Not only Chernobyl: the largest man-made disasters in the world

Today marks 36 years since the tragedy at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant – the largest man-made disaster in the world.

However, the history of mankind is full of man-made disasters – from accidents at nuclear power plants and underwater oil spills to chemical explosions and collapse of mines. The publication livescience.com published a selection of the most tragic disasters that people provoked.

ABERFAN COAL MINE

The village of Aberfan grew up around a nearby coal mine, which was opened as early as 1869. By 1966, the settlement had grown, so the village was surrounded by seven huge dumps – waste from mining.

In October 1966, as a result of heavy rainfall, the seventh heap of dumps collapsed and a layer of rock rushed towards the village at a speed of 17 to 34 km / h and a height of up to 9 meters.

As a result of the landslide, 144 people died, 116 of them were children, as the rock destroyed two schools, and 18 nearby houses were also destroyed.

DISASTER SEVESO

On July 10, 1976, an accident at a plant north of Milan that produced the chemical released a deadly cloud of dioxin into the atmosphere, covering more than 18 square kilometers.

Hundreds of residents, including children, suffered from skin diseases, and huge areas of land were evacuated. Thousands of animals have died or been killed to prevent toxins from entering the food chain.

The Seveso disaster also had long-term consequences. Since 1976, studies have shown that more locals have died from cardiovascular and respiratory diseases, and certain types of cancer have increased in the affected areas.

ASBESTOS CLOUDS OF MONTANA

In the city of Libby, by 1963, more than 80% of the world’s reserves of the mineral vermiculite were mined, which was used in various fields – from gardening to the production of automotive parts.

But some types contain asbestos, which can cause serious lung problems. The mining company knew about the danger, but kept it from the locals.

And those used the waste of the mine for the construction of houses and landscaping, including schools, without even suspecting that they were poisoning themselves.

The mine closed in 1990, but the city’s problems only became known in 1999, and in 2009 the US government declared a state of emergency in Libby to clean up the city.

Hundreds of people have died from asbestos-related health problems, and thousands more have fallen ill. New cases of death and illness were reported even in 2018.

OIL SPILL ON THE PLATFORM DEEP-WATER HORIZON

Oil spills are among the most notorious man-made disasters of our time, and the Deep Sea Horizon incident in 2010 is considered the largest offshore oil spill in history.

As a result of the explosion due to the rise of methane into the drilling rig, 11 workers were killed, and 94 crew members were evacuated. The rig sank two days later.

But by that time, a huge slick of oil had spilled out of an underwater well. It is estimated that about 954 million liters of oil entered the ocean, and the spill directly affected about 181,000 square kilometers of ocean in the Gulf of Mexico.

Bhopal disaster

On December 2, 1984, a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, leaked 40 tons of a chemical called methyl isocyanate into the atmosphere as a result of a safety system malfunction.

Given that the plant was located in a densely populated area, more than 600,000 people were affected by the deadly cloud.

People living around the station were not informed promptly, and hospital staff received conflicting information about the situation. As a result of this negligence, thousands of people died within hours. Thousands of animals also died.

Research after the accident showed that thousands of people are still suffering from various injuries, so even today it is difficult to say exactly how many people were affected.

SIDOARJO MUD VOLCANO

There are over 1,000 mud volcanoes in the world, but this Indonesian example is probably the only one caused by human activity.

On May 28, 2006, when the well was drilled to almost 3,000 meters, there was an eruption of water, steam and gas from underground, and the next day this mixture began to erupt again, which is happening to this day. There are estimates that eruptions will not stop for another 30 years.

11 people died during the pipeline explosion, 30,000 people were evacuated from the area. Dozens of villages and more than 10,000 houses were destroyed, and debris from the mudflow polluted nearby rivers.