From chemical plant explosions to the worst
oil spills in history...stay tuned to number
1 to find out the worst man-made disasters
to ever plague planet Earth!
Number 10: Agent Orange in the Vietnam War.
War is never a good thing, especially when
it's in the deep jungle.
How do you attack the enemy when you can't
even see them?
Well in the 1970's, during the Vietnam War,
the US troops figured out a new way to handle
the problem: just destroy the jungle with
chemicals.
Commonly known as Agent Orange, government
scientists came up with a mix of chemicals
that could be sprayed onto plant life and
would basically disintegrate the forest in
a matter of hours.
Unfortunately, this stuff was sprayed not
only on the jungles of the battlefield but
also onto the rice crops around the countryside,
killing off a major food supply for the Vietnamese
people.
Even worse than all of this is the long-term
effects of the decision.
Apparently, spraying Agent Orange over the
crops killed the land's ability to ever grow
back crops in the future.
This purposeful move of ecocide in the 70's
definitely qualifies as a man-made disaster.
Number 9: Mass Mercury Poisoning in Japan.
You would hope that companies know what kind
of waste they are pouring into the water.
You would also hope that if they knew it was
bad for the environment that the people they
would instantly stop pouring.
You would also think that the government would
step in and regulate these kinds of actions.
In Japan, however, none of the above occurred
and it led to mass mercury poisoning.
The Chisso Corp ran a chemical factory in
Kumamoto, Japan for decades.
Like all factories, they had plenty of waste
to get rid of, and like most companies, they
threw it into the river.
They didn't care much that some of the waste
was pure mercury, known to poison anyone and
anything that comes in regular contact with
it.
They also didn't care much about doing this
for over 30 years.
Soon enough, the marine life of the area absorbed
the mercury and then the people, eating the
sea life, were exposed to deadly amounts of
mercury.
Decades later, the government of Japan determined
that over 2,200 people were affected by Minamata
disease from the mercury exposure and over
1700 died from the disease.
Number 8: The Chernobyl Nuclear Explosion.
Nuclear power is insanely powerful, whether
it's being used to power electricity, or being
used to bomb countries.
Creating the power is also insanely delicate
and must be done perfectly.
Any minor problem can result in a huge explosion
or radiation leak, which is what happened
in Chernobyl in the 80's
But before we talk more about Chernobyl...I'm
sure you know what we're going to ask.
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The Chernobyl power plant in the Ukraine performed
a safety test in April of 1986.
But the tests were not performed properly.
In addition to this, the reactor itself was
not built properly.
Put this together, along with an overabundance
of steam locked inside the reactor and boom!
You end up with a world-famous nuclear meltdown
that is forever used in the argument against
nuclear power.
After the fire was put out and the radiation
leak had ended, official reports state that
only 2 people died at the plant, however,
another 29 died directly due to the blast,
and another 15 died indirectly related to
the meltdown.
In addition, over 100 employees went to the
hospital with acute radiation sickness.
Beyond all of this, most of the land within
miles of the Chernobyl incident are still
uninhabitable to this day.
At least their mistakes created cheap real
estate, I suppose.
Number 7: The North Pacific Garbage Patch.
We all know that some garbage ends up in the
ocean.
After all, we all learned as kids to cut up
soda rings and never asked why they end up
in the ocean in the first place.
As it turns out, there's a lot of garbage
in the ocean.
Like, tons!
Like, multiple island-sized patches, the largest
one being in the North Pacific.
Located half way between Hawaii and mainland
US, the North Pacific Garbage Patch has been
forming for decades.
Consisting of an estimated 1.8 trillion (with
a T) pieces of plastic, the garbage patch
is approximately 1.6 million square miles
in size.
That's twice the size of Texas and three times
the size of France.
As if this isn't bad enough, there are at
least 4 other gigantic garbage patches out
there, one in every major ocean on the planet.
This may seem like a (literal) far away issue,
but when marine life digs into the garbage
instead of their regular food, and the garbage
affects their living area, the butterfly effect
kicks in and this can lead to all kinds of
problems for mankind.
And if this wasn't all fun enough, the piles
are all getting bigger every day and there
are no plans in place to fix it.
Number 6: The Seveso Disaster in Italy.
Exposing the public to any kind of toxin is
kind of a bad idea.
While companies usually don't do it on purpose,
industrial accidents still happen...and a
big one hit Italy in 1976.
A small chemical plant in Milan, Italy found
itself in the news for all the wrong reasons
in 1976.
While producing chemicals for industrial use,
the staff had to be careful to make the reactions
happen at a very precise temperature.
Unfortunately, mistakes occurred and the temperature
was way too hot for the chemical reactions.
In addition, a reactor valve used to relieve
the pressure in the structure failed to open
on time.
Once it finally did, instead of slowly releasing
a safe amount of toxins, it blasted out 6
tons of chemicals into the sky.
The aftermath was terrible.
