Many disasters have occurred in many parts of the world due to both deliberate or unintended human error and actions. Below are some of the most shocking incidents that led to mortalities.
London’s Killer Fog
The London Killer Fog of 1952 has always been judged to be based on the natural adverse weather conditions. Being that this incident happened during the winter period, many people re said to have thought that it was a weather-related incident. It was marred by cold weather and as usual; many people always resort to making ire to warn themselves. This incident has been chosen as one of the most surprising because foggy winters are common in UK. It is surprising that in some cases the fogs maybe man-made and poisonous due to human error in judgment. The most shocking thing about this incident is that most people thought that the mists were formed through the weather changes. Majority thought that with the increasing cold weather, the best thing to do was to ensure that there was enough warmth by burning coals but this aggravated the problem. What is devastating is that human error caused the deaths of over 10, 000 people. To solve this problem, various stakeholders need to come together. The most important thing to do is follow the environment conservation legislations such as the Clean Air Act that safeguards the air from pollution (Schroeder Pg. 97).
Al-Mishraq Fire
Another shocking man-made disasters of all time is that razed down the Iraqi Sulfur Plant in 2003. As much the extent of the human casualties that fell victims in this incident is unclear, there is enough evidence that depicts that this is a serious historic error. Given that the fire took close to one month, there are speculations that it may have led to a lot of destructions to property and human life. What is more shocking in this incident is that human error contributed to the burning of this plant despite people being fed with lots of information implying that the ire was not triggered by any human mistake. To make it works, the end products of burning sulfur are poisonous gases such as the Hydrogen Sulfide, Sulfur IV oxide and much more. What is devastating is the number of secret destructions that may have been caused by this incident because of the acidic rain and polluted air. Many people may have suffered in secret without knowing the causes of their problems. Solution to this problem may have been acquired when the plant engaged the use of the Satellite images which relay the data on the release rate of the sulfur gases into the atmosphere. Systems such as the Ozone Monitoring Instrument are used in measuring the Sulfur IV oxide overload (Björnham Pg.3).
Nuclear Power Plant Explosion in Chernobyl, Russia
In 1989, a nuclear power plant at Chernobyl in Ukraine was se a blaze and it exploded under some mysterious circumstances. History puts it that Ukraine was then a Soviet Socialist Republic and many may have thought that this was an attack from the enemies. Whether this was true or not, the bottom-line of the issue is that it soon emerged that it was a man-made disaster. Engineers and environmentalist claim that the radioactive materials that were released into the atmosphere at this incident were four hundred times exceeding what was experienced at Hiroshima when US attacked Japan in 1945. What is shocking about this incident is that those who made the error may have done it deliberately notwithstanding their knowledge of the possible destruction it would create. What is devastating is the destruction that it created such as deaths, cancer infections, children born with defects and hampered agriculture. This human failure problem can be solved through increased vigilance and use of new technologies that increase cautiousness.
Works Cited
Björnham, Oscar, et al. "The 2016 Al-Mishraq sulphur plant fire: source and risk area estimation." arXiv preprint arXiv: 1611.03837 (2016).
Salge, Markus. "Lessons from the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident for the Design of Organizational Improvement Initiatives." (2005): 1-30.
Schroeder, Gabe. "" Just Plain Murder": Public Debate and Corporate Diplomacy in Donora's Fight for Clean Air." The History Teacher 45.1 (2011): 93-116.
Works Cited
