Manmade disasters

• Are the results of carelessness or human errors

during technological and industrial use
• Disaster in the form of accidents which occur all of
sudden and take a huge toll of life and properties
• 2 types
– Local disaster
• Small scale such as train accident, plain crash etc
– Industrial and technological disaster
– Affect people of large areas
– Accidental leakage of water and air pollutants which are toxic or
carcinogens
 Nuclear
• Nuclear fission
– Nuclear reactors operate on the principle of nuclear fission, the
process in which a heavy atomic nucleus splits into two smaller
fragments. A large amount of energy is released in this process, and
this energy is the basis of nuclear power systems.
– Atom bomb: When a single free neutron strikes the nucleus of an
atom of radioactive material like uranium or plutonium, it knocks two
or three more neutrons free
• Nuclear fusion
– Basically in this process, lighter atoms will fuse or combine to form
heavier elements. This results in a lot of energy being released
– Thermonuclear bomb, also called hydrogen bomb, or H-
bomb, weapon whose enormous explosive power results from an
uncontrolled, self-sustaining chain reaction in which isotopes
of hydrogen combine under extremely high temperatures to form
helium
 Nuclear disaster
• When weapons are detonated or nuclear containment systems
otherwise compromised, air borne radioactive particles (nuclear
fallouts) can scatter and irradiate large areas
• Ionizing radiation is hazardous to living things and in such a case
much of the area could be unsafe for human habituation
• Examples
– Fukushima (2011):
• Following a major earthquake, a 15-metre tsunami disabled the power
supply and cooling of three Fukushima Daiichi reactors, causing a nuclear
accident on 11 March 2011. All three cores largely melted in the first three
days.
– World war II: US attack on Hiroshima and Nagazaki (Japan)
• Radiation contaminated cities water supplies, food sources and half of city
population stricken with disease
• Death: 90,000–146,000 people in Hiroshima and 39,000–80,000 people in
Nagasaki
– Goiania accident (Brazil)
• Old radiotherapy sources stolen from an abandoned hostpital
• More than 1 lakh people had radioactive contamination
• In clean up operation., top soil had to removed from several sites, houses
demolished
• Chernobyl Nuclear disaster (Ukraine)
– Explosion of reactors of 1000 mega watt capacity due
to sudden power surge resulting a large hole in the
roof of building through which radioactive debries
spread
• Radio isotopes of Iodine and caesium
• To the height of 1 km
• Approximately 100-150 million curie radiation
• To reduce emission, 5000 metric tonnes of shielding
material; lead, boron, sand and clay were used
• 2000 deaths
• Radiation spread to Poland, Denmark and Sweden
– High thyroid and blood cancer incidents
 Chemical
• A chemical disaster is the unintentional release of one or
more hazardous substances which could harm human health
and environment
• Chemical accidents may originate in
– Manufacture and formulation installations including during
commissioning and process operations, maintenance and disposal
– Material handling and storage in manufacturing facilities and
isolated storage; ware houses and godowns, tank farms, docks
and fuel depots
– Transportation (road, rail, air, water and pipelines)
• Causative factors leading to chemical disasters
• Fire, Explosion, toxic release, poisoning and combination of all
• Impacts
– Loss of life, impact on flora/fauna, mutations, environment and
industry
 Death in Bhopal

• In what is considered the world’s worst industrial

catastrophe,
– Leakage of methyl isocyanide from Union carbide India Ltd
– 32 tons of deadly chemical gases leaked into the city of
Bhopal, India, on Dec. 3, 1984, and
– an estimated 9,000 people died immediately from the
invisible, air-born poison.
• The final death toll over the ensuing weeks has been
estimated at 20,000 and hundreds of thousands of
residents suffered permanent injuries.
• Today, the Union Carbide plant, the site of the disaster,
remains a toxic waste site contaminating the
groundwater in Bhopal.
 Biological
• Biological disaster refers to calamity caused by
exposure of living organism to germs and toxic
substances.
• Biological warfare (BW): Use of biological toxins
or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses and
fungi with the intent to kill or incarcinate
humans, animals or plants as an act of war.
– World war 1: German army developed anthrax,
cholera and wheat fungus as biological weapons
– World war II: US developed Botulinum and anthrax
toxin
– 1985 Iraq used alfatoxin, botulinum and anthrax
against enemies
• Bioterrorism (BT): The use of some agents such as anthrax
by terrorist groups pose a serious threat.
– These artificially induced infections would behave similar to
natural infections (albeit exotic) and would be difficult to detect
except by an effective disease surveillance mechanism.
– In 1984, pseudo-Buddhist Rajneeshee cult distributed
Salmonella in restaurants and grocery stores in Oregon to
poison civic leaders and gain control of the local Government
– In 1995, Sarin gas was released in a Tokyo subway, by the
religious sect Aum Shinrikyo, which immediately killed 12 and
hospitalized 5000 people
– In 2001, letters containing anthrax spores were mailed to a
television news anchor, US senator, and others, leading to the
death of a few people and hospitalization of a few others
 Water pollution
• Water pollution occurs as bodies of water
(oceans, lakes, rivers, streams, aquifers and
atmospheric water) become contaminated by
man-made waste substances.
• Pollution of local water systems can occur
through individual activities (for example,
disposing of consumer detergents down sewer
drains), industry or agricultural (such as the
runoff of chemical fertilizers).
 Ground water

