 00:01:28,320
the megacities are the human future
of the planet.

19
00:01:29,320 --> 00:01:34,560
'They are also Man's biggest
and most dangerous
social experiment yet.

20
00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:44,440
'How do you begin to protect
and control a city

21
00:01:44,440 --> 00:01:46,760
'of 20 million people?

22
00:01:49,640 --> 00:01:55,560
'I've been off to look and learn,
going to an evasive driving school
on the edge of Mexico City

23
00:01:55,560 --> 00:02:02,560
'where kidnapping is a huge social
problem, not just for the rich,
but for the middle classes too.

24
00:02:03,840 --> 00:02:10,280
'I've signed up as a rather
wrinkled volunteer in London's
Police Riot Control Academy.'

25
00:02:10,280 --> 00:02:16,840
There's nothing quite like being
hailed with bricks and petrol bombs
to make you see things differently.

26
00:02:16,840 --> 00:02:23,320
'And I've been disaster training
in Tokyo, the world's
most advanced metropolis.'

27
00:02:24,360 --> 00:02:27,240
This is, um...not funny.

28
00:02:42,480 --> 00:02:46,160
So far, our planet has
21 megacities,

29
00:02:46,160 --> 00:02:49,480
home to at least
ten million people each.

30
00:02:49,480 --> 00:02:55,080
Every one of them struggles
with unprecedented problems
of crime and social control.

31
00:02:56,800 --> 00:02:59,200
Not new, but new in scale.

32
00:02:59,200 --> 00:03:06,000
And these great cities
are peculiarly vulnerable
to natural threats as well.

33
00:03:06,000 --> 00:03:11,520
Why is this?
It's because from Ancient Rome's
Pompeii under its volcano

34
00:03:11,520 --> 00:03:14,240
to San Francisco on its fault line,

35
00:03:14,240 --> 00:03:20,640
many of mankind's greatest cities
have grown where they did
not because of human stupidity,

36
00:03:20,640 --> 00:03:25,240
but because fault lines produce
rich, natural soil

37
00:03:25,240 --> 00:03:29,280
and vulnerable bays are very handy
for trade.

38
00:03:31,280 --> 00:03:33,600
Take Tokyo -

39
00:03:33,600 --> 00:03:39,800
two major rivers running through it
and built on fabulously
mineral-rich land,

40
00:03:39,800 --> 00:03:42,800
which is why it is where it is,

41
00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,760
but this natural richness
is no accident.

42
00:03:45,760 --> 00:03:48,720
It comes from underground.

43
00:03:48,720 --> 00:03:53,240
Tokyo's 33 million residents
are living right on top of three

44
00:03:53,240 --> 00:03:57,080
of the world's most unstable
geological fault lines.

45
00:03:59,000 --> 00:04:01,040
Or Dhaka,

46
00:04:01,040 --> 00:04:05,800
a haphazard, unregulated city,
built on a fertile flood plain.

47
00:04:05,800 --> 00:04:09,960
Great farming, great fishing,
which is why it's there.

48
00:04:09,960 --> 00:04:15,480
But in consequence,
its 13 million people now face
catastrophic flooding,

49
00:04:15,480 --> 00:04:17,920
rising sea levels and disease.

50
00:04:25,600 --> 00:04:30,480
London, not only one
of the oldest megacities,
but the only one in Europe

51
00:04:30,480 --> 00:04:36,880
and then only if we take in all of
its suburbs, is well protected from
the sea with a hi-tech barrier.

52
00:04:36,880 --> 00:04:40,920
But as a global city, one of the
world's most mixed metropolises,

53
00:04:40,920 --> 00:04:45,520
its 13 million people
are particularly vulnerable
to terrorist attack.

54
00:04:49,720 --> 00:04:53,280
My journey, however,
begins in Mexico City,

55
00:04:53,280 --> 00:04:56,280
home to more than 20 million people

56
00:04:56,280 --> 00:05:00,560
and a city built
on an ancient, now hidden lake...

57
00:05:02,320 --> 00:05:08,040
..surrounded by mountains, prone
to severe earthquakes and flooding,

58
00:05:08,040 --> 00:05:13,080
but most urgently drowning
under a tidal wave of crime.

59
00:05:14,080 --> 00:05:18,200
Almost everywhere has got
some kind of problem with crime.

60
00:05:18,200 --> 00:05:22,560
But in Mexico City,
it's at a different level.

61
00:05:22,560 --> 00:05:26,800
Large, extremely violent drug gangs.

62
00:05:26,800 --> 00:05:31,360
Trafficking, prostitution
and kidnapping.

63
00:05:31,360 --> 00:05:34,280
According to one local crime survey,

64
00:05:34,280 --> 00:05:40,960
there are something like
500 kidnaps in Mexico every month.

65
00:05:40,960 --> 00:05:45,120
In fact, Mexico is
the kidnap capital of the world.

66
00:05:45,120 --> 00:05:48,640
And it's not just the rich
who are targets.

67
00:05:48,640 --> 00:05:52,680
Kidnappers will go for anyone
they think has got a bank account

68
00:05:52,680 --> 00:05:55,720
or for their children
or grandmother.

69
00:05:55,720 --> 00:06:02,040
In this city, they snatch
at cash points, in the middle
of traffic even, in taxis.

70
00:06:02,040 --> 00:06:06,200
Why is this? Partly because
of the example of the drug cartels.

71
00:06:06,200 --> 00:06:11,720
Partly because the millions
in poverty live jammed up
against the better off,

72
00:06:11,720 --> 00:06:14,760
their noses rubbed
in middle-class success.

73
00:06:17,480 --> 00:06:22,760
Something which is obvious
when you see the city from above.

74
00:06:28,120 --> 00:06:31,520
From your perspective,
literally up here,

75
00:06:31,520 --> 00:06:37,560
things like kidnapping, is that
because there's so many rich and
so many poor very close together?

76
00:06:37,560 --> 00:06:42,720
It's definitely due to the contrast.
Yeah. The contrast
in social classes.

77
00:06:42,720 --> 00:06:47,280
You can see from one hill to the
other huge economic differences.

78
00:06:47,280 --> 00:06:51,400
In an area where you'll find
on one hill one house,

79
00:06:51,400 --> 00:06:55,240
on the other one you'll find
40 or 50 families living.

80
00:06:56,600 --> 00:07:01,280
'It isn't just the super wealthy
who are living in DIY fortresses.

81
00:07:01,280 --> 00:07:07,200
'Even in the lower middle class
suburbs, residents have built
their own gated communities

82
00:07:07,200 --> 00:07:12,720
'and paid for their own armed guards
to protect themselves
against thieves and kidnappers.

83
00:07:12,720 --> 00:07:17,760
'Throw in a police force
with an ineffective
and often corrupt reputation

84
00:07:17,760 --> 00:07:22,680
'and it isn't hard to see
why Mexico City's crime rate
is out of control.

85
00:07:24,160 --> 00:07:28,200
'Around here it seems it's often
pointless to call the police,

86
00:07:28,200 --> 00:07:32,120
'but there are people
who are willing to help for a price.

87
00:07:36,840 --> 00:07:41,600
'Tom Cseh is a former United States
Air Force Special Agent.

88
00:07:42,960 --> 00:07:46,560
'But he's become Mexico City's
self-styled kidnap guru.'

89
00:07:46,560 --> 00:07:52,000
Here in the Mexico City area,
80% of kidnaps happen in the morning

90
00:07:52,000 --> 00:07:56,800
when the victim is on their way from
their residence to work or to school.

91
00:07:56,800 --> 00:08:01,840
Why is that?
Because most of us follow
some sort of routine in the morning.

92
00:08:01,840 --> 00:08:05,080
The bad guys do not go
after the very well-to-do

93
00:08:05,080 --> 00:08:10,600
who mostly have their own security,
either armoured cars
or bodyguards or whatever.

94
00:08:12,760 --> 00:08:17,680
'Tom's most over-subscribed service
is his evasive driving course.

95
00:08:17,680 --> 00:08:24,880
'He regularly teaches Mexico City's
middle-class mums how to beat
kidnappers at their own game.

96
00:08:24,880 --> 00:08:28,920
'Can he, however, do the same
for an ageing British hack

97
00:08:28,920 --> 00:08:33,760
'who has no ambitions
to be Jeremy Clarkson?
Lesson number one...'

98
00:08:33,760 --> 00:08:39,080
You're driving down the road
and maybe some bad individuals
pull up alongside of you.

99
00:08:39,080 --> 00:08:42,920
They will tell you "pull over"
in Spanish. You hit the brake.

