Famous Environmental Disasters Of All Time
Have you had occurrences, in your environment or somewhere close to you that turned out to be nothing short of disastrous? And are these occurrences as a result of nature or are they caused by the different activities of humans? Environmental disasters refers to those specific events that turns out to have a seriously negative impact on the environment as a result of the activities of human beings (such as the spilling of oil or nuclear disaster). So, basically, environmental disaster are the adverse effects that occurs in the environment as a result of human caused disaster. There are also several types of environmental disasters, as the form in which these disasters can take place varies i. e. different ways in which environmental disaster can be caused.
These causes include:
- Agricultural Disasters
- Biodiversity Disasters
- Human Health Disasters
- Industrial Disasters
- Nuclear Disasters
These are environmental disasters that occur as a result of impacts made on the agricultural industry.
These are environmental disasters that occurs as a result of the after effects of the migration of specific species into new territories, the destruction or severe damage on new species or on the natural environment.
These are environmental disasters that occurs as a result of the spread of disease or mass death among humans, that leads to mass destruction and devastation.
These are environmental disasters that occurs as a result of the impact big industries have on the natural environment be it in a small radius or globally.
These are environmental disasters that occurs as a result of nuclear activities such as damages to nuclear plants that leads to radiation leak or nuclear spill.
Click here to see some of the most dangerous environmental disasters to rock this planet. This environmental disaster took place in Bhopal, India on the second day of December, 1984. A Union Carbide pesticide plant unleashed, by accident a gas cloud of about 45 tons toxic methyl isocyanate that resulted in the death of about 3,000 people just a few days after the leak. This gas cloud is regarded as the single most deadly human caused environmental disaster to have occurred, not just because of the death that happened days after the leak, but also because of the fatalities that occured following the death of the 3,000. The Indian government believe that about 15,000 people died because of the immediate and the delayed after effects the toxic methyl isocyanate cloud.
The toxins of the gas that were released due to the leak eventually settled and resulted in cases of poisoning at a later date, which caused harm (inluding blindness, organ failure and other terrible malfunctions of the body) to some individuals and living creatures, while it led to the death of other individuals and living creatures in the area that surrounds the town. The toxins also led to an increase in the number of children in the area that have been born with all the kinds of birth defects. The Great Smog, London The Great Smog of London took place in 1952 and it occurred when a thick fog came upon London. This fog was the result of thick air pollution that have been gathered due to the different weather conditions. The combination of the cold weather of the period, anticyclones and windless conditions, made the pollutants gather close to the ground and resulted in the London fog being more toxic and much thicker. The primary heating source of this period was coal, so a large percentage of the pollution that were collected in the atmosphere were thick coal dust, and they resulted in a lot of respiratory irritation. After four weeks, it was believed that about 4,000 people died as a result of respiratory distress and other illness the pollution caused. Another 8,000 people dies because if the pollution present in the smog.
Although, the smog was thick and it was composed of a number of chemical pollutants, scientists believe that sulfur dioxide was the major cause of most deaths. The Exxon Valdez Oil Spill The Exxon Valdez Oil tanker, on March 24, 1989, collided with the Bligh Reef of Prince William Sound. This collision resulted in the spillage of between 260,000 to 750,000 barrels of cruse oil and it spread to almost 500 miles from the place where it crashed into the reef. Although, this oil spill is not the most oil spilled throughout history (the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill of 2010, owns the record for the most oil spill), this oil spill however is one of most famous, because the area where it was spilled happened to be someplace where it was extremely difficult to clean up, so as to decrease its impact on the environment. The slow response of the cleanup crew resulted in the oil affecting sea creatures, leading to the death of hundreds of thousands of them including sea otters, salmon, seal sea birds and other animals. A huge part of the shore line also suffered as a result of exposure to the oil, however, launching the cleanup efforts made them extensive. Only 10% of the spilled oil happen to be recovered despite the extensive cleanup efforts.
Rabbits in Australia
Rabbits are harmless creatures and they should not be able to lead to environmental disasters, but on the contrary, when rabbits were introduced into Australia, they happened to be one of the most damaging factors that resulted in the destruction of the native species of Australia. As these wild rabbits were introduced into Australia from Europe, they began to feed on the saplings of several of the native plant species. These rabbits also reproduce at a rapid rate, as only 12 of them were introduced into Australia in 1859, but the population of these rabbits in the country after serious measures have been taken to control them remains between 200 million and 300 millon, this rate of reproduction resulted in the inability of the plant species to maintain their population. These rabbits also contributed immensely to erosion as they continually fed on the plant species, leaving the top soil bare to be ravaged by the weather conditions.
Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant
The explosion of the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant occurred on April 26, 1986, it happened such that the core of the nuclear reactor of the nuclear power plant exploded, the explosion led to the pollution of the atmospheric air with over 50 tons of radioactive material. The explosion and the radiation poisoning that came after left cities abandoned (cities like Prypriat, that still stand isolated away from the modern world). About 350,000 individuals were then evacuated so as to reduce their vulnerability to radiation due to the explosion of the plant. About 4,000 deaths were recorded by the officials in charge of cleaning up and also more than 70,000 cases of disability were recorded as a result of exposure to radiation. A large percentage of the children born after the nuclear explosion were also affected by the radiation from the explosion, leading to high cases of babies with abnormalities such as down syndrome, neural tube defects and also chromosomal aberrations were recorded. The older children and adults that were exposed to this radiation went on to develop high cases of cancer and other illnesses that were not taken care of, as a result of the poor healthcare system that were provider after the explosion.
The Fukushima Nuclear Plant
Definitely one of the most recent environmental disasters, this disaster occurred on March 11, 2011. The Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant started to experience failures after it was struck by a 9. 0 magnitude earthquake, which was then followed by a massive tsunami that led to the devastation of Okuma in Fukushima, Japan and also damaged the back up generators that were to start after electricity supply failed. The nuclear meltdown started when the water that was supposed to cool the nuclear reactors, stopped flowing, and hence, was unable to cool the reactors, which led to overheating of the reactor, that began the nuclear meltdown.
As the damage increased, radiation began to ease out from the already damaged reactor into the local environment. Officials, believe that it could take several decades before the destruction that the nuclear meltdown left in its wake, would be completely cleaned up. No one is really sure of the rate of the damage currently but poisoning from the radiation is confirmed to have already claimed the lives of several workers that continuously made efforts to control the damages the meltdown created. Small amounts of radiation also fall to the ground contaminating grasses, that livestock feed on and water supplies. The radiation is expected to have long-lasting effects on the people of Japan, as it has effected both water and food sources. However, it led to the death of only one individual as a result of a heart attack, physical injuries to about 37 individuals, and two workers of the plant station experienced radiation burns as they were standing in the water. Environmental disasters are usually the result of some form of negligence, activity or inactivity on our part as humans, and they are known to take lives of humans and animals that live on land or/and sea. We see the signs of the harm we cause to our local environment and the global environment, yet we ignore them. Enormous amounts of greenhouse gases are released everytime into the atmosphere, resulting in harm by speeding up global warming. We still haven't had the worst environmental disaster to come yet, but it will be our collective responsibility to take note of even the little things and slow down the whole process.
