Industrial Disaster To Trumps

Industrial Disaster TOP TRUMPS Banqiao Dam - China In 1975 the Banqiao Reservoir Dam failed causing more fatalities that any other dam failure in history. Originally the dam failure was attributed to a natural disaster rather than a man-made disaster. The government blamed the failure on a once in a 2000 year flood that occurred and stated that the dam was built to withstand 300mm of rain fall per day however on the day on the collapse over 1000mm of rain fell. The dam like many others of that time was badly made and incorrectly maintained and when the failure occurred it released almost 16billion m3 of water upon neighbouring towns causing a wave 10 kilometers wide and up to 7 meters high to sweep through at almost 50kilometers per hour. The majority of deaths were not owed to the wave but more to epidemic and famine that occurred during the rescue operation. Instant deaths; 18,869 Subsequent Deaths; 230,000 Injuries; Unkown Cost; $15 Billion / £10 Billion Disaster Rating: 9 Piper Alpha Disaster - Scotland The Piper Alpha was a North Sea oil production platform that began operation in 1976. The rig started as an oil platform but was later converted into a support gas production. An explosion on July 6th 1988 ripped through the platform killing 167 men and destroying the rig altogether. 61 employees survived the disaster and the incident has lead to many inquiries relating to offshore industries. Instant deaths; 167 Subsequent Deaths; 0 30 bodies were never recovered. A chapal in Aberdeen has been dedicated in memory of those lost in the disaster. Injuries; 50 Cost; $3.4 Billion / £2.3 Billion Disaster Rating: 4 The disaster occurred during a system test on Saturday 26 April 1986 at reactor number four on the Chernobyl plant. There was a sudden unexpected power surge which caused emergency shutdown procedures, however an exponentially larger power spike took place causing a reactor vessel to rupture leading to a series of explosions. The resulting fire sent a plume of highly radioactive fallout into the atmosphere over a substantial geographical area. Chenobyl - Ukraine The most severely contaminated areas of high radiation have become exclusion zones and large areas of land are now uninhabitable and will remain so for the next 20,000 years. The total death toll is widely disputed owed to cancer being a resulting illnesses of exposure to radiation. Cancer rates have risen in the surrounding area since the incident but the true amount is unknown. Instant deaths; 13 Subsequent Deaths; 9,500 & rising Injuries; 500,000 Cost; $225 Billion / £150 Billion Disaster Rating: 10 Enschede fireworks disaster - Holland WAX The Enschede fireworks disaster is the result of a catastrophic fireworks explosion that occurred at the SE Fireworks depot on 13th May 2000. The fire led to 2 enormous explosions with the first having a strength of roughly 800kg of TNT and the seconds 4000-5000kg. The biggest blast was felt up to 30km away from the scene. 4000 homes were completely destroyed and 1500 damaged which left 1250 people without homes. Prior to the accident SE Fireworks company met all safety requirements during regular audits. Instant deaths; 22 Subsequent Deaths; 0 Injuries; 947 Cost; $450 Million / £300 Million Disaster Rating: 4 Bhopal disaster - India The Bhopal gas tragedy was a result of a gas leak in India and is often considered to be the worlds worst Industrial disaster. On the 2nd of December over half a million people were exposed to methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals. The gas made its way around nearby shanty towns killing 2,259 instantly followed by another 8000 within the next 2 weeks. The reason for the leak has been long debated by many experts have claimed that the storage tanks were filled beyond recommended levels and were poorly maintained. Even today the local area remains to be contaminated although this is blamed on the fact that the deteriorating portion of the plant responsible still remains today. Instant deaths; 2259 Subsequent Deaths; 20,000 Injuries; 558,125 Cost; $3 Billion / £2 Billion Disaster Rating: 9 Buncefield Fire - England The Buncefield fire is the largest explosion to have occurred in peacetime europe. Caused by a leaking fuel line the explosion created a quake which measured at 2.4 on the Richter scale and was so loud that it was heard in neighbouring countries. The Smoke cloud that developed could be seen from space