100
00:08:42,920 --> 00:08:45,960
They're going to drive on
at least a car length.

101
00:08:45,960 --> 00:08:51,600
You're going to come to
a complete stop and make a U-turn.
It's a very safe manoeuvre.

102
00:08:51,600 --> 00:08:55,960
'A very safe manoeuvre?
Well, up to a point.

103
00:08:55,960 --> 00:09:03,640
'Now, I am an impatient driver, but
this is not quite my normal style
outside the local supermarket.

104
00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:09,080
'The 180-degree,
gangster-avoiding handbrake turn!'

105
00:09:09,080 --> 00:09:11,080
God!

106
00:09:11,080 --> 00:09:13,600
SHOUTING

107
00:09:22,240 --> 00:09:28,280
'Now, that didn't seem too bad,
but I'm not finished yet. Now Tom
wants me to go on to the attack.'

108
00:09:28,280 --> 00:09:33,320
OK, the next manoeuvre
is what we call "the surgical"
or "the PIT and turn".

109
00:09:33,320 --> 00:09:39,360
This is very commonly used by
US police departments in the United
States to stop a fleeing felon.

110
00:09:39,360 --> 00:09:44,320
This is also useful in Mexico
because if the bad guys pull up
alongside of you,

111
00:09:44,320 --> 00:09:49,160
you know exactly
where you need to hit that car
to knock them off the road.

112
00:09:49,160 --> 00:09:52,000
I'll learn how to knock people
off the road?

113
00:09:53,920 --> 00:09:59,120
They're going to pull up,
threaten us. OK. And then
you're going to hit them.

114
00:09:59,120 --> 00:10:04,440
It's that area right between
the rear tyre and the rear fender.

115
00:10:06,640 --> 00:10:09,160
TYRES SCREECH

116
00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:16,760
CLATTER
Sorry! You're all right. Yeah.

117
00:10:16,760 --> 00:10:18,320
Sorry.

118
00:10:18,320 --> 00:10:22,240
Now, wait a minute. Don't film that!
LAUGHTER

119
00:10:23,440 --> 00:10:26,960
'And Tom's got one more lesson
for me.'

120
00:10:26,960 --> 00:10:31,000
OK, so this is your typical
blocked highway here.

121
00:10:31,000 --> 00:10:36,520
The bad guys are blocking you.
You're coming down a one-way street.
You cannot reverse out.

122
00:10:36,520 --> 00:10:39,800
The only option is to go forward
and if you want...

123
00:10:39,800 --> 00:10:44,840
This kind of thing happens
in Mexico City? It happens
in Mexico City, yes. OK.

124
00:10:44,840 --> 00:10:49,760
So the bad guys would never expect
that you are going to ram their car.

125
00:10:49,760 --> 00:10:54,320
'Yet driving into another car
proves surprisingly difficult.

126
00:10:54,320 --> 00:10:57,840
'Even in London,
it's not exactly instinctive.'

127
00:10:57,840 --> 00:10:59,880
SHOUTING

128
00:11:01,240 --> 00:11:03,800
Oh... 'Missed!'

129
00:11:03,800 --> 00:11:06,160
Sorry.

130
00:11:08,520 --> 00:11:10,560
'Take two.'

131
00:11:10,560 --> 00:11:13,280
Esta es la calle de Morelos!

132
00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,200
Good. Right on.

133
00:11:20,160 --> 00:11:22,560
That was worryingly enjoyable.

134
00:11:24,000 --> 00:11:26,840
Thanks, bad guys!
LAUGHTER

135
00:11:32,560 --> 00:11:38,520
Most of Mexico City's kidnappers
are, of course,
simply desperate opportunists.

136
00:11:38,520 --> 00:11:42,760
The alienating, unfair and
cramped atmosphere of the megacity

137
00:11:42,760 --> 00:11:45,800
encourages
some very violent individuals.

138
00:11:46,800 --> 00:11:51,080
But what happens when parts
of the megacity kick off en masse?

139
00:11:54,280 --> 00:11:58,320
Cities are places where millions
of people are crammed together

140
00:11:58,320 --> 00:12:04,080
and sometimes they are places
where millions of very angry people
are crammed together

141
00:12:04,080 --> 00:12:08,120
and it doesn't take much
to light the touchpaper.

142
00:12:10,440 --> 00:12:12,520
CHANTING

143
00:12:12,520 --> 00:12:18,280
When a riot does kick off,
streets turn from shopping arcades
and open-air cafes

144
00:12:18,280 --> 00:12:23,400
into narrow,
high-stakes battlefields
and it happens the world over.

145
00:12:29,440 --> 00:12:32,640
Go!
ALL: Ten, nine, eight, seven, six,

146
00:12:32,640 --> 00:12:35,440
five, four, three, two, one!

147
00:12:41,320 --> 00:12:47,560
'So every self-respecting megacity
needs to have a defence force
on stand-by

148
00:12:47,560 --> 00:12:51,240
'and I'm reporting
for basic training with London's.

149
00:12:51,240 --> 00:12:57,280
'These men aren't crack troops.
They're ordinary bobbies from the
London Metropolitan Police Force.'

150
00:12:57,280 --> 00:13:00,720
Five, four, three, two, one!

151
00:13:03,200 --> 00:13:08,240
'Yet all the kit that's needed
to combat a riot in a metropolis

152
00:13:08,240 --> 00:13:11,800
'quickly turns these perfectly
pleasant bobbies and me

153
00:13:11,800 --> 00:13:15,280
'into what could be seen
as faceless storm troopers.'

154
00:13:15,280 --> 00:13:19,480
I've always wanted to look well
built. This is the cheating way.

155
00:13:19,480 --> 00:13:24,080
And you'll be feeling quite warm now.
I'm already feeling hot, yeah.

156
00:13:24,080 --> 00:13:26,760
God, it's a formidable outfit.

157
00:13:26,760 --> 00:13:29,040
Three, two, one, go!

158
00:13:31,800 --> 00:13:35,960
'The suits are fire-proof,
sweat-proof and knife-proof.

159
00:13:35,960 --> 00:13:41,600
'The stab vest alone weighs
about eight kilos, so they're not
the easiest things to get around in

160
00:13:41,600 --> 00:13:46,640
'and that's without the added
weight of a nine-kilogram
polycarbonate shield.'

161
00:13:46,640 --> 00:13:49,360
Come on, keep going, keep going!

162
00:13:49,360 --> 00:13:51,760
I thought I was quite fit.

163
00:13:51,760 --> 00:13:54,240
But that was hard.

164
00:13:55,280 --> 00:13:57,840
It's the weight of all this stuff.

165
00:13:57,840 --> 00:14:02,520
'Next we're taught how to treat
an ordinary street as a war zone.'

166
00:14:02,520 --> 00:14:05,080
902, forward! Forward!

167
00:14:06,040 --> 00:14:10,200
'I feel a bit like
I've been thrown back in time.'

168
00:14:13,600 --> 00:14:19,440
What really strikes me about this
is we have a very, very
sophisticated, modern city here,

169
00:14:19,440 --> 00:14:24,960
and all these megacities,
these huge metropolises
are sophisticated and modern,

170
00:14:24,960 --> 00:14:30,800
and in the end, we are behaving
just in the same way that
Julius Caesar's troops behaved.

171
00:14:30,800 --> 00:14:34,000
Short shields back,
short shields back!

172
00:14:34,000 --> 00:14:38,360
It's exactly the same tactics
you'll read from 2,000 years ago.

173
00:14:38,360 --> 00:14:42,960
Go!
With long shields linking and short
shields moving forward and back.

174
00:14:42,960 --> 00:14:46,680
Short shields, let's head
for the rear. Head for the rear.

175
00:14:47,680 --> 00:14:53,880
'In the modern megacity riot,
though, it's not arrows and spears
you need protection against.

176
00:14:53,880 --> 00:14:57,480
'As darkness falls,
the training is stepped up

177
00:14:57,480 --> 00:15:01,480
'and more realistic riot conditions
take over.

178
00:15:01,480 --> 00:15:04,560
'We're up against
an ugly, angry mob.

179
00:15:04,560 --> 00:15:11,320
'They're actually off-duty coppers
playing at being fascist
or anarchist thugs.

180
00:15:11,320 --> 00:15:14,760
'They're taking the game
seriously enough.

181
00:15:24,400 --> 00:15:30,240
'In a riot, the familiar,
everyday fabric of the city
takes on a different look.

182
00:15:30,240 --> 00:15:36,200
'Paving slabs and bottles and bricks
and waste bins become weapons.'

