What is a disaster? This is an event that can be diverse. At the same time, many people die and major destruction occurs. Disasters, especially large ones, have always become the focus of attention of many people. Unfortunately, along with the development of technology, their scale is constantly increasing both in terms of the number of victims among people and the damage to the environment.
Any catastrophe is an emergency and must be carefully studied so that in the future humanity can avoid a repeat of the tragedy. A special trace in history was left by the "best" catastrophes, which caused a huge negative economic effect, not to mention the lost human lives.
The death of the Titanic
Everyone heard about the disaster. They can occur on land, in water, and even in the sky.
The Titanic is the most famous wreck with more than one and a half thousand dead, and the economic loss from the disaster in terms of modern purchasing power exceeds $ 150 million. The liner sank, making its first ocean voyage at the beginning of the XX century. At that time, it was positioned as the largest passenger ship. The owners called him "unsinkable."
The immediate culprit of the tragedy was a giant iceberg, piercing the side of the ship like a giant knife. From the impact of such a force, rivets weakened, water began to flow in the gap between the metal sheets. On board the ship were over 2 thousand people, of which only 706 survived.
Fuel truck explosion in Germany
Recent history is no less rich in technological disasters than the events of a century ago. In August 2004, a car accident occurred in Germany, damaging the adjacent infrastructure by $ 358 million. A fuel truck with a trailer following the bridge overpass, as a result of a collision with a passenger car, rammed the bridge's protective fence and collapsed from a hundred-meter height, after which it exploded.
Fortunately, private households located in the vicinity of the bridge were not affected. When wondering what a disaster is, many people start to cry. For some of them, an accident on the road turned into a real tragedy.
Collision of a passenger train MetroLink with a freight train
Rail transport is one of the most emergency areas in any state. No exception - and developed Western countries with computer systems for ensuring safety on the railways.
In the fall of 2008, in the vicinity of Los Angeles, the United States, a fast passenger train, ignoring the prohibitory semaphore signal, allowed a collision with an oncoming freight train. The train driver who did not notice the brake light turned out to be responsible for the tragedy, because he was busy with his mobile phone.
The catastrophe caused the death of 25 people, and 135 received injuries of varying severity. The damage amounted to half a billion dollars.
The fall of the B-2 Stealth bomber
Military equipment often causes technological disasters. Most often, military aviation objects fall and crash. In February 2008, on the island of Guam, USA, during a training flight, the B-2 crashed. The accident occurred when the plane climbed due to a faulty on-board computer. The bomber abruptly lost speed, hit the ground and caught fire. The pilot managed to catapult and thereby save his life.
Damage from the death of an aircraft amounted to 1.4 billion dollars. It’s good when no one dies during a disaster. You can find a list of the “best” and most terrifying in this article.
Exxon Valdez Tanker Accident
Often man-made disasters lead not only to casualties and damage to infrastructure, but also cause major environmental pollution, causing enormous damage to the environment.
In the spring of 1989 in Alaska, a tanker loaded with oil products collided with a rocky reef and received a hole through which oil and other toxic substances fell into the water.
Researchers found that as a result of the disaster, the biocenosis of the adjacent water area was severely damaged. The number of commercial fish species has decreased. A full restoration of ecology will take several decades.
Piper Alpha Oil Platform Crash
In the summer of 1988, a strong gas explosion occurred on this oil platform , killing almost 200 people. A large number of victims is partly due to the human factor - the uncoordinated work of staff and belated measures. Despite the fact that immediately after the explosion, production was stopped on the platform, oil and gas continued to flow through a common network from other platforms that were not stopped. As a result, the fire could not be extinguished.
Total damage amounted to at least 3.4 billion dollars.
Shuttle Shuttle Challenger Explosion
This accident is a black spot in the history of American astronautics. In the winter of 1986, almost a minute after the launch, the shuttle with astronauts crashed. Killed all seven crew members.
The explosion was caused by a technical malfunction of the solid fuel accelerator system. Prior to this, the shuttle successfully launched nine times from the ground.
The total damage caused by the disaster exceeded $ 2 billion. Now you can imagine what a disaster is and what scale it can reach.
Tanker accident Prestige
In 2002, the design of the Prestige tanker cracked under difficult weather conditions, resulting in oil leakage into open water. When trying to tow the tanker, it broke into two parts and sank, as a result of which all the transported oil ended up in the sea.
Enormous damage was caused to the biocenosis. Over 300 thousand birds died, the fish population sharply decreased. Water treatment required about $ 12 billion. The year of disasters matters, as scientists establish the effect of oil on life in this area.
The death of the shuttle Columbia
In the winter of 2003, the reusable Columbia spacecraft crashed with astronauts on board. As a result of the tragedy, all seven crew members died. The cause of the accident was a violation of the integrity of the skin on the wing of the shuttle.
The total damage from this man-made disaster exceeded 13 billion dollars, excluding the cost of building a new shuttle.
Chernobyl disaster
In the spring of 1986, as a result of an explosion at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, a malfunction of the station occurred, the destruction of the reactor vessel and massive radioactive contamination of the territory. For many days after the accident, the liquidators could not cope with the leakage of radioactive substances and stop the ongoing nuclear reactions. Thanks to the involvement of many hundreds of specialists from all over the country who sacrificed their lives, it was possible to stop the further eruption of radioactive isotopes. The Chernobyl disaster is a tragedy of the whole planet.
The consequences of the accident were felt by many countries: a blast wave circled the globe, and a radioactive cloud passed from Eastern Europe to the United States. About 200 thousand people were forced to migrate from the crash site.
The Chernobyl disaster is one of the largest man-made accidents that occurred in peacetime.
The cause of the accident is called the human factor - violation of safety regulations and work regulations. She was remembered for her scale and horror. The whole city turned into a ghost due to elementary negligence. More than one film was shot on this event, each of which clearly shows what a disaster is.