and locals who witnessed the event claimed that flames reached up hundreds of feet into the air. Instant deaths; 0 The owners of Buncefield's Oil Storage Terminal have been under scrutiny for having lacklustre safety precautions safety protocols and have since had to pay out over 10 million to cover legalities and compensate those affected. Subsequent Deaths; 0 Injuries; 45 Cost; $1 Billion / £750 Million Disaster Rating: 1 On the morning of December 6th 1917 The SS Mont-Blanc, a cargo ship loaded with explosives collided with a vessel known as the SS Imo. The Explosion was of such magnitude that it destroyed or severely damaged every building within a 2 and a half kilometre radius. Halifax Explosion - Canada The explosion created temperatures of around 5000 °C and pressures of thousands of atmospheres which caused white hot iron to rain down upon local towns. The barrel from one of mont-blancs guns was found 5.6 kilometers north of the explosion site whilst the anchor was located some 3 miles away. Instant deaths; 1950 Subsequent Deaths; 0 Hundreds of people who had been watching the fire from their homes were left blinded when the blast shattered the windows in front of them. The blast could be felt as far as twns 220 miles Injuries; 9000 Cost; $531 Million / £353 Million Disaster Rating: 7 away from the explosion. Boston Molasses Disaster - USA On January 15th 1919 a large molasses tank burst and a wave of molasses rushed through the streets at an estimated 35 mph (56 km/h), killing 21 and injuring 150. The event has entered local folklore, and residents claim that on a hot summer day, the area still smells of molasses. The clean-up operation lasted around two weeks with the help of over 300 people contributing to the cause. It took roughly 90,000 man hours to remove the molasses from the cobblestone streets and surrounding buildings. The harbour remained stained molasses brown until the summer of that year. Instant deaths; 21 Subsequent Deaths; 0 Injuries; 150 Cost; $10.7 Million / £7.1 Million Disaster Rating: 3 San Juanico Disaster - Mexico The San Juanico Disaster occurred when a massive series of explosions at an LPG tank farm devastated the facility and the surrounding town. The explosions consumed one third of Mexico's entire liquid petroleum gas supply (11000 cu meters of gas). egas CaS SWE The town affected was home to 40,000 residents with an additional 60,000 living in the surrounding hills. The explosions demolished homes and launched metal fragments weighing up to 30 tons up to 1200 meters away. Radiant heat generated by the inferno incinerated the majority of corpses and only 2% of the recovered remains were left in a recognisable condition. Instant deaths; 600 Subsequent Deaths; 0 Injuries; 7000 Cost; Unkown Disaster Rating: 7 The Benxihu Colliery in Liaoning, China was first mined in 1905. The mine was already recognised as an almost slave culture due to extremely poor working conditions. Employees often worked long shifts with little in the way of food and clothing. Typhoid and cholera flourished resulting in many more deaths before the incident even Benxihu Colliery Disaster - China occurred. On April 26th 1942 a gas and coal explosion ripped through the mine killing 34% of the workforce for that day. Initially reports detailed the death toll to be just 40 but a monument erected later named over Instant deaths; 1,549 Subsequent Deaths; 0 1300 victims. The Benxihu Colliery explosion is considered the worst mining disaster in history and reports have stated that if correct safety procedures had been executed many lives could have been saved. Injuries; 1000 Cost; Unkown Disaster Rating: 6 Savar building collapse - Bangladesh The collapse of an eight story commercial building in Savar, Bangladesh has now been named as potentially the deadliest garment factory accident in history as well as the deadliest accidental structural failure of the modern day. A safety inspection was carried out the day before the incident which indicated that the building was unsuitable for use. Warnings to avoid using the building were ignored and employees were told that failure to arrive the next day for work would result in the loss of their next months Instant deaths; 1,127 Subsequent Deaths; 0 earnings. The rescue operation lasted almost a month with the final recovery of living woman 17 days after the collapse. Injuries; 2500 Cost; Unkown Disaster Rating: 5 Atrium LEGAL SERVICES www.AtriumLegal.com