183
00:15:39,120 --> 00:15:43,320
REPORTER:
Dozens of police and demonstrators
were hurt by missiles

184
00:15:43,320 --> 00:15:47,200
including bottles, stones
and scaffolding poles.

185
00:15:47,200 --> 00:15:49,880
Cars were overturned and set alight.

186
00:15:51,240 --> 00:15:55,160
'Riots are caused
by all sorts of different factors -

187
00:15:55,160 --> 00:15:59,160
'oppressive politics or
racial tension, religious extremism.

188
00:15:59,160 --> 00:16:04,800
'But some scientists
have discovered what they think
is another rather simpler trigger -

189
00:16:04,800 --> 00:16:06,640
'heat.

190
00:16:06,640 --> 00:16:11,880
'An increase in temperature causes
a higher serotonin release
in the brain

191
00:16:11,880 --> 00:16:15,280
'which in turn leads
to increased aggression.

192
00:16:18,720 --> 00:16:21,120
'So here's a rather bizarre claim.

193
00:16:21,120 --> 00:16:26,920
'27 to 32 degrees Centigrade is
apparently optimum rioting weather.

194
00:16:36,320 --> 00:16:40,040
'Back at my riot
and apparently, we're winning.

195
00:16:40,040 --> 00:16:45,120
'After taking a battering
and absorbing everything
they can unleash on us,

196
00:16:45,120 --> 00:16:49,120
'we can advance and bring the crowd
under control.'

197
00:16:51,000 --> 00:16:57,880
There's nothing quite like being
hailed with bricks and petrol bombs
to make you see things differently.

198
00:16:57,880 --> 00:17:03,440
My admiration for these guys
is pretty high just at the moment,
but you'd expect that.

199
00:17:03,440 --> 00:17:06,040
It's just the petrol talking.

200
00:17:10,560 --> 00:17:12,760
Escucha! Jesucristo...

201
00:17:12,760 --> 00:17:17,680
'Back in Mexico City,
it isn't just the police force
that needs to be kitted out.

202
00:17:19,800 --> 00:17:27,320
'This is an exceptionally dangerous
city where it pays to wear the right
thing at the wrong end of a gun.

203
00:17:29,680 --> 00:17:34,680
'Miguel Caballero, named after
its owner, is a stylish boutique

204
00:17:34,680 --> 00:17:40,520
'selling a rather special line
in men's clothing for
the Mexico City gent about town.'

205
00:17:41,560 --> 00:17:45,120
This is like an ordinary
fashion collection.

206
00:17:45,120 --> 00:17:47,960
That is the idea. There you go.

207
00:17:47,960 --> 00:17:51,680
Now we have a shirt,
now we have tops.

208
00:17:51,680 --> 00:17:57,240
That is all the sweaters.
Nice jerseys. That is totally new.
It's from last week.

209
00:17:57,240 --> 00:18:03,280
The only thing different about them
is that they'll stop you being
gunned down? Yeah. That's amazing.

210
00:18:03,280 --> 00:18:07,280
We have to guarantee discretion,
fashion, comfort.

211
00:18:07,280 --> 00:18:10,840
These are the guns
you protect against? Yeah. Wow!

212
00:18:10,840 --> 00:18:14,680
That is high protection.
These are serious machine guns.

213
00:18:14,680 --> 00:18:21,960
'Made of reinforced Kevlar,
the exact composition of Miguel's
bullet-proof clothing is a secret.'

214
00:18:21,960 --> 00:18:27,200
What kind of people are coming in
for this? What kind of people
are asking for it?

215
00:18:27,200 --> 00:18:30,720
Politicians. Politicians,
yeah, obviously. CEOs.

216
00:18:31,720 --> 00:18:36,440
CEOs of the companies,
president of the companies.

217
00:18:37,920 --> 00:18:43,280
Gobernadors. Yeah.
Basically, rich people
who think they're targets? Yeah.

218
00:18:43,280 --> 00:18:45,640
Can I try on this? Totally.

219
00:18:45,640 --> 00:18:48,440
Yeah, that's a bit more, um...

220
00:18:48,440 --> 00:18:54,920
for an evening out. You're taking
someone out and you think you might
be machine-gunned, so you wear...

221
00:18:54,920 --> 00:19:00,920
If you are on any weekend and you
want to maintain the casual wear,
that is the perfect idea.

222
00:19:00,920 --> 00:19:02,960
Yeah, it's big protection.

223
00:19:02,960 --> 00:19:05,800
Let's have a little look
in the mirror.

224
00:19:05,800 --> 00:19:11,560
The idea is all the time to maintain
your discretion. You wouldn't know
I was bullet-proof protected.

225
00:19:11,560 --> 00:19:13,760
So how much would this cost me?

226
00:19:13,760 --> 00:19:17,720
It's around 900 US dollars
to 4,900 US dollars.

227
00:19:20,200 --> 00:19:24,040
'Strange fact - Mexico City
has just got one legal gun shop.

228
00:19:24,040 --> 00:19:29,600
'100 miles away, though, over
the border with the United States,
there are 7,000 of them.

229
00:19:29,600 --> 00:19:34,640
'You don't need to be an economic
genius to work out what's going on.
Poor old Mexico.

230
00:19:34,640 --> 00:19:39,080
'Miguel is showing me just how much
protection his casual wear offers.'

231
00:19:39,080 --> 00:19:42,120
We're now here
at the police shooting range.

232
00:19:42,120 --> 00:19:44,320
And I've got the jacket.

233
00:19:44,320 --> 00:19:51,160
However, I've been told that
BBC Health & Safety won't allow ME
to be actually shot,

234
00:19:51,160 --> 00:19:57,000
so I'd like to say sorry to those
people watching who were desperate
to see Andrew Marr take one.

235
00:19:57,000 --> 00:20:02,840
'However, Oscar, one of Miguel's
employees, has kindly agreed
to take one on my behalf.'

236
00:20:02,840 --> 00:20:08,840
And then we're going to go through
into the shooting range
and you'll see what happens next.

237
00:20:08,840 --> 00:20:11,520
We'll all see what happens next.

238
00:20:11,520 --> 00:20:13,920
Let's go through. Please.

239
00:20:15,640 --> 00:20:17,680
So here's the gun.

240
00:20:17,680 --> 00:20:20,520
Now, one bullet. One bullet only.

241
00:20:20,520 --> 00:20:24,800
We always give the opportunity
to the victim to choose the bullet.

242
00:20:24,800 --> 00:20:28,160
You want to choose the bullet? OK.
This is gruesome.

243
00:20:28,160 --> 00:20:31,360
There's your bullet.
All right, mate.

244
00:20:46,520 --> 00:20:48,080
Uno!

245
00:20:48,080 --> 00:20:50,120
GUNSHOT

246
00:20:52,640 --> 00:20:54,280
Wow!

247
00:20:55,800 --> 00:20:59,560
Are you all right? Yeah.
You feel OK? Yeah.

248
00:20:59,560 --> 00:21:02,440
Nothing there. God!

249
00:21:02,440 --> 00:21:04,440
And there it is.

250
00:21:04,440 --> 00:21:06,480
That's amazing.

251
00:21:06,480 --> 00:21:08,920
It's hot. It's hot.

252
00:21:08,920 --> 00:21:11,400
Oh, it's hot, yeah. Still hot.

253
00:21:12,360 --> 00:21:16,240
And you're not in pain?
It's not sore? No, nothing.

254
00:21:16,240 --> 00:21:22,200
Wow! I think I need one of these.
Next time I'm in Downing Street,
I'll take one of these with me.

255
00:21:22,200 --> 00:21:25,640
If you want, I can shoot you?
That, not this.

256
00:21:26,640 --> 00:21:32,760
But who do you turn to
if you are one of the millions
of metropolis denizens

257
00:21:32,760 --> 00:21:38,320
who doesn't have a thousand dollars
for a special kind of jacket?

258
00:21:38,320 --> 00:21:44,280
Tepito is one of the toughest,
most down-at-heel areas
of Mexico City.

259
00:21:44,280 --> 00:21:48,120
Here, criminals and victims
and their friends and families

260
00:21:48,120 --> 00:21:51,960
have turned to an altogether
different type of protection.

261
00:21:51,960 --> 00:21:56,280
She is big, she's popular and she
goes by the name of Santa Muerte,

262
00:21:56,280 --> 00:21:58,400
or Saint Death.

263
00:22:00,640 --> 00:22:07,040
What people say about Santa Muerte
is that she is there
for the people at the bottom -

264
00:22:07,040 --> 00:22:11,040
the hard guys, people who have done
terrible things and their victims.