Luckily no people died, but over 3,300 animals
were found dead in the nearby region soon
after.
The government stepped in and realized that
other animals, including ones at food processing
plants, would be at risk, so 80,000 animals
were put down in hopes of keeping the toxins
out of the food supply.
Not exactly good advertising for your company.
Number 5: The Sewage of Niagara Falls.
Toxic waste sucks.
But every major factory produces it and needs
to dispose of it.
But how?
There are many ways to dispose of waste, but
one that is very frowned upon in the modern
day is exactly what was done decades ago near
the Love Canal neighborhood in Niagara Falls.
In the 40s and 50s, a chemical plant created
tons of toxins waste.
So much that they simply poured it onto the
ground at the edge of town.
Decades later, the city then built neighborhoods
right on top of these former sludge heaps.
By the late 70s, the fallout began; terrible
smells, dead grass, and toxic sludge emerging
from the ground were just a few issues experienced
by the residents.
Soon after the town was evacuated, as there
was no reasonable way to clean up the mess.
Years later, however, the city of Niagara
Falls says the neighborhood is now safe enough
for people to move back in.
Again...at least the real estate will be cheap.
Number 4: The Jilin Chemical Explosion.
More chemical plants.
The first rule of all chemical plants should
be to prepare for emergencies.
Regrettably, that rule isn't always in place
or when the time comes...things just don't
work out.
Such was the case in the Jilin chemical explosion
in China.
A chemical plant in Jilin, China was operating
just fine one day until one of their relief
valves got jammed.
With no way out, the heated chemicals had
no way of escaping and it caused a massive
explosion inside the building.
Reports state that windows were shattered
over 650 feet away from the blast, killing
6 employees and injuring dozens more.
And the problems spread from there.
Over 10,000 people had to be evacuated from
the small towns nearby and over 100 tons of
pollution went flowing down the Songhua river,
effecting many more towns and villages.
This is why "be prepared" is such a good phrase
to live by.
Number 3: The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill.
Shipping oil is always a delicate task, and
the Exxon Corporation found that out the hard
way in 1989.
With an overworked crew and lax care taken
for safety measures, the Exxon Valdez oil
spill became the worst oil spill in world
history...at the time.
In March of 1989, while shipping oil from
the north down to the mainland US, an oil
tanker lost control and hit land off the coast
of Alaska.
The hit was so severe that it cracked the
ship open and caused over 10 million gallons
of oil to spill out, devastating the coastline
and sea.
As if that wasn't bad enough, the shipwreck
occurred in Alaska, not exactly the easiest
place for first responders and cleanup crews
to arrive and save the day in an instant.
And the problems didn't stop there.
The oil spread to cover 11,000 square miles
of ocean.
And seeing as this region of Alaska was very
popular for seafood fishing for mainland US,
the food supply took a huge hit.
Well at least something that terrible never
happened again.
Oh wait...
Number 2: The Deep-Water Horizon Oil Spill.
Just when we thought the record-setting oil
spills were done, we have another.
In April of 2010, an explosion rocked the
Deep-Water Horizon oil rig in the Gulf of
Mexico.
The explosion killed 11, injured 17 and severed
the connection between the rig and the oil
flow.
This means that there was a massive, open
hole in the bottom of the Gulf pouring out
oil and no way to stop it.
And it took forever to cap the flow.
Crews tried many different techniques to get
to the opening and seal the pipe, but with
no luck...as gallons and gallons of oil kept
pouring out into the Gulf.
After 4 long months, crews were finally able
to cap the pipe and stop most of the oil flow,
but not after 210 million gallons of crude
oil had escaped into the water.
Naturally, the effects were devastating.
Sea life died off for many years before slowly
returning.
Beaches throughout the Gulf were too dirty
to enjoy.
And, of course, an oil spill record was set
that will hopefully NEVER come close to being
matched.
Number 1: The Great Smog of London.
Nobody likes smog.
It smells bad, it looks bad, and it's bad
for your lungs.
But it's not every day that it kills scores
of people.
Unfortunately, that's exactly what occurred
in London in 1952.
From December 5th to December 9th, 1952, London
experienced a perfect storm.
Kinda.
At the time, coal was big business, so there
was tons of ash in the air from the factories
and homes burning coal for power and heat.
Usually the wind would carry away most of
the smog, but for 5 days there wasn't a trace
of wind.
Combine this with the cold weather stagnating
the air even more, and you have the perfect
recipe for disaster; a giant smog cloud that's
not going anywhere.
The smog was so thick that people had trouble
walking through the cloud to go to work, let
alone drive.
The smog penetrated houses, forcing everyone
in London to inhale the deadly ash.
In the end, over 100,000 people fell ill and
another 12,000 died from the event.
A few years later, England passed new environmental
laws in hopes of avoiding future issues by
reducing pollution wherever possible.
At least something good came out of it.
Let us know what you think about these disasters
in the comments below and...take care!
