Environmental disaster

An environmental disaster or ecological disaster is

defined as a catastrophic event regarding the natural
environment that is due to human activity.[2] This point
distinguishes environmental disasters from other
disturbances such as natural disasters and intentional acts
of war such as nuclear bombings.

Environmental disasters show how the impact of humans'

alteration of the land has led to widespread and/or long-
lasting consequences.[3] These disasters have included
deaths of wildlife, humans and plants, or severe Seabirds killed by the Exxon Valdez oil spill in
disruption of human life or health, possibly requiring Alaska's Prince William Sound. The spill in
migration.[4] Some environmental disasters are the trigger March 1989 dumped approximately 10.8
million US gallons of crude oil into the
source of more expansive environmental conflicts, where
environment, killing over 250,000 seabirds,
effected groups try to socially confront the actors 2,800 sea otters, 300 harbor seals, 250 bald
responsible for the disaster. eagles, and numerous other wildlife.[1] The
Alaskan fishing industry also suffered
tremendously as a result of the spill.
Environmental disasters
Environmental disasters have historically affected agriculture, wildlife biodiversity, the economy, and
human health. The most common causes include pollution that seeps into groundwater or a body of water,
emissions into the atmosphere, and depletion of natural resources, industrial activity, and agricultural
practices.[5]

The following is a list of major environmental disasters:

Seveso disaster, 1976 – Release of dioxin in Italy by a small chemical manufacturing

plant.[6] The resulting contamination led to thousands of human hospitalizations, and the
deaths of more than 25% of local fauna. To prevent the chemical from entering the food
chain, the town culled over 80,000 animals.[7]
Love Canal disaster, 1978 - Neighborhood in Niagara Falls, New York that was
contaminated by 21,000 tons of toxic chemicals, including at least twelve that are known
carcinogens (halogenated organics, chlorobenzenes, and dioxins among them), from a
former chemical waste dump site.[8] President Carter declared a state of emergency in
1978, and it eventually led to the destruction of homes and relocation of more than 800
families. The effects of the disaster led to the 1980 Comprehensive Environmental
Response, Compensation, and Liability Act, better known as Superfund. The Love Canal
Disaster is also credited as the start of the environmental activism movement in the United
States.
Amoco Cadiz oil spill, 1978 – The vessel broke in two, releasing its entire cargo of 1.6
million barrels (250,000 m3) of oil off the coast of Brittany, France. The amount of oil
released totaled five times more than the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989.[9]
Ok Tedi environmental disaster, 1984 – As of 2006, mine operators have discharged about
two billion tons of tailings, overburden and mine-induced erosion into the Ok Tedi river
system. About 1,588 square kilometres (613 sq mi) of forest has died or is under stress.
Bhopal disaster, 1984 – Release of methyl isocyanate gas and other chemicals. Some
estimate 8,000 people died within two weeks. A government affidavit in 2006 stated the leak
caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478 temporary partial and approximately 3,900
severely and permanently disabling injuries.
Chernobyl disaster, 1986 – The official Soviet count of 31 deaths has been disputed. An
UNSCEAR report places the total confirmed deaths from radiation at 64 as of 2008.[10] The
eventual death toll could reach 4,000. Some 50 emergency workers died of acute radiation
syndrome, nine children died of thyroid cancer and an estimated total of 3940 died from
radiation-induced cancer and leukemia.
Hanford Nuclear, 1986 – The U.S. government declassified 19,000 pages of documents
indicating that between 1946 and 1986, the Hanford Site near Richland, Washington,
released thousands of US gallons of radioactive liquids. Radioactive waste was both
released into the air and flowed into the Columbia River (which flows to the ocean).
Exxon Valdez oil spill, 1989 – An Exxon supertanker spilled 260–750 thousand barrels
(41,000–119,000 m3) of crude oil.
Kuwait oil fires, 1991 – Iraqi forces set 600-700 oil wells ablaze in retaliation to Desert
Storm, which lasted seven months.
Hickory Woods, 1998 – Neighborhood in Buffalo, New York that was developed on land
contaminated by leftover coke from steel production factories.[11] The contamination was
known to be an issue and repeatedly investigated, but continuously deemed safe for
residents. Toxic materials found included elevated levels of arsenic, chromium, lead,
mercury, polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, naphthalene, dibenzofuran, and carbazole.
Prestige oil spill, 2002 – Over 20 million US gallons (76,000 m3) of two different grades of
heavy fuel oil were spilled off the coast of Galicia, Spain.
Prudhoe Bay oil spill, 2006 – Up to 267,000 US gallons (1,010 m3; 6,400 bbl) of oil were
spilled from a BP pipeline in Alaska.
Kingston Fossil Plant coal fly ash slurry spill, 2008 – 1.1 billion US gallons (4,200,000 m3) of
slurry spilled from a coal plant, covering 300 acres, flowing down several rivers, destroying
homes and contaminating water. The volume spilled was over 7 times as much as the
volume of oil spilled in the Deepwater Horizon disaster.
Deepwater Horizon oil spill, 2010 – An explosion killed 11 men working on the platform and
injured 34 others. The gushing wellhead was capped, after it had released about 4.9 million
barrels (780,000 m3) of crude oil.
Fukushima Daiichi nuclear disaster, 2011 – An energy accident initiated primarily by the
tsunami following the Tōhoku earthquake on March 11, 2011. Immediately after the
earthquake, the active reactors automatically shut down their sustained fission reactions.
The insufficient cooling led to three nuclear meltdowns, hydrogen-air explosions, and the
release of radioactive material. It was deemed a level 7 event classification of the
International Nuclear Event Scale.
Oder environmental disaster, 2022 – A contamination of river Oder from unknown origin that
has led to a mass mortality event of the local sea life.
Ohio train derailment, 2023 – A Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials
derailed in East Palestine, Ohio. The rail cars burned for several days, releasing chemicals
into the air. Norfolk has been accused of mismanagement.
Red Sea crisis, 2024 — An 18 miles (29 km) long oil-spill during the United States–Houthi
conflict in the Red Sea.
Sino-Metals Leach Zambia dam disaster, 2025 — Catastrophic failure of a tailings dam
constructed for copper extraction by Sino-Metals Leach Zambia, dumping approximately 50
 million liters of acidic and highly toxic waste into the
Kafue River basin. The pollution killed riverine
ecosystems at least 62 miles (100 km) downstream
and impacted the water and irrigation supply of 60%
of Zambia's population.[14]