265
00:22:11,040 --> 00:22:14,600
There's an official Catholic shrine
just 20 yards away.

266
00:22:14,600 --> 00:22:18,640
It's been extended, it's a kind of
rival "come and look at me" shrine

267
00:22:18,640 --> 00:22:22,320
on behalf of the Catholic Church
who hate this stuff.

268
00:22:22,320 --> 00:22:25,160
It's bigger, it's more impressive.

269
00:22:25,160 --> 00:22:27,960
And there's nobody there.

270
00:22:27,960 --> 00:22:35,120
Dona Queta, known locally as the
Queen of Tepito, has made caring
for the shrine her life's work.

271
00:22:37,240 --> 00:22:40,800
TRANSLATOR:
This is very important
for a mother like her,

272
00:22:40,800 --> 00:22:47,200
for a mother like a lot of mothers
that have maybe a kid in the jail
or a kid that is doing drugs.

273
00:22:47,200 --> 00:22:49,400
And they are concerned.

274
00:22:49,400 --> 00:22:54,920
They want to put their faith
in something, somebody
that is going to help them.

275
00:22:54,920 --> 00:23:00,480
It's also for people
that are going to lose their houses
and they need money for the rent.

276
00:23:00,480 --> 00:23:06,560
They don't have money and they don't
see how they are going to get it.
They come and make their praise.

277
00:23:06,560 --> 00:23:08,800
It's hope for everybody.

278
00:23:08,800 --> 00:23:14,840
Why are people leaving cigarettes?
And what else are they leaving?
There's sweets and fruit and...

279
00:23:14,840 --> 00:23:17,160
DONA QUETA SPEAKS IN SPANISH

280
00:23:17,160 --> 00:23:22,160
TRANSLATOR:
It's an offering.
You put food, you put cigarettes.

281
00:23:22,160 --> 00:23:25,000
They bring this stuff every day.

282
00:23:25,000 --> 00:23:29,520
At lunchtime, people will bring
more food, and dinnertime, the same.

283
00:23:29,520 --> 00:23:33,640
Basically, what you like the best
is what you would offer. I see.

284
00:23:33,640 --> 00:23:35,600
I get it.

285
00:23:35,600 --> 00:23:38,960
'This man, who doesn't want
to appear on telly,

286
00:23:38,960 --> 00:23:43,560
'has worshipped Santa Muerte for
ten years and he swears by her.'

287
00:23:44,560 --> 00:23:48,400
I've just been told that
his brother had been kidnapped

288
00:23:48,400 --> 00:23:52,600
and day after day, he'd come here
and pray to Santa Muerte,

289
00:23:52,600 --> 00:23:55,440
begging her to get
his brother freed.

290
00:23:55,440 --> 00:23:58,200
And not only was his brother freed,

291
00:23:58,200 --> 00:24:04,120
his brother was freed
at the moment the senior kidnapper
was himself murdered.

292
00:24:04,120 --> 00:24:11,160
And not only that, the kidnapper's
body was brought past the family
house on the way to be buried.

293
00:24:11,160 --> 00:24:15,480
And that, he said,
is what Santa Muerte can do.

294
00:24:20,920 --> 00:24:25,960
Mexico City - where you wear
a bullet-proof jacket
to the corner shop,

295
00:24:25,960 --> 00:24:30,720
where mothers and murderers worship
at the shrine of Saint Death.

296
00:24:30,720 --> 00:24:34,640
So what on earth do people do
for fun here?

297
00:24:34,640 --> 00:24:38,600
Well, it seems that that can be
pretty violent as well.

298
00:24:43,080 --> 00:24:46,440
On any given night of the week,

299
00:24:46,440 --> 00:24:50,760
50,000 Mexicans flock
to the city's ten huge arenas

300
00:24:50,760 --> 00:24:54,600
to lose themselves
in their favourite sport.

301
00:24:57,400 --> 00:25:02,360
My guides tonight are die-hard fans
Alejandro and Francisco.

302
00:25:02,360 --> 00:25:06,600
We're here for the "lucha libre"
or "free wrestling",

303
00:25:06,600 --> 00:25:11,080
which is half recognisable sport
and half nightmarish pantomime.

304
00:25:11,080 --> 00:25:14,520
And it seems the crowd
can't get enough of it.

305
00:25:14,520 --> 00:25:17,480
MUSIC: "We Will Rock You"

306
00:25:27,640 --> 00:25:30,800
For the residents of Mexico City,

307
00:25:30,800 --> 00:25:35,040
watching 250-pound men pile-drive
each other into the floor

308
00:25:35,040 --> 00:25:39,280
seems to be perfect therapy after
an average day in the megacity.

309
00:25:44,080 --> 00:25:49,120
Do the crowd get almost
as aggressive as the ring?
Yeah, that's correct.

310
00:25:49,120 --> 00:25:54,960
Most of the people use the sport
to yell, to take out
all of the stress of the...

311
00:25:54,960 --> 00:25:57,800
Get all their emotions out. Yeah.

312
00:25:57,800 --> 00:26:03,640
There's a lot of craziness
in the city, so you come out here
to scream, to shout, to throw beer.

313
00:26:03,640 --> 00:26:07,640
Because of the craziness
in the city, it's a release? Yeah.

314
00:26:09,280 --> 00:26:11,320
CHEERING

315
00:26:11,320 --> 00:26:16,240
'With good guys and bad guys
to cheer and to boo...'

316
00:26:16,240 --> 00:26:17,600
Boo!

317
00:26:17,600 --> 00:26:22,640
'..I'm again reminded of life
in one of the first
great metropolises.'

318
00:26:25,280 --> 00:26:30,600
We've always loved a bit of
communal violence - human beings.

319
00:26:30,600 --> 00:26:35,760
And around me here
people are using the same gestures

320
00:26:35,760 --> 00:26:39,880
that they used to use when
they were watching the gladiators

321
00:26:39,880 --> 00:26:43,840
or the Christians being eaten
by lions in Ancient Rome.

322
00:26:46,400 --> 00:26:49,640
'Well, the Royal Ballet it ain't.

323
00:26:49,640 --> 00:26:55,520
'But the atmosphere
is certainly infectious.
It's raw, loud, unzipped,

324
00:26:55,520 --> 00:26:58,760
'somewhere between pantomime
and sumo.

325
00:26:58,760 --> 00:27:03,080
'And over the course of the evening,
I can see why it is so popular.'

326
00:27:04,960 --> 00:27:08,640
No-one's being hurt here tonight,
I think.

327
00:27:08,640 --> 00:27:11,880
But these are
really important events

328
00:27:11,880 --> 00:27:15,080
because they allow people
to let off steam.

329
00:27:15,080 --> 00:27:17,880
They're like kettles.

330
00:27:17,880 --> 00:27:21,560
And the more stress there is
out in the city,

331
00:27:21,560 --> 00:27:23,920
the louder the whistle.

332
00:27:23,920 --> 00:27:26,240
JEERING

333
00:27:35,440 --> 00:27:39,600
If the residents of Mexico City
flock to arenas

334
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:42,640
to vent their pent-up frustrations,

335
00:27:42,640 --> 00:27:46,040
on the other side of the world,
in Tokyo,

336
00:27:46,040 --> 00:27:51,520
one small band has decided
to turn the megacity itself
into a giant arena.

337
00:27:56,080 --> 00:28:00,640
To be more accurate,
an extraordinary, vast race track.

338
00:28:02,360 --> 00:28:07,880
After a lot of persuasion,
they've agreed to meet us
at a secret rendezvous point

339
00:28:07,880 --> 00:28:10,920
somewhere off Tokyo's
main airport highway.

340
00:28:13,920 --> 00:28:18,320
Well, every Saturday,
me and my friends get together.

341
00:28:18,320 --> 00:28:24,480
We run the highway, you know,
who's fastest. Not really a race,
but yeah, a race.

342
00:28:24,480 --> 00:28:26,440
TYRES SCREECH

343
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:30,520
Meet the Hashiriya...

344
00:28:32,440 --> 00:28:37,360
..Tokyo's street racers
who regularly risk life and limb

345
00:28:37,360 --> 00:28:43,560
to drive at ludicrous speeds
through Tokyo's state-of-the-art
megacity road network.

346
00:28:46,240 --> 00:28:50,000
Here, you can do anything,
touge, you know, up mountains

347
00:28:50,000 --> 00:28:52,840
and do the winding stuff.

348
00:28:52,840 --> 00:28:56,320
You can go towards the ocean
and do drifting.

349
00:28:56,320 --> 00:29:01,240
You can go to Shuto Expressway,
you can do circuit roads
and stuff like that.

