The Worst World Disasters of All Time. Kevin Baker
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Название: The Worst World Disasters of All Time
Автор: Kevin Baker
Издательство: Ingram
Жанр: Руководства
isbn: 9781456623432
isbn:
Even though Germany had surrendered back in May of 1945, by early August, Japan was still fighting. The first bomb meant for delivery, Little Boy, was a 64 kg device with the power of 16 kt. Hiroshima was selected as the target for its industrial and military significance. Several military camps were situated around the city, and the US government thought that this would be a good demonstration of the bomb's power. So on the morning of August 6th, the Enola Gay lifted off along with 6 other support planes and headed towards Japan, intent on bombing the city.
Thirty minutes before delivery, the bomb was armed in the plane and the safety devices removed. At 8:15 the plane flew over the city and dropped the bomb from a clear sky. It detonated 600 meters above the city and instantly killed almost 80,000 people from the blast itself and the fires that were ignited by the intense heat. Estimates say that over 90,000 – 166,000 people died from this nuclear attack, including disturbing long term health effects from the radiation.
All radio signals were cut from Hiroshima on the day of the bombing, and it took a scout plane to go down there and survey what had happened for the Emperor to learn about the bombing. Yet despite the intense devastation, and President Truman making an announcement along with an ultimatum for Japan to surrender, Japan did not surrender. It would take the Soviet armies declaring war on Japan, and a second atomic bombing, before the war would truly end.
14 – Chernobyl
Pripyat, Ukraine, abandoned city near Chernobyl - Image author: Slawojar
Date: 26th April, 1986.
Location: Pripyat, Ukraine.
Disaster Type: Nuclear power plant accident.
Fatalities: A predicted eventual death toll of around 4000+ people.
Resulting Damage: A 30 kilometre radius of irradiated land which will be unsafe for human life for the next 20,000 years.
On the 26th of April 1986 a severe nuclear accident occurred in the Chernobyl nuclear plant located in Ukraine. The explosion and fire created released a large amount of radiation into the atmosphere and the surrounding area. It is considered to be the worst nuclear accident of all time, so far.
The radiation spread throughout many parts of the USSR and to Europe as well. During the accident over 500,000 workers worked to secure the reactor and it cost over 18 billion rubles to contain it. The death toll is not fully known as 31 people were reported killed but this figure is disputed. The long-term impacts such as cancer and deformities have claimed more lives.
The accident occurred at reactor number four after a systems test on the 26th of April 1986. The reactor is near the city of Pripyat. There was a power surge and when the emergency shutdown occurred there was a large spike in power. This caused steam explosions and the reactor vessel was ruptured. In the reactor the graphite moderator became exposed to air and this ignited which sent a large plume of fallout and radiation over a large area and over the city of Pripyat. In Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine over 350,000 people were evacuated from the most contaminated zones and resettled elsewhere. It is estimated that about 60% of the fallout landed in Belarus.
The accident called into question the safety of Russian nuclear plants and the accident itself lead to reforms in Russia which eventually led to the collapse of the former Soviet Union. Russia, Belarus, and the Ukraine continue to clean up the mess from this horrific accident even to this day. The entire world receives an additional 21 days of normal background radiation because of this accident. Around the site these doses were considerably higher. The 530,000 recovery workers received an additional 50 years’ worth of regular background radiation because of the accident. It is unclear how the accident will impact future generations in the area or around the world.
There were 31 reported deaths because of the accident but in 2008 a UNSCEAR report claimed there were 64 as a result of the radiation. The long-term impacts could claim as many as 4000 lives. A report by the International Journal of Cancer in 2006 claimed that the accident has caused 1,000 cases of thyroid cancer and about 4,000 cases of other types of cancers in Europe, which is about 0.01% of all incident cancers since the accident happened. By the year 2065 it is estimated that there will be 16,000 cases of thyroid cancer and an additional 25,000 cases of other cancers as a direct result of the accident.
During the accident this city was not immediately evacuated. After a few short hours many of the residents got sick with coughing fits, severe headaches, and vomiting due to radiation exposure. The people of the USSR were only informed of the accident on the 28th which was two days after the initial accident which involved only a 20 second announcement on a television news program. The excessive radiation set off alarms at the Forsmark Nuclear Power Plant in Sweden and it was only then that the Soviets admitted they had a problem at Chernobyl. The city of Pripyat was evacuated on the 27th of April. The evacuation notice told people to only take food and water and because of this their personal belongings are still there, as the city is uninhabitable today. There is a 30 km exclusion zone still in place. There are tourists who go to this area but they enter at their own risk and carry radiation detectors.
Most of this area has returned to forest and the radiation levels in the area are still high. Workers that are rebuilding the Chernobyl sarcophagus work for 5 hours a day for about one month and then get 15 days off. It has been estimated that this area will not be safe for people to live in for about another 20,000 years.
15 – Bhopal Gas Tragedy
Bhopal memorial for those killed and disabled. Image author: Luca Frediani
Date: 2nd - 3rd December 1984.
Location: Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
Disaster Type: Gas leak.
Fatalities: 500,000 people exposed and at least 2,259+ deaths.
The Bhopal gas tragedy, or the ‘Bhopal disaster’ as it is also known, is the world’s worst industrial accident to date that occurred in India on the night of the 2nd to the 3rd of December, 1984. This incident involved a release of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. Over 500,000 people were exposed to this gas as it went through the shanty towns that were situated near the plant. There are variations in the total estimated fatalities but about 2,259 initially died in the disaster according to the official immediate death toll. An affidavit in 2006 by the government stated that there were 558,125 injuries with 38,478 temporary partial injuries and about 3,900 people who were severely and permanently injured as a result of the disaster.
There were trade unions in 1976 that complained about pollution within this plant and in 1981 a worker was splashed with phosgene and died. In 1981 American experts warned that there was a chance of a “runaway reaction” in the MIC storage tank. Union Carbide was told about these problems as early as 1979 but nothing was done. In 1982 there was another phosgene incident that sent 24 people to hospital with exposure. There were numerous problems at this plant prior to the major gas leak.
Methylamine СКАЧАТЬ