What is a disaster. Chernobyl disaster

What is a disaster? This event, which can carry a diverse character. Many people die and great destruction occurs. Catastrophes, especially large ones, have always become the focus of attention of many people. Unfortunately, along with the development of technology, their scale is constantly increasing both in terms of the number of casualties among people and the damage done to the environment.

Any catastrophe is an emergency and must be carefully studied so that in future humanity can avoid the repetition of the tragedy. A special trace in history was left by the "best" catastrophes that caused a huge negative economic effect, not to mention the ruined human lives.

The death of the Titanic

About the disaster heard by everyone. They can occur on land, in water and even in the sky.

"Titanic" is the most famous sunken ship with more than one and a half thousand dead, and the economic loss from the disaster in terms of current purchasing power exceeds $ 150 million. The liner sank, making its first ocean voyage at the beginning of the 20th century. At that time, it was positioned as the largest passenger ship. The owners called it "unsinkable".

The immediate cause of the tragedy was a giant iceberg, which pierced the ship's side like a giant knife. From the impact of such force, the rivets weakened, water began to flow in the gap between the metal sheets. On board there were over 2 thousand people, of which only 706 survived.

Explosion of a gasoline tank truck in Germany

The newest history is no less rich in man-made disasters than the events of a century ago. In August 2004, a car accident occurred in Germany, damaging the adjacent infrastructure for $ 358 million. A gasoline truck with a trailer, following a bridge overpass, collided with a passenger car rammed the protective fence of the bridge and collapsed from a hundred-meter height, after which it exploded.

Fortunately, the private households located in the vicinity of the bridge did not suffer. When wondering what a disaster is, many people start to cry. For some of them, the accident on the road turned into a real tragedy.

The collision of a MetroLink passenger train with freight train

Railway transport is one of the most emergency areas in any state. Not an exception - and developed Western countries with computer security systems on the railway tracks.

In the fall of 2008 in the vicinity of Los Angeles, the United States, an early passenger train, ignoring the prohibiting signal of the semaphore, allowed a collision with the oncoming freight train. Responsible for the tragedy was the train driver, who did not notice the stop signal, because he was busy with his mobile phone.

The catastrophe caused the death of 25 people, and 135 received bodily injuries of varying severity. The damage amounted to half a billion dollars.

The fall of the bomber "B-2 Stealth"

Military technology often becomes the cause of man-made disasters. Most often, military aviation objects fall and fall. In February 2008, on the island of Guam, USA, during the training flight, crashed B-2. The accident occurred when the airplane recruited altitude due to a faulty on-board computer. The bomber abruptly lost speed, touched the ground and caught fire. The pilot managed to eject and thus save his life.

Damage from the death of an air vessel amounted to 1.4 billion dollars. It's good when no one dies during a disaster. The list of the "best" and the most horrific you can find in this article.

Accident of the Exxon Valdez tanker

Often man-made disasters not only lead to human casualties and infrastructure damage, but also cause major environmental pollution, causing great damage to the environment.

In the spring of 1989, in Alaska, a tanker laden with oil products collided with a rocky reef and received a hole through which oil and other toxic substances got into the water.

The researchers found that as a result of the disaster, the biocoenosis of the adjacent water area was badly damaged. The number of commercial fish species has decreased. A complete restoration of the ecology will take several decades.

Crash on the Piper Alpha oil platform

In the summer of 1988, a powerful gas explosion occurred on this oil platform , which led to the death of almost 200 people. The high number of casualties is partly due to the human factor - unskilled work of the staff and belated measures. Despite the fact that immediately after the explosion on the platform production was stopped, oil and gas continued to flow through the common network from other platforms that were not stopped. As a result, the fire could not be extinguished.

The total damage amounted to no less than 3.4 billion dollars.

Explosion of shuttle shuttle "Challenger"

This accident is a black spot in the history of American astronautics. In the winter of 1986, almost a minute after the start, the shuttle with the astronauts crashed. All seven crew members died.

The explosion was caused by a technical malfunction of the solid-fuel accelerator system. Before that, the shuttle had successfully launched nine times from the ground.

The total damage caused by the catastrophe exceeded 2 billion dollars. Now you can imagine what a disaster is and how large it can be.

Accident of the tanker Prestige

In 2002, the design of the Prestige tanker cracked in difficult weather conditions, resulting in leakage of oil products into open water. When attempting to tow a tanker, it broke into two parts and sank, as a result of which all the transported oil was at sea.

The colossal damage to the biocenosis was caused. More than 300 thousand birds died, the fish population decreased sharply. Purification of water required about 12 billion dollars. The year of catastrophes matters, since scientists establish the influence of oil on life on this site.

The death of the Columbia shuttle

In the winter of 2003, a reusable spacecraft Columbia crashed with astronauts on board. As a result of the tragedy, all seven crew members were killed. The cause of the accident was a violation of the integrity of the skin on the wing of the shuttle.

The total damage from this man-made disaster exceeded $ 13 billion, excluding the cost of building a new shuttle.

Catastrophe in Chernobyl

In the spring of 1986, as a result of the explosion at the fourth power unit of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant, there was a disruption of the plant's operation, destruction of the reactor vessel and massive radioactive contamination of the territory. For many days after the accident, the liquidators could not cope with the leakage of radioactive substances and stop the ongoing nuclear reactions. Only by attracting hundreds of specialists from all over the country, who sacrificed their lives, managed to stop the further eruption of radioactive isotopes. The Chernobyl disaster is the tragedy of the whole planet.

The consequences of the accident were felt by many countries: an explosive wave round the globe, and a radioactive cloud passed from Eastern Europe to the United States. About 200 thousand people were forced to migrate from the site of the disaster.

The Chernobyl disaster is one of the largest man-made accidents that occurred in peacetime.

The cause of the accident is the human factor - violation of safety regulations and work regulations. She remembered her scale and horror. The whole city turned into a ghost due to elementary negligence. For this event, not one film was shot, each of which clearly shows what a disaster is.