350
00:29:01,240 --> 00:29:08,040
During the week,
these guys have ordinary jobs.
They go to work. They toe the line.

351
00:29:08,040 --> 00:29:10,080
They're model citizens.

352
00:29:12,640 --> 00:29:17,320
But come Saturday night, the
Hashiriya tear up Tokyo's rulebook.

353
00:29:17,320 --> 00:29:21,200
All that matters is driving
as fast as you possibly can.

354
00:29:23,760 --> 00:29:26,840
You can go 200mph for 300km.

355
00:29:29,440 --> 00:29:33,000
The fastest I've been is,
like, 320, 323.

356
00:29:33,960 --> 00:29:36,200
Some of the guys have run 340.

357
00:29:36,200 --> 00:29:43,040
'It's a deadly game, obviously,
but for these Tokyo men it's one way
of escaping the daily pressures

358
00:29:43,040 --> 00:29:45,120
'of life in the metropolis.'

359
00:29:45,120 --> 00:29:49,160
You feel free. You get out
all this stress and stuff.

360
00:29:49,160 --> 00:29:52,280
All these people, all this crowd.

361
00:29:59,640 --> 00:30:06,120
A few boy racers letting off steam
and breaking the rules isn't going
to threaten the mighty metropolis.

362
00:30:08,400 --> 00:30:12,560
But we can never afford to
underestimate the level of damage

363
00:30:12,560 --> 00:30:17,200
a few single-minded individuals
are capable of unleashing.

364
00:30:22,000 --> 00:30:27,000
Over the past 10 years, the work
of a handful of suicidal terrorists

365
00:30:27,000 --> 00:30:32,080
in cities like Mumbai,
Madrid, London

366
00:30:32,080 --> 00:30:35,920
and, of course, New York have sent
shock waves around the world

367
00:30:35,920 --> 00:30:42,440
and the message for the future
of the megacities is now
the bleak one - be prepared.

368
00:30:53,000 --> 00:30:59,200
We're told that London,
like many other megacities,
is still a prime terrorist target

369
00:30:59,200 --> 00:31:03,840
and we're told it's not a question
of if the attack happens, but when.

370
00:31:03,840 --> 00:31:10,160
So if, God forbid,
you are caught up in such an attack
and the world goes dark

371
00:31:10,160 --> 00:31:15,000
and the buildings around you
collapse and you're left, trapped,

372
00:31:15,000 --> 00:31:17,560
who do you turn to?

373
00:31:17,560 --> 00:31:21,600
Well, you turn to
the specially-trained men and women

374
00:31:21,600 --> 00:31:27,840
who are waiting all round
the clock, all round the year,
for that phone call.

375
00:31:30,880 --> 00:31:37,040
This is the Urban Search and Rescue
Unit, one of more than 21 specialist
teams dotted around the UK

376
00:31:37,040 --> 00:31:42,880
which were set up in direct response
to the 9/11 attacks
and the threat of more.

377
00:31:42,880 --> 00:31:48,920
These two key members of the team
are Darcy and Lucy. With two years'
training under the collar,

378
00:31:48,920 --> 00:31:54,960
they're sent into the rubble
of collapsed buildings
to sniff out survivors.

379
00:31:54,960 --> 00:31:59,200
It is dangerous work and the dogs
have to wear protective boots

380
00:31:59,200 --> 00:32:02,760
as they scramble over
the inhospitable landscape.

381
00:32:04,600 --> 00:32:09,640
If there is a dead body
in the wreckage,
they're trained to ignore it.

382
00:32:09,640 --> 00:32:13,680
That grisly task falls
to a different dog team.

383
00:32:16,520 --> 00:32:22,240
'So what do you do if someone's
trapped in an air pocket
under 50 tonnes of concrete?

384
00:32:22,240 --> 00:32:24,280
'Using a specialist drill,

385
00:32:26,360 --> 00:32:32,440
'the team has to first bore into
the concrete to make a hole
big enough for them to insert

386
00:32:32,440 --> 00:32:34,240
'a high-tech camera.'

387
00:32:38,280 --> 00:32:40,760
You get a good colour picture.

388
00:32:40,760 --> 00:32:47,560
We can see that no one is
just the other side of this wall.
We can now demolish this quickly.

389
00:32:47,560 --> 00:32:50,160
Speed is of the essence. Absolutely.

390
00:32:50,160 --> 00:32:54,280
'There's a good reason why they use
reinforced concrete in buildings -

391
00:32:54,280 --> 00:33:00,240
'it's tough, it's very tough.
I think this might shake
my fillings out.

392
00:33:00,240 --> 00:33:05,880
'It can take hours, even days
working around the clock
to knock through.'

393
00:33:05,880 --> 00:33:10,280
We need to break all that out.
That's physically quite hard work.

394
00:33:10,280 --> 00:33:16,840
'Even when the teams
break into the buildings, there's
often more concrete to smash through

395
00:33:16,840 --> 00:33:21,320
'before the dogs can pinpoint
the exact location of the bodies.'

396
00:33:21,320 --> 00:33:25,760
I'm just going to do something,
mate, to make it easier.

397
00:33:26,720 --> 00:33:31,440
'Dirty, cold and grim as the work
might be, it's comforting to know

398
00:33:31,440 --> 00:33:35,680
'that this team at least
are prepared for the unthinkable.'

399
00:33:35,680 --> 00:33:41,720
As the cities get bigger
and more complicated
and the threats become greater,

400
00:33:41,720 --> 00:33:45,320
so the response has to be cleverer,
too.

401
00:33:45,320 --> 00:33:50,000
A few years ago,
places like this didn't exist.

402
00:33:50,000 --> 00:33:55,760
And yet, although it is
a sophisticated and thought-through
response to the next attack,

403
00:33:55,760 --> 00:34:02,480
the next collapse of a building,
at one level it's also
reassuringly basic.

404
00:34:02,480 --> 00:34:09,120
In the end,
it's down to smell and muscle
and a certain amount of courage.

405
00:34:18,000 --> 00:34:23,120
But the human damage that can be
inflicted is only one side of it.

406
00:34:23,120 --> 00:34:28,160
All around the world,
we're constantly reminded
about the devastation

407
00:34:28,160 --> 00:34:34,320
that can be wreaked
on the most modern-seeming city
by good old-fashioned nature.

408
00:34:36,480 --> 00:34:39,400
Earthquakes. Floods.

409
00:34:39,400 --> 00:34:45,920
Typhoons. By choosing to build
on some of the Earth's most
geographically unstable locations,

410
00:34:45,920 --> 00:34:53,720
the metropolises are at times
more exposed to the extremes of
nature than less populated parts.

411
00:34:53,720 --> 00:34:59,360
When they chose to settle
near coastlines, waterways
and fertile river valleys -

412
00:34:59,360 --> 00:35:05,600
important for a city's survival -
our ancestors could never have known
they were laying their foundations

413
00:35:05,600 --> 00:35:08,400
on slow, but remorseless time bombs.

414
00:35:18,000 --> 00:35:22,440
More than half the world's
21 megacities of 10 million people

415
00:35:22,440 --> 00:35:26,880
are in positions that leave them
vulnerable to earthquakes.

416
00:35:32,760 --> 00:35:37,160
And most at risk of all of them
is Tokyo,

417
00:35:37,160 --> 00:35:42,680
which lies on a complex
and menacing web
of geographical fault lines.

418
00:35:42,680 --> 00:35:50,400
Scientists have told us the chances
of a major earthquake not hitting
Tokyo at some point were zero.

419
00:35:50,400 --> 00:35:53,640
And they've been proved
chillingly right.

420
00:35:53,640 --> 00:35:59,320
The epicentre of the recent
Sendai earthquake was hundreds
of miles from the city centre,

421
00:35:59,320 --> 00:36:05,160
but it was a devastating Scale 9
and the resulting tsunami
wreaked apocalyptic havoc

422
00:36:05,160 --> 00:36:11,080
on the immediate areas,
killing more than 18,000 people.
Many people are still missing.

423
00:36:11,080 --> 00:36:16,200
And Tokyo didn't escape as powerful
aftershock tremors hit the city.

424
00:36:16,200 --> 00:36:23,840
So in the face of this onslaught,
just how prepared was the most
advanced, most efficient metropolis?

425
00:36:23,840 --> 00:36:26,680
SPEAKS IN JAPANESE

426
00:36:26,680 --> 00:36:33,640
Regular earthquake practice drills
required by every Tokyo school
were suddenly a reality.

427
00:36:35,360 --> 00:36:40,720
Thousands of schoolchildren were
safely evacuated to open ground.

428
00:36:40,720 --> 00:36:46,560
'So focused are the people of Tokyo
on arming themselves
against the forces of nature,

429
00:36:46,560 --> 00:36:50,800
'they've set up so-called life
learning centres around the city

430
00:36:50,800 --> 00:36:57,520
'where residents can experience
pretty much every extreme that
nature's likely to throw at them,

431
00:36:57,520 --> 00:37:03,960
'from the typhoons which dump down
thousands of gallons of rain water
in Japan every year

432
00:37:03,960 --> 00:37:06,600
'to the full force of an earthquake.

433
00:37:06,600 --> 00:37:14,240
'This robotic platform is designed
to mimic all the different magnitude
levels an earthquake can unleash.'

434
00:37:14,240 --> 00:37:18,160
Hold. Hold onto this.
..Protect your head.

435
00:37:18,160 --> 00:37:22,200
Turn the gas off, right.
Please open the door.

436
00:37:22,200 --> 00:37:26,440
'I filmed this some months
before the Sendai earthquake

437
00:37:26,440 --> 00:37:31,080
'and the aftershock of a magnitude
of 6.4, which was felt in Tokyo.'

438
00:37:32,640 --> 00:37:36,280
This is going to be number seven.
See what happens.

439
00:37:40,120 --> 00:37:44,760
And it really is shaking
quite a lot!

440
00:37:44,760 --> 00:37:47,600
And I'm underneath...underneath...

441
00:37:47,600 --> 00:37:49,880
Ah! Bloody hell!

442
00:37:49,880 --> 00:37:51,880
It's quite something! Oh!

443
00:37:53,400 --> 00:37:56,160
This is more than a tremor.

444
00:37:56,160 --> 00:37:59,200
This is quite scary.

445
00:37:59,200 --> 00:38:01,240
Jesus Christ!

446
00:38:01,240 --> 00:38:04,560
This is...not funny. At all.

447
00:38:13,000 --> 00:38:15,600
And it's stopped.

448
00:38:15,600 --> 00:38:18,440
I crawl out... My goodness me.

449
00:38:18,440 --> 00:38:22,680
Cupboards have fallen down.
Off with the gas.

450
00:38:22,680 --> 00:38:26,360
Check that door.
Is it going to open?

451
00:38:26,360 --> 00:38:28,680
Thank goodness. Yes, it is.

452
00:38:28,680 --> 00:38:30,920
If this was for real,

453
00:38:30,920 --> 00:38:38,160
in a city of 30 million people,
I'm on the ground floor, one person
with some padded furniture.

454
00:38:38,160 --> 00:38:42,400
And the shock has been...
I'm still actually moving.

455
00:38:42,400 --> 00:38:46,640
You know, inside my head.
It's really quite something.

456
00:38:46,640 --> 00:38:49,880
It's like being seasick
or very drunk.

457
00:38:49,880 --> 00:38:57,360
Just imagine what would happen to
30 million people, many of them many
floors up. Absolutely terrifying.

458
00:38:59,000 --> 00:39:01,440
Well, as we know, it did happen.

459
00:39:01,440 --> 00:39:07,760
However, Tokyo has nearly 3,000
really high buildings -
more than 30 storeys.

460
00:39:07,760 --> 00:39:13,800
Every single one is built to survive
a high-level earthquake.
That is impressive engineering.

461
00:39:13,800 --> 00:39:16,240
And it largely worked.

462
00:39:16,240 --> 00:39:20,680
Despite the strength of the tremors
that shook buildings to their core,

463
00:39:20,680 --> 00:39:26,720
there was relatively little
structural damage and just 7 deaths
in the city itself.

464
00:39:28,400 --> 00:39:35,440
The earthquake threat to this
densely-built megacity is so great,
the response is on a huge scale.

465
00:39:37,040 --> 00:39:43,040
This is the city's Disaster
Management Centre which is,
of course, earthquake-proof.

466
00:39:43,040 --> 00:39:47,480
Totally self-contained, it's got
its own independent power supply

467
00:39:47,480 --> 00:39:52,160
and communications
to the outside world.

468
00:39:52,160 --> 00:39:56,640
And this is the man at the heart of
the operation, Mr Toshiyuki Shikata,

469
00:39:56,640 --> 00:39:59,080
Tokyo's Security Counsellor.

470
00:39:59,080 --> 00:40:05,120
This is where the people who run
the metropolis come to implement
their highly-planned response.

471
00:40:06,840 --> 00:40:11,280
All the information that we need
we can see.

472
00:40:11,280 --> 00:40:17,440
On the centre screen
sometimes I have a conversation
with the Prime Minister.

473
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:24,800
Vast amounts of supplies are
stockpiled. This time, luckily,
they weren't needed.

474
00:40:26,440 --> 00:40:30,640
Cans, pickles, 4.09 million.

475
00:40:30,640 --> 00:40:34,600
And blankets, 890,000.

476
00:40:34,600 --> 00:40:40,640
So the authorities in Tokyo,
indeed the authorities in Japan,
were pretty well prepared,

477
00:40:40,640 --> 00:40:47,200
but the earthquake showed
just how quickly a highly modern
infrastructure can collapse

478
00:40:47,200 --> 00:40:53,200
because it took 10 days before
the authorities finally got
supplies like these

479
00:40:53,200 --> 00:40:59,600
flowing into the disaster zones.
The stakes are very high
as this death meter in Tokyo shows.

480
00:41:00,600 --> 00:41:02,640
We estimate

481
00:41:02,640 --> 00:41:07,280
7.3 as it hit...
on this point.

482
00:41:07,280 --> 00:41:09,720
In that case, it is...

483
00:41:09,720 --> 00:41:15,360
almost 6,400 people
will be killed.

484
00:41:16,560 --> 00:41:21,200
As we discovered, an earthquake
can be far more lethal than that,

485
00:41:21,200 --> 00:41:28,040
but again Tokyo is, perhaps,
the best prepared city in Japan
and probably in the world.

486
00:41:28,040 --> 00:41:32,840
At the heart of the megacity's
survival masterplan

487
00:41:32,840 --> 00:41:37,280
is a building
which dwarfs the entire city.

488
00:41:37,280 --> 00:41:39,920
Still under construction,

489
00:41:40,880 --> 00:41:44,080
the Sky Tree is 634 metres high,

490
00:41:44,080 --> 00:41:48,320
currently the second-tallest
structure in the world.

491
00:41:50,000 --> 00:41:54,440
If, or rather when,
a disaster strikes again,

492
00:41:54,440 --> 00:42:00,160
this broadcasting tower will be
crucial to keeping communications
running.

493
00:42:00,160 --> 00:42:04,720
But how do you build a tower
two-thirds of a kilometre high

494
00:42:04,720 --> 00:42:10,080
which is strong enough to stand up
to the most powerful earthquakes?

495
00:42:10,080 --> 00:42:14,480
Engineers looked to Japan's past and
they've rather ingeniously borrowed

496
00:42:14,480 --> 00:42:20,600
from a tradition
that goes back 1,000 years -
pagoda temple architecture.

497
00:42:20,600 --> 00:42:22,960
Just like the temples,

498
00:42:22,960 --> 00:42:27,400
the Sky Tree is built
out of two independent elements.

499
00:42:27,400 --> 00:42:31,440
In the Sky Tree's case,
there's a central concrete shaft

500
00:42:31,440 --> 00:42:38,280
and a surrounding steel structure.
And when an earthquake hits
the building, both move separately,

501
00:42:38,280 --> 00:42:41,360
in theory,
cancelling each other out.

502
00:42:42,320 --> 00:42:47,160
And in practice because when
the massive aftershock struck Tokyo,

503
00:42:47,160 --> 00:42:50,920
this anti-seismic design
did prove itself.

504
00:42:50,920 --> 00:42:56,960
There was no damage to the structure
of the building at all and the 500
people working on it were uninjured.

505
00:42:56,960 --> 00:43:01,080
Tokyo's planning and super
technology helped them be prepared.

506
00:43:01,080 --> 00:43:05,520
This time,
it survived the worst of the
immediate effects of the earthquake.

507
00:43:05,520 --> 00:43:12,200
But the full power of nature means
that the world's most advanced
metropolis still faces

508
00:43:12,200 --> 00:43:14,240
an unpredictable future.

509
00:43:20,440 --> 00:43:27,080
If you live in one of the poorer
megacities and disaster strikes, the
odds aren't strongly in your favour.

510
00:43:30,280 --> 00:43:37,120
On the other side of the planet,
just like Tokyo, Mexico City's land
has become its enemy.

511
00:43:40,080 --> 00:43:45,720
Sitting in a massive geographical
bowl, surrounded by mountains
and volcanoes,

512
00:43:45,720 --> 00:43:49,960
and built on a network of
tributaries from an ancient lake,

513
00:43:49,960 --> 00:43:54,600
it's vulnerable to both earthquakes
and, more crucially, flooding.

514
00:43:56,800 --> 00:44:02,720
More than seven million people
occupy the shanty towns
that sprawl across the hillsides.

515
00:44:03,720 --> 00:44:08,400
Most are haphazardly constructed
without proper foundations.

516
00:44:08,400 --> 00:44:15,440
Factor in the endless building work
that's cleared and concreted over
vital tree and vegetation cover

517
00:44:15,440 --> 00:44:19,480
and you have a very dangerous place
to be living in.

518
00:44:23,880 --> 00:44:28,520
It's the 30th October, 2009,
in the middle of the afternoon.

519
00:44:28,520 --> 00:44:34,960
It's the end of a month which has
seen the highest rainfall here
since records began.

520
00:44:34,960 --> 00:44:38,600
And over the next
three or four hours,

521
00:44:38,600 --> 00:44:43,040
a downfall of biblical proportions
takes place.

522
00:45:01,120 --> 00:45:07,720
This is one part of the city, like
so much of it, which is completely
unplanned and absolutely crammed.

523
00:45:07,720 --> 00:45:13,760
Migrant families simply arrive here,
search around for a little scrap
of land they can call their own

524
00:45:13,760 --> 00:45:17,800
and start to build a house
with their own hands.

525
00:45:18,760 --> 00:45:25,520
Now as a result,
when the flood comes, thousands and
thousands of houses are swept away.

526
00:45:25,520 --> 00:45:31,160
The Jimenez family
built their house here,
on the edge of the creek.

527
00:45:32,120 --> 00:45:34,840
And, as you can see, it's gone.

528
00:45:34,840 --> 00:45:41,080
'The Jimenez family have since
built themselves another house,
but it's a precarious existence

529
00:45:41,080 --> 00:45:44,720
'and the threat of flooding
is never far away.'

530
00:45:44,720 --> 00:45:48,240
Could you ask them
how high the water came?

531
00:45:49,600 --> 00:45:54,360
SHE TRANSLATES:
One metre and 20 centimetres.
Where you see the mark.

532
00:45:54,360 --> 00:45:57,200
How did they all get out?

533
00:45:58,360 --> 00:46:04,200
They climbed that wall
and then the next wall
and after that there's a school

534
00:46:04,200 --> 00:46:10,160
where they found shelter.
All the water came in this direction
and they needed to get out.

535
00:46:13,000 --> 00:46:18,080
We are living through a time of more
and more extreme weather conditions

536
00:46:18,080 --> 00:46:23,120
and when that kind of stress hits,
it hits megacities first

537
00:46:23,120 --> 00:46:29,160
and it seems to hit the poorest
first because they're the people
in the most fragile parts.

538
00:46:29,160 --> 00:46:31,800
That's exactly what's happened here.

539
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:38,000
There's an annual rainfall of
more than 27 inches in Mexico City.
Quite a lot.

540
00:46:38,000 --> 00:46:43,840
'And yet, rather oddly,
this city has never got to grips
with dealing with so much water.

541
00:46:43,840 --> 00:46:48,800
'And the problem lies right here in
the network of underground drains.'

542
00:46:49,800 --> 00:46:51,640
Amazing.

543
00:46:51,640 --> 00:46:53,880
Fantastic, no? Yeah.

544
00:46:53,880 --> 00:46:56,760
Underground river.

545
00:46:56,760 --> 00:47:01,600
So when the rains come,
how high up does the water go?

546
00:47:01,600 --> 00:47:05,880
It fills the full pipe.
It fills the pipe.

547
00:47:05,880 --> 00:47:10,480
What's the water coming down? Just
the drain? The overflow of the lake.

548
00:47:10,480 --> 00:47:13,040
Oh, I see. OK.

549
00:47:13,040 --> 00:47:19,080
'The system goes right back
to the 18th century, way before
Mexico City's population exploded.

550
00:47:19,080 --> 00:47:23,240
'It was designed to capture
fresh rain water from the floods,

551
00:47:23,240 --> 00:47:25,280
'but now it can't cope.'

552
00:47:25,280 --> 00:47:32,280
This is mostly sewage
coming down from the city
where about a million people live.

553
00:47:32,280 --> 00:47:35,080
A million people's sewage? Yes.

554
00:47:35,080 --> 00:47:40,920
'Water expert Valente Souza
is trying to solve
the contamination problem.'

555
00:47:40,920 --> 00:47:47,560
You see, Andrew, this line
is the last of this...
of this rainy season's level.

556
00:47:47,560 --> 00:47:51,240
It comes all the way...
Above us. Exactly.

557
00:47:51,240 --> 00:47:55,200
At this very point.
And we walk 150 feet down

558
00:47:55,200 --> 00:48:01,480
into another collector
that drains the rainfall
and now the sewage.

559
00:48:01,480 --> 00:48:07,320
We don't have our masks now,
but it smells...
The methane is strong. Really bad.

560
00:48:07,320 --> 00:48:13,160
And this is water... Rainfall.
That could be used by the city
of Mexico. Absolutely.

561
00:48:13,160 --> 00:48:15,800
If they did things more sensibly.

562
00:48:17,640 --> 00:48:21,880
'It really is a case of water, water
everywhere, but not a lot to drink.

563
00:48:21,880 --> 00:48:26,920
'Mexico City's hidden underground
system is old and buckling

564
00:48:26,920 --> 00:48:31,360
'and, frankly, failing to keep pace
with its rapid growth.'

565
00:48:38,000 --> 00:48:43,240
But let's go back to the megacity
whose technological know-how

566
00:48:43,240 --> 00:48:48,320
does appear more than up to
these natural struggles.

567
00:48:49,280 --> 00:48:53,320
'Built to protect
against major typhoon flooding,

568
00:48:53,320 --> 00:48:59,160
'this extraordinary underground
drain complex lies 50 metres
below the surface

569
00:48:59,160 --> 00:49:01,400
'on the outskirts of Tokyo.

570
00:49:01,400 --> 00:49:04,840
'And it's taken more than 18 years
to build.

571
00:49:17,000 --> 00:49:19,600
'Five giant concrete silos,

572
00:49:19,600 --> 00:49:21,640
'65 metres high,

573
00:49:21,640 --> 00:49:27,480
'are connected to pumps powerful
enough to shift 200 tonnes of water
every second.

574
00:49:28,480 --> 00:49:33,400
'And the whole subterranean system
spans almost four miles.

575
00:49:36,000 --> 00:49:38,520
'It is a thing of wonder.'

576
00:49:41,600 --> 00:49:46,600
I think if the pharaohs of
Ancient Egypt had built cathedrals,

577
00:49:46,600 --> 00:49:50,760
this is sort of
what they would have come up with.

578
00:49:50,760 --> 00:49:54,800
But it's an interesting commentary
on the modern city.

579
00:49:54,800 --> 00:50:00,840
This isn't about religion
or the spiritual
or the worship of great men.

580
00:50:00,840 --> 00:50:04,680
This is...civil engineering.

581
00:50:05,640 --> 00:50:10,320
Just what we have to do
to keep the show on the road.

582
00:50:16,800 --> 00:50:21,240
3,000 miles away,
the megacity of Dhaka in Bangladesh

583
00:50:21,240 --> 00:50:27,280
is in another world
compared to Tokyo's
mighty technological planning.

584
00:50:33,600 --> 00:50:38,080
'A lot of Dhaka lies
just a few metres above sea level.'

585
00:50:40,960 --> 00:50:47,200
When the annual monsoons
hit the city, it's swamped
by more than six feet of rain.

586
00:50:48,760 --> 00:50:54,080
If sea levels rise as much as
some scientists say they will,

587
00:50:54,080 --> 00:50:58,160
there's a real chance the entire
city will have to be evacuated.

588
00:50:58,160 --> 00:51:00,800
Where would these people go?

589
00:51:00,800 --> 00:51:07,480
And when you consider that 85%
of its 13 million population
lives in slum conditions,

590
00:51:07,480 --> 00:51:10,080
without proper drainage,

591
00:51:10,080 --> 00:51:14,520
where a single toilet may be shared
by as many as 400 people,

592
00:51:14,520 --> 00:51:19,520
then Dhaka, quite obviously, faces
another huge ongoing problem.

593
00:51:19,520 --> 00:51:21,440
'Disease.'