• When rain falls and seeps deep into the earth, filling
the cracks, crevices, and porous spaces of an aquifer
(basically an underground storehouse of water), it
becomes ground water
– Groundwater gets polluted when contaminants—from
pesticides and fertilizers to waste leached from landfills
and septic systems—make their way into an aquifer,
rendering it unsafe for human use.
– Ridding groundwater of contaminants can be difficult to
impossible, as well as costly. Once polluted, an aquifer
may be unusable for decades, or even thousands of years.
– Groundwater can also spread contamination far from the
original polluting source as it seeps into streams, lakes,
and oceans.
 Surface water
• Covering about 70 percent of the earth, surface water is what
fills our oceans, lakes, rivers
• Nearly half of our rivers and streams and more than one-third
of our lakes are polluted and unfit for swimming, fishing, and
drinking.
• Nutrient pollution, which includes nitrates and phosphates, is
the leading type of contamination in these freshwater sources.
– While plants and animals need these nutrients to grow, they have
become a major pollutant due to farm waste and fertilizer runoff.
• Municipal and industrial waste discharges contribute their fair
share of toxins as well.
• There’s also all the random junk that industry and individuals
dump directly into waterways.
 Ocean water
• Contaminants such as chemicals, nutrients, and heavy
metals are carried from farms, factories, and cities by
streams and rivers into our bays and estuaries; from
there they travel out to sea.
• Meanwhile, marine debris—particularly plastic—is
blown in by the wind or washed in via storm drains and
sewers.
• Our seas are also sometimes spoiled by oil spills and
leaks—big and small—and are consistently soaking up
carbon pollution from the air.
• The ocean absorbs as much as a quarter of man-made
carbon emissions.
 Industrial waste water pollution
• Waste water from manufacturing or chemical processes
in industries contributes to water pollution.
• Industrial waste water usually contains specific and readily
identifiable chemical compounds.
• Water pollution is concentrated within a few subsectors,
mainly in the form of toxic wastes and organic pollutant
• Types of waste
– Chemical Waste. Chemical waste is typically generated by
factories, processing centers, warehouses, and plants.
– Solid Waste. In industrial services, solid waste includes a variety
of different materials, including paper, cardboard, plastics,
packaging materials, wood, and scrap metal.
– Toxic and Hazardous Waste. Dangerous byproduct materials
produced by factories
 Poison in Minamata Bay
• From 1932 to 1968, the Chisso Corporation of
Japan released industrial wastewater with high
levels of mercury into the sea around the city of
Minamata.
• The mercury poisoned the marine food chain
and in turn thousands of residents became ill,
leading to the discovery of a new neurological
condition called Chisso-Minamata Disease.
• To date, more than 1,700 people have died from
the disease, which can cause convulsions, loss of
sight and hearing, paralysis, coma and death
 Effects of water pollution
• Infectious diseases can be spread through contaminated water.
Some of these water-borne diseases are Typhoid, Cholera,
Paratyphoid Fever, Dysentery, Jaundice, Amoebiasis and Malaria.
• Pesticides – can damage the nervous system and cause cancer
because of the carbonates and organophosphates that they
contain. Chlorides can cause reproductive and endocrinal damage.
• Nitrates – are especially dangerous to babies that drink formula
milk. It restricts the amount of oxygen in the brain and cause the
“blue baby” syndrome.
• Lead – can accumulate in the body and damage the central
nervous system.
• Arsenic – causes liver damage, skin cancer and vascular diseases
• Flourides - in excessive amounts can make your teeth yellow and
cause damage to the spinal cord.
• Petrochemicals – even with very low exposure, can cause cancer.
 Air pollution
• Air pollution is a type of environmental pollution that affects
the air and is usually caused by smoke or other harmful gases, mainly
oxides of carbon, sulphur and nitrogen
• Depending on the type and severity, air pollution can damage human
and animal health as well as the natural environment.
– six major types of air pollutants deemed especially harmful to human
health.
– These are carbon monoxide, sulfur dioxide, nitrogen oxides, ozone,
particulate matter and lead.
• Major contributors to air pollution are transportation, industry and
agriculture, which respectively release large amounts of carbon
dioxide, sulfur dioxide and methane (to name a few) into the
atmosphere.
• Furthermore, as air pollution changes the chemical composition of the
atmosphere it can lead to systemic changes in climate systems.
 Major causes of air pollution
• Particulate Matter.
– Air pollution is characterized by the presence of
particulate matter in the air of the atmosphere.
– such as ash, dust etc
• Poisonous Gas. ...
• Emission from Vehicles. ...
• Combustion of Fossil Fuels. ...
• Pollution From Air Conditioners. ...
• Dust & Dirt. ...
• Household Pollution. ...
 Effects
• Health:
– Long-term health effects from air pollution include heart disease,
lung cancer, and respiratory diseases such as emphysema.
– Air pollution can also cause long-term damage to people's nerves,
brain, kidneys, liver, and other organs
• Environmental
– Depletion of Ozone Layer and Global Warming: Increased emission
of chlorofluorocarbons lead to the depletion of ozone layer which in
