Interesting Disaster Stories

[truethat]

For the last few months I've been looking up videos about disasters. Airplane disasters, natural disasters etc.

I thought it might be neat to start a thread with some of them.

http://skywalk.kansascity.com/articles/sections/disaster/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oqp4K32sfDE


The Kansas City skywalk disaster lead to the creation of protocols in helping first responders deal with the emotional and psychological fall out.


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lake_Peigneur

Lake Peigneur Sinkhole Disaster.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lmh2Ydm2dW4

 

[Accidental Martyr]

The story of United Airlines Flight 232 is pretty interesting.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Airlines_Flight_232#

There have been a few episodes of air disaster type shows that have covered the accident. I saw one several years ago that used a lot of the actual cockpit voice recordings, but I don't know if it's on YouTube.
Seconds From Disaster episode about Flight 232.

 

[Accidental Martyr]

Tenerife Airport Disaster (Canary Islands, 1977).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster#_



Boston Molasses Disaster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

 

[truethat]

I've seen the Tenerife Disaster before. Crazy. But thanks for the Boston Molasses Disaster!

 

[Sabretooth]

The Halifax Explosion is a sad, but fascinating, disaster. Easily preventable, but caused unimaginable destruction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

 

[Accidental Martyr]

The Halifax Explosion is a sad, but fascinating, disaster. Easily preventable, but caused unimaginable destruction:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halifax_Explosion

That reminds me of The Port Chicago Disaster (Port Chicago, CA. 1944.)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Port_Chicago_disaster

There was even speculation by a writer that the explosion was a nuclear detonation.

 

[truethat]

Ooh thanks for the Port Chicago one, I hadn't seen that. The Halifax explosion is mind boggling.

The Lake Nyos Disaster is creepy.

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gas-cloud-kills-cameroon-villagers


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lE8okMwiSkQ&feature=related


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pVMcSvG5Mpg&feature=related

 

[Piscivore]

Don't forget the grandaddy of all volcanic explosions.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1883_eruption_of_Krakatoa

 

[Piscivore]

There was also the PEPCON explosion:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PEPCON_disaster

 

[truethat]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e0nky4I35xo

cool

 

[Battman]

The Texas City disaster:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Texas_City_Disaster

i saw a documentary on this one, but I can't be bothered to go looking for it online.

 

[NoahFence]

Tenerife Airport Disaster (Canary Islands, 1977).
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tenerife_airport_disaster#_



Boston Molasses Disaster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boston_Molasses_Disaster

Grr....
Ninja'd on the Great Molasses Flood....


Speaking of flood:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood


I have a book written the following year by an eye-witness. Got it at an auction. Pretty much worthless, but interesting nonetheless.

 

[ddt]

Yesterday was the 20-year anniversary of the Bijlmer crash.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Al_Flight_1862

 

[Nowhere Man]

Mount Pelée on Martinique, which blew its top on May 8, 1902 and wiped out the city of Sainte-Pierre. 30,000 people killed. The name is not a reference to the goddess Pele.

For a dramatized (and, apparently, not quite factual) account, see if you can find The Day the World Ended by Gordon Thomas and Max Morgan-Witts.

Fred

 

[MG1962]

The Great Beer Flood

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/London_Beer_Flood

But being serious, this has always fascinated me

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bristol_Channel_floods,_1607

 

[Blue Mountain]

79 CE: Eruption of Mount Vesuvius: Buried two Roman cities, Pompeii and Herculaneum, under pyroclastic flows, killing about 16,000 people

1666: The Great Fire of London: Leveled about 80% of the city (within the walls) over three days and destroyed about 70,000 homes.

1903: Frank Slide: 82 million tons of rock slid down the face of Turtle Mountain in what is now British Columbia, burying the mining town of Frank and killing 90 residents.

1942: Benxihu Colliery coal dust explosion: Worst mining disaster in history: killed 1,549 people

1984: Bhopal disaster: A leak of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals from a Union Carbide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India killed 2,260 people immediately and 1500 in the following weeks, and left 3,900 with severe and permanent injury.

1986: Chernobyl disaster: Explosion and fire at a nuclear generating station in the Ukraine led to the permanent abandonment of a city of 50,000 people.

 

[truethat]

oooooh more to read! Seems like tsunami type disasters do a lot more damage than I ever realized.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0Od6Htysbww

 

[Battman]

1903: Frank Slide: 82 million tons of rock slid down the face of Turtle Mountain in what is now British Columbia, burying the mining town of Frank and killing 90 residents.

I hate to be picky here, but the Frank slide is actually in Alberta. It's now a provincial historic site.

 

[jhunter1163]

The Peshtigo fire caused more deaths than any other fire in US history.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peshtigo_Fire

And the Johnstown flood killed more people than any single event in American history except 9/11.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Johnstown_Flood

ETA: I have David McCullough's book on the Johnstown flood, and recommend it highly if you're interested in disaster stories.

 

[esquel]

Not disastrous, but interesting:
The collapse of the Tacoma Narrows Bridge, a.k.a. Galloping Gertie. Physics classes still watch the video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-zczJXSxnw
Cuyahoga River Fire
http://www.treehugger.com/clean-water/1969-cuyahoga-river-catches-fire.html