Climate change and disaster risks

A 2013 report examined the relationship between disasters As of 2013, the Fukushima nuclear
and poverty world-wide. It concludes that, without concerted disaster site remains highly radioactive,
action, there could be upwards of 325 million people living in with some 160,000 evacuees still living in
the 49 countries most exposed to the full range of natural temporary housing, and some land will be
unfarmable for centuries. The difficult
hazards and climate extremes in 2040.[15]
cleanup job will take 40 or more years,
and cost tens of billions of dollars.[12][13]
Social vulnerability and environmental disaster
According to author Daniel Murphy, different groups can
adapt to environmental disasters differently due to social factors such as age, race, class, gender, and
nationality.[16] Murphy argues that while developed countries with access to resources that can help
mitigate environmental disasters often contribute the most to factors that can increase the risk of said
disasters, developing countries experience the impacts of environmental disasters more intensely than
their wealthier counterparts.[17] It is often the case that the populations that do not contribute to climate
change are not only in geographic locations that experience more environmental disasters, but also have
fewer resources to mitigate the impact of the disasters.[16] For example, when Hurricane Katrina hit
Louisiana in 2005, many scientists argued that climate change had increased the severity of the
hurricane.[18] Although the majority of the U.S. emissions that can contribute to climate change come
from industry and transport, the people who were hit hardest by Katrina were not the heads of large
companies within the country.[19] Rather, the poor Black communities within Louisiana were the most
devastated by the hurricane.[20]

Mitigation efforts
There have been many attempts throughout recent years to mitigate the impact of environmental
disasters.[21] Environmental disaster is caused by human activity, so many believe that such disasters can
be prevented or have their consequences reduced by human activity as well. Efforts to attempt mitigation
are evident in cities such as Miami, Florida, in which houses along the coast are built a few feet off of the
ground in order to decrease the damage caused by rising tides due to rising sea-levels.[22] Although
mitigation efforts such as those found in Miami might be effective in the short-term, many environmental
groups are concerned with whether or not mitigation provides long-term solutions to the consequences of
environmental disaster.[22]

See also
Anthropogenic hazard
List of environmental issues
 Environmental hazard
Emergency management
Environmental emergency
Ecocide
Malthusian catastrophe

References
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ushima-nuclear-accident-lessons-for-us). The Guardian.
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s://apnews.com/article/mining-pollution-china-zambia-environment-93ee91d1156471aaf9a7
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491-geography-poverty-disasters-climate-change-2030). Archived from the original (http://w
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and adaptive capacity". Research Gate. Retrