It was the silent afternoon of 4th August
2020 when an extremely powerful explosion
shook the city of Beirut, the capital of Lebanon,
killing nearly 220
people and causing about 7000 injuries.
Thousands of people were left homeless and
the estimated property damage caused was equivalent
to about 15 billion dollars.
The explosion was loud enough to be heard
more than 250kms
This disastrous event was caused by about
2750 tonnes of Ammonium Nitrate which was
stored in the port of the city without proper
safety measures for almost six years.
The event has gone down in records as one
of the biggest man-made disasters in history.
Little errors which we sometimes tend to overlook
grow big enough to cause irreversible large
scale damage.
Welcome to Masterlist and today we’re taking
a look at the top 5 man-made disasters in
history some of which have been caused by
simple carelessness and some as an intentional
display of power.
So let’s get started, RIGHT NOW.
Number 5.
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
On December 3rd, 1984 about 45 tons of methyl
isocyanate, which a highly poisonous gas,
escaped from a pesticide plant owned by Union
Carbide India Ltd. in the city of Bhopal,
India.
The gas which reached the nearby densely populated
areas ended up killing thousands of people
immediately.
While the official death toll is around 15000,
some believe that more than 35000 deaths have
occurred till date as even years later the
survivors still suffer from respiratory problems,
eye irritation, blindness and other ill effects
resulting from exposure to the toxic gas.
The chemical plant was in extremely poor condition
and had broken several safety regulations
years before the accident.
As all these errors accumulated over time,
on the night of the fateful incident a safety
release system was activated and a storage
tank was emptied in the air to prevent a huge
chemical explosion.
The Bhopal gas tragedy remains one of the
worst industrial accident in history.
Number 4.
Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster
The Chernobyl disaster, which happened in
1986 at the Chernobyl nuclear power station
in the Soviet Union is considered the worst
nuclear accident in history which killed about
30 operators and firemen within three months
and dozens of others due to radiation sickness
in the following years.
The accident was caused due to flawed Soviet
reactor design and some serious mistakes made
by the plant operators.
On the night of April 26, a chain reaction
in the core of the nuclear power plant went
out of control and blew off the lid of the
reactor which released a large amount of radioactive
material into the atmosphere which was then
carried out to great distances by air currents.
Even after more than 30 years, the explosion
zone and surrounding areas are still unsafe
due to radiation poisoning and scientists
estimate that the place will not be habitable
for up to 20000 years.
Number 3.
Hiroshima and Nagasaki bombings
One of the worst ever uses of nuclear energy
in warfare, the atomic bombings on the Japanese
cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remain the
deadliest and only usage of atomic bombs in
war.
On August 6, 1945 during World War 2, a US
bomber dropped a uranium bomb nicknamed “Little
Boy” over Hiroshima.
The destruction was unlike anything in the
history of warfare.
The city was immediately flattened, killing
over 140,000
people.
Tens of thousands more died of injuries caused
by radiation poisoning in the upcoming months.
Pictures from the tragic incident show a huge
mushroom cloud caused by the blast which rose
to 9000 meters.
Temperatures near the blast reached about
7000 degrees Celcius and all humans and animals
were literally seared to death by the tremendous
heat.
When Japan did not surrender, another bomb
nicknamed “Fat Man’ was dropped three
days later by the US on the city of Nagasaki
which killed another 75000 people.
Japan surrendered six days later, ending World
War 2.
Japan is the only country to have experienced
a nuclear attack. The bombings were as questionable
back then as they are today.
Six out of seven five-star US generals and
admirals at the time argued that there an
atomic bombing was unnecessary because a Japanese
surrender was imminent.
Number 2.
Door to Hell, Turkmenistan
The Darvaza Gas Crater in Turkmenistan, also
known as “the door to hell” is a natural
gas field that has been burning continuously
since 1971.
This 230 feet wide burning crater was created
when a Soviet drilling rig accidentally punched
into an underground gas cavern.
The ground collapsed and the entire rig sank
into it.
The accident caused poisonous gases to emit
from the crater at an alarming rate.
Worried about the potential environmental
catastrophe that it could cause, the scientists
set it on fire expecting the gas reserves
to burn out in a few weeks.
Forty years later, and the pit is still burning
endlessly.
The scientists underestimated the amount of
fuel that lay down below.
By the way, Turkmenistan has the sixth largest
natural gas reserves in the world.
The country hopes that it will become a tourist
site and the nearby desert has already become
a popular place to camp.
Although the incident has not caused any human
casualties, it has resulted in wastage of
tons of natural resource over the years which
could have been put to good use.
Number 1.
The Deepwater Horizon Explosion
Another drilling rig mishap which happened
on April 20, 2010, in the Gulf of Mexico approximately
66kms off the coast of Louisiana caused a
massive explosion resulting in the largest
marine oil spill in history.
The entire rig sank into the sea killing nearly
11 workers.
Four million barrels of oil flowed into the
sea from the incident over a period of 87
days.
On the night of April 20, a surge of natural
gas blasted through the concrete core from
the seabed and travelled up the Deepwater
rig’s riser to the platform, where it ignited
and killed 11 workers and injured 17 others.
The rig sank on the morning of April 22 causing
a massive oil spill.
After huge environmental damage, the leak
was sealed on July 15, 2010.
Oil continued to wash ashore in many areas
and much of it could not be removed due to
various logistic limitations.
So, guys, those were some of the worst man-made
disasters which have shaped the history of
humankind.
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