TECHNOLOGICAL DISASTERS​

A technological disaster is an event caused by a malfunction of a technological structure and/or some human error in controlling or handling the technology. Technological disasters can be considered a man-made disaster meaning there is an “identifiable cause” characteristic.

Like natural disasters, technological disasters are caused by events that can be intense and sudden. Examples include bridge collapses, dam failures, and industrial, maritime, and aviation accidents.

Examples of technological hazards include industrial pollution, nuclear radiation, toxic wastes, dam failures, transport accidents, factory explosions, fires, and chemical spills.

Greatest Man-Made Disasters

• 10.  Three Mile Island Accident (1979) - resulted from a nuclear reactor's partial core meltdown at 3MI's Unit 2 Nuclear Generation Station,  in Dauphin County near Harrisburg, PA on March 28, 1979.

•  9.   Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Disaster (1989) - an American oil tanker collided with the Bligh Reef in Prince William Sound, Alaska on March 24, 1989.

•  8.   Dust Bowl or Dirty Thirties (1930s-1940s) - excessive farming and natural drought combined to create massive dust storms or "black blizzards) across the Great Plains states.

•  7.   Seveco/Meda (Italy) Dioxin Disaster (1976) - a reactor at the ICMESA chemical plant exploded releasing a toxic cloud of dioxin on July 10, 1976 near Sevesco and Meda Italy.

•  6.   Minamata Disease / Mercury Poisoning (1932-1968) - first discovered in 1956, caused by the long time release of mercury into the Shiranui Sea by the Chisso Corp. Cases of mercury poisoning resulted from eating contaminated fish and shellfish.  

•  5.   Love Canal (1940s-50s and again 1976-78) -  Work began on the canal to connect the Niagara River with Lake Ontario in the late 1890s but only a mile was ever dug.  So in the 1920s Niagara Falls NY started using it as a  municipal garbage dump site.  Hooker Chemical used it for chemical waste drums between 1942-53 before donating to the city. In the late 1970s investigative newspaper reporters began documenting the toxic neighborhood and health problems.

•  4.   Great Smog of '52, London (1952) - the "Big Smoke," Between December 5-9, 1952, a severe air pollution event affected London.  It was caused by airborne coal pollutants, combined with cold weather, windless conditions and an anticyclone (inversion).  

•  3.   Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill The April 20, 2010 explosion and subsequent fire on Transocean's Deepwater Horizon semi-submersible Mobile Offshore Drilling Unit (MODU), resulted in the massive BP offshore oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the world, and the largest environmental disaster in U.S. history.   The explosion killed 11 workers and injured 16 others.

•  2.   Chernobyl Disaster, Ukraine, Russia  (1986) - Four hundred times more radioactive material was released from Chernobyl than by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima.   This catastrophic nuclear accident occurred on 26 April 1986 at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then officially the Ukrainian SSR). The explosion and fire released large quantities of radioactive particles into the atmosphere, which spread over much of the western USSR and Europe.

•  1.   Bhopal Disaster or the Bhopal gas tragedy (1984) -  Often considered the world's worst industrial disaster, this gas leak incident at the Union Carbide India pesticide plant in Bhopal India occured on the night of 2–3 December 1984. Over 500,000 people  and around the nearby shanty towns were exposed to toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals.

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Disaster Types

NUCLEAR DISASTER

View of Chernobyl power plant taken from the roof of a residential building in Pripyat, Ukraine. Photo Taken by Jason Minshull released into public domain.

A nuclear and radiation accident is defined by the International Atomic Energy Agency as "an event that has led to significant consequences to people, the environment or the facility." Examples include lethal effects to individuals, large radioactivity release to the environment, or reactor core melt." The prime example of a "major nuclear accident" is one in which a reactor core is damaged and significant amounts of radioactivity are released, such as in the Chernobyl Disaster in 1986.After the disaster, four square kilometers of pine forest directly downwind of the reactor turned reddish-brown and died, earning the name of the "Red Forest"  Radioactivity warning sign on a hill at the east end of Red Forest taken 26 March 2009.

OIL SPILL

The Deepwater Horizon oil spill (also referred to as the BP oil spill, the BP oil disaster, the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, and the Macondo blowout) began on 20 April 2010 in the Gulf of Mexico  on the BP operated Mancondo Prospect. It claimed eleven lives  and is considered the largest accidental marine oil spill in the history of the petroleum industry, an estimated 8% to 31% larger in volume than the previously largest, the Ixtoc I oil spill. Following the explosion and sinking of the Deepwater Horizon oil rig, a sea-floor oil gusher flowed for 87 days, until it was capped on 15 July 2010. The US Government estimated the total discharge at 4.9 million barrels (210 million US gal; 780,000 m3). After several failed efforts to contain the flow, the well was declared sealed on 19 September 2010.Some reports indicate the well site continues to leak.

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