turn is causing global warming
– Acid Rain: Sulphur dioxide, nitrogen dioxide and carbon dioxide
and other chemicals and pollutants react with water molecules in
atmosphere to generate the highly harmful rain called acid rain
• Acid rain thus falling in ground also causes water pollution affecting the
water species and land pollution affecting the natural balance of the soil
thus degrading the quality of the crops grown
 Oil Spill
• An oil spill is the release of a
liquid petroleum hydrocarbon into the environment,
especially the marine ecosystem, due to human activity,
and is a form of pollution.
• The term is usually given to marine oil spills, where oil is
released into the ocean or coastal waters, but spills may
also occur on land.
• All crude oils, it contained benzene, toluene, and xylene,
which belong to the single-ring aromatic group.
• Oil spills into rivers, bays, and the ocean most often are
caused by accidents involving tankers, barges, pipelines,
refineries, drilling rigs, and storage facilities
• They can have devastating effects on the environment,
affecting marine and coastal ecologies, and are not easy to
remove.
 Oil fire
• Although it is the most infamous oil spill in history, the
Exxon Valdez catastrophe that dumped 11 million
gallons of oil into the Prince William Sound of Alaska in
1989 is actually far from the largest on record.
• The Gulf War oil spill in 1991, for example, resulted in at
least 160 million gallons of oil entering the Persian Gulf.
• Tragically, clean-up efforts such as high-pressure washing
of shorelines that followed Exxon Valdez also had
detrimental effects on the once pristine ecosystem of
the sound
• Oil well burns at the surface of the earth or in
the crater where the explosion resulted where
there is free oxygen to support combustion
• The Kuwaiti oil fires were caused by Iraqi
military forces setting fire to a reported 605 to
732 oil wells along with an unspecified
number of oil filled low-lying areas, such
as oil lakes and fire trenches
 Forest fire
• A fire which destroys a forested area, and can be a great
danger to people who live in forests as well as wildlife
• Man made causes- Fire is caused when a source
of fire like naked flame, cigarette or bidi, electric spark or
any source of ignition comes into contact with
inflammable material
• 3 types of forest fires
– Crown fires burn trees up their entire length to the top. ...
– Surface fires burn only surface litter and duff. ...
– Ground fires (sometimes called underground or subsurface
fires) occur in deep accumulations of humus, peat and
similar dead vegetation that become dry enough to burn.
 Effects of forest fire
• The natural cycles of forests are disturbed and
that some species disappear, while invasive plants
proliferate.
– Flora and fauna upset
• Forest fires increase carbon dioxide levels in the
atmosphere, contributing to the greenhouse effect
and climate change.
• In addition, ashes destroy much of the nutrients
and erode the soil, causing flooding and landslides.
 Coal fire
• Coal fires occur in operating coal mines,
abandoned coal mines and waste coal piles.
• They sometimes start because of
– a nearby blaze,
– they can also ignite through spontaneous
combustion:
– certain minerals in the coal, such as sulfides and
pyrites, can oxidize and in the process generate
enough heat to cause a fire.
 The Centralia mine fire
• The Centralia mine fire is a coal seam fire that has
been burning underneath the borough of Centralia,
Pennsylvania, United States, since at least May 27, 1962.
• The fire is suspected to be from deliberate burning of trash in
a former strip mine, igniting a coal seam
• At its current rate, it could continue to burn for over 250
years. The fire caused most of the town to be abandoned.
 Deforestation
• Deforestation is the clearing, destroying, or
otherwise removal of trees from forest through
deliberate, natural or accidental mean
• Causes
– Agricultural Expansion. The conversion of forests into
agricultural plantations is a major cause of
deforestation.
– Livestock Ranching. (Cattle )
– Logging. (Timber, Pulp etc)
– Infrastructure Expansion. (Road, Rail etc)
– Overpopulation.
 Effects
• Loss of habitat:
• “Seventy percent of Earth’s land animals and plants live in forests, and
many cannot survive the deforestation that destroys their homes.”
• Increased Green house gases
• the lack of trees also allows a greater amount of greenhouse gases to
be released into the atmosphere
• Presently, the tropical rainforests of South America are responsible
for 20% of Earth’s oxygen and they are disappearing at a rate of 4
hectares a decade
• Water in atmosphere
• Trees control the water level in atmosphere. due to deforestation,
there is less water in the air to be returned to the soil
• Soil erosion and flooding
 Terrorism
• Use or threatened use of violence for the
purpose of creating fear in order to achieve
political, religious or ideological goal. The
target may be
– Civilians, government officials, military personnel
or people serving the interests of governments
• Example: World trade centre attack, Kashmir
issues
• Types
– Bioterrorism: Using biological toxins like anthrax
– Cyber terrorism: use of internet for terrorist activities like, large-scale
disruption of computer networks, especially computers attached to
the Internet, by the means of computer viruses
– Right-wing terrorism: inspired by ideologies and beliefs like, fascism,
rascism, opposition to immigration
• aim of Right wing terrorists to overthrow government and to establish a