594
00:51:21,440 --> 00:51:23,920
Well, here they are.

595
00:51:23,920 --> 00:51:26,160
This is, uh, a toilet.

596
00:51:27,480 --> 00:51:31,520
It's very straightforward.
You do your business here.

597
00:51:31,520 --> 00:51:36,160
Actually, this is
quite a posh toilet for a slum.

598
00:51:36,160 --> 00:51:40,200
But the important thing
is what happens next.

599
00:51:40,200 --> 00:51:42,240
If you come here...

600
00:51:44,000 --> 00:51:50,040
The human sewage, the crap,
goes directly down there,
underneath the toilet,

601
00:51:50,040 --> 00:51:55,160
and joins the rest of it,
and as the water rises

602
00:51:55,160 --> 00:51:59,320
the sewage goes back
into the water system.

603
00:51:59,320 --> 00:52:04,320
And if you wonder
what kills most urban people,

604
00:52:04,320 --> 00:52:09,080
it isn't starvation,
it's not even natural disaster.

605
00:52:09,080 --> 00:52:12,680
It's crap in the water system.

606
00:52:14,720 --> 00:52:20,960
Dhaka's constantly waterlogged state
means it's impossible to keep
dirty and clean water separate.

607
00:52:20,960 --> 00:52:25,960
A single gram of human faeces
can contain ten million viruses
and a million bacteria

608
00:52:25,960 --> 00:52:30,400
with far-reaching consequences
for many of us.

609
00:52:31,680 --> 00:52:33,720
Among other things,

610
00:52:33,720 --> 00:52:39,560
the crammed and dirty slums
of the megacities are
the perfect breeding ground

611
00:52:39,560 --> 00:52:42,720
for the next global pandemic.

612
00:52:42,720 --> 00:52:47,080
Right at the start
it will seem like nothing at all.

613
00:52:47,080 --> 00:52:51,760
A cough. A child sneezing
in a shack over there.

614
00:52:51,760 --> 00:52:57,160
But it could be the beginning
of a catastrophe that affects you,

615
00:52:57,160 --> 00:53:00,000
me, everyone we know.

616
00:53:08,400 --> 00:53:14,080
'There's no high-tech solution here.
The answers lie with individuals
like Runa Khan,

617
00:53:14,080 --> 00:53:20,680
'a charity worker who is fighting
an endless battle to keep
Dhaka's slums free of disease.'

618
00:53:22,320 --> 00:53:25,360
Epidemics are a big problem
in the slums.

619
00:53:25,360 --> 00:53:29,360
10 members of the family
living in one little room.

620
00:53:29,360 --> 00:53:33,400
There are no toilets, no drinking
water. If you see the river,

621
00:53:33,400 --> 00:53:37,440
this is the primary source of
drinking water and bathing water.

622
00:53:37,440 --> 00:53:43,680
You put your fingers in, you come out
with six fingers. It's one of the
most polluted rivers in the world.

623
00:53:46,120 --> 00:53:50,160
Here, there is a prevalence of
healthcare, there are hospitals,

624
00:53:50,160 --> 00:53:56,720
but the sheer number and volume
of people inhibits the population
from accessing this healthcare.

625
00:54:03,560 --> 00:54:08,200
'Today Runa's visiting a patient
who's been ill for quite some time.'

626
00:54:16,200 --> 00:54:22,240
'The infection spread in the slum
is a lot more dramatic
than in other parts of the country.

627
00:54:22,240 --> 00:54:27,200
'It's very difficult to predict
or to take care of.

628
00:54:29,960 --> 00:54:36,840
'Luckily, this turns out to be a bug
which can be treated and contained,
but any one of these cases

629
00:54:36,840 --> 00:54:42,880
'could turn out to be the start
of an epidemic that reaches far
beyond Dhaka, even around the world.

630
00:54:42,880 --> 00:54:46,800
'You start seeing two cases,
five cases, ten cases.

631
00:54:46,800 --> 00:54:52,800
'And in a place where you have
more than 2,000 people per square
kilometre, you are scared

632
00:54:52,800 --> 00:54:55,920
'because it can't be controlled.

633
00:54:55,920 --> 00:55:02,360
'This is a very big challenge,
not only for small organisations
like us, but the government itself.'

634
00:55:06,400 --> 00:55:12,240
The outbreak of the next global
pandemic poses a very real,
very urgent threat

635
00:55:12,240 --> 00:55:14,760
to all the world's metropolises.

636
00:55:15,800 --> 00:55:20,280
The sheer size and frequency
of world air traffic

637
00:55:20,280 --> 00:55:25,040
creates a perfect storm
for the spread of global disease.

638
00:55:25,040 --> 00:55:29,480
There are more than 35,000
air routes around the world,

639
00:55:29,480 --> 00:55:35,520
and every year
one and a half billion people
are carried on 40 million flights.

640
00:55:35,520 --> 00:55:40,760
Air travel is turning the planet
into one giant metropolis.

641
00:55:44,840 --> 00:55:51,360
It looks like a pretty ordinary
office, but this is the United
Kingdom's first line of defence

642
00:55:51,360 --> 00:55:54,800
against the outbreak
of deadly diseases.

643
00:55:54,800 --> 00:56:00,600
The Health Protection Agency
has teams of scientists
on a state of constant alert.

644
00:56:00,600 --> 00:56:08,040
They're part of a worldwide network.
Professor Maria Zambon is Director
of the Centre for Infections.

645
00:56:08,040 --> 00:56:13,080
Diseases never sleep. It is like
very fine-grained detective work

646
00:56:13,080 --> 00:56:18,520
where not only are you piecing
together different pieces
of information,

647
00:56:18,520 --> 00:56:21,280
you're also tracking things.

648
00:56:21,280 --> 00:56:27,320
Bugs and germs can evolve very
quickly and scientists are trying
to prevent the next super disease

649
00:56:27,320 --> 00:56:29,560
taking us all by surprise.

650
00:56:29,560 --> 00:56:34,320
A nine-to-five day doesn't do it.
You need to work round the clock

651
00:56:34,320 --> 00:56:38,480
to develop the data to make sure
that you have the answers.

652
00:56:39,480 --> 00:56:44,040
The solutions don't end
with boffins in laboratories.

653
00:56:44,040 --> 00:56:47,840
Dealing with our next global
epidemic takes huge resources.

654
00:56:47,840 --> 00:56:55,680
Stockpiles of vaccines in huge
secret warehouses are just one
of the things that it takes

655
00:56:55,680 --> 00:57:00,400
to keep our world of megacities
from disaster.

656
00:57:05,880 --> 00:57:09,200
'So terrorism, rioting,

657
00:57:09,200 --> 00:57:12,400
'kidnap, earthquake,

658
00:57:12,400 --> 00:57:14,400
'floods

659
00:57:14,400 --> 00:57:18,440
'and plague - it's not
an entirely cheerful outlook.

660
00:57:18,440 --> 00:57:21,280
'It might even be called doom-laden.

661
00:57:22,200 --> 00:57:24,640
'However...'

662
00:57:24,640 --> 00:57:30,680
as we've seen, some excellent
science, superb engineering
and simple forethought

663
00:57:30,680 --> 00:57:33,600
does mean we've developed defences.

664
00:57:34,560 --> 00:57:38,000
Death and taxes remain inevitable.

665
00:57:38,000 --> 00:57:40,640
Catastrophe doesn't.

666
00:57:41,800 --> 00:57:46,840
Life in the megacities
is dangerous and exciting,

667
00:57:46,840 --> 00:57:49,960
but then it always has been.

668
00:57:54,480 --> 00:58:00,600
'Next time I'm going to be finding
out how transport has shaped
the metropolis.'

669
00:58:00,600 --> 00:58:03,160
Oh, my God! Oh, I'm sorry.

670
00:58:03,160 --> 00:58:07,600
That was both...great fun
and really, really hard work.

671
00:58:07,600 --> 00:58:11,840
'I'll ask if there are different
ways of feeding the hungry cities.'

672
00:58:11,840 --> 00:58:14,840
This makes me feel...gaseous.

673
00:58:14,840 --> 00:58:17,840
And horrible. Just look at this!

674
00:58:19,040 --> 00:58:25,080
And I'll meet the smelly heroes
dealing with all the stuff
metropolises don't want.'

675
00:58:26,080 --> 00:58:29,440
Unimaginable,
what he's lowered himself into.

676
00:58:40,000 --> 00:58:44,040
Subtitles by Subtext
for Red Bee Media Ltd - 2011

677
00:58:45,000 --> 00:58:47,640
Email subtitling@bbc.co.uk