nationalist or fascist government
– Left wing terrorism: to remove capitalist government to establish
communist; ex Communits Party of India (Maoist), Japanese red army
– State terrorism: the act of violence is being conducted by Nation
against the other nation or against its own citizen: Example use of
violence against the Kurds by Saddam Hussein
– Religious terrorism: the terrorist groups perform terrorist activities,
on the basis of faith oriented tenet
– Narcoterrorism: Drug trafficking
– Political terrorism: use of violence in order to create fear in the
civilians for political purpose
• To over through or destabilize the government
• Dictator government keep terror to maintain their power
 Effects of terrorism
• Psychological
–Fear based oppression are mental.
• Brutal torture of a man or their family or a
society
– The scenes of slaughter unendingly in their heads, and
many winds up with hypertension, quickened
heartbeat, disassociation, and a want to escape from
the smallest clamour
– Following the 9/11 assaults, 52% of Americans said that
they couldn't focus on their work because of those
assaults
• Economic
– Direct effect: damage caused to life and property at the attack site
– Indirect effect: in many ways
• A terrorist campaign can make an economy more volatile, which in turn
increases risk in the economy. With a higher risk and the same or slightly
lower potential return, foreign direct investment in the targeted country‟s
economy can decline
• The terrorism effects significantly on the tourism industry of a country
– Effect on Indian Economy
• Terrorism affects 232 districts of India due to Islamic, naxalite and other
radical movements since 1970
• Frequent attacks on commercial and Government institutions shatter the
confidence of the investors
– Ex: Attack on Indian Parliament in 2001
• The Jaipur serial blasts, J&K terrorism and Mumbai 26/11 attacks have
negative impact on a number of industries in India, most notably, airlines,
aerospace, travel, tourism, insurance, restaurants, recreation and related
activities
– Hotel occupancy in Western India is down 25% and its rates were also down. These
industries suffered huge economic and job loss
• In Jammu and Kashmir, Tourist arrivals have gone down from 12,000 to 250
per day
 Effects of terrorism
• Social
– Effect upon people’s beliefs and attitudes
– The threat of terrorism increases the stereotypes, leading
to more negative stereotyping by members of the
targeted society
• rise of “Islamophobia” in the United States following the 9/11
attacks,
• the increase in anti-Arab sentiments in Spain in the wake of the
2004 Madrid train bombings
• Indians held negative stereotypes of Pakistan, who is
responsible for cross-border terrorism
– A sense of victimhood is common to a society
experiencing terrorism.
• the public feels victimized when it is the target of political
violence i.e. when it experiences terrorist attacks
 Effects of terrorism
• Political
– The most significant way in which terrorism can influence
the political process is by bringing about changes in public
opinion, which governments then tend to take into account
when formulating their policies
• The failure to prevent future attacks due to inaction can be fatal to a
politician’s career
– “rally around the flag” syndrome
• Effect that terrorism had upon Israeli-Jewish society during the
second Intifada
• leads to a silent the public criticism of the government and its
policies
• In India
– Due to 26/11 Mumbai attack, Home Minister Mr. Shivraj
Patil, Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh and Home Minister
R.R. Patil had to resign
 Building fire
• The most common causes
– Electrical
• Due to overloading (total amount of current drawn from all the
sockets together could exceed the rated capacity of the internal
wiring), short circuit (When insulation is broken causing the wires
to contact causing high current flow and subsequently fire) etc
– Pantry area
• Leakage of cooking gas, accompanied by a spark around the
leakage could cause fire
• Cooking medium overheated resulting in fire
– Smoking
• Smoking around combustible materials such as bed, sofa etc
causing fore
 Impact
• impact of recent high-rise building fires
around the world include
– loss of life and injuries,
– property and infrastructure loss,
– business interruption,
– ecosystem degradation,
– huge firefighting costs
 Surat Coaching Centre accident-2019

• 22 killed, several causalities

• How different factors of Roads contribute in Accidents:
Drivers: Over-speeding, rash driving, violation of rules, failure to
understand signs, fatigue, alcohol.
Pedestrian: Carelessness, illiteracy, crossing at wrong places moving on
carriageway, Jaywalkers.
Passengers: Projecting their body outside vehicle, by talking to drivers,
alighting and boarding vehicle from wrong side travelling on
footboards, catching a running bus etc.
Vehicles: Failure of brakes or steering, tyre burst, insufficient
headlights, overloading, projecting loads.
Road Conditions: Potholes, damaged road, eroded road merging of
rural roads with highways, diversions, illegal speed breakers.
Weather conditions: Fog, snow, heavy rainfall, wind storms, hail
storms.

• Direct Consequences of Accidents:

– Fatality (Death)
– Injury
– Property Damage
 Road accidents
• Causes
– Over Speeding
– Drunken Driving
– Distractions to Driver
• Adjusting mirrors while driving, stereo/Radio in vehicle,
Animals on the road
– Red Light Jumping
– Avoiding Safety Gears like Seat belts and Helmets
– Non-adherence to lane driving and overtaking in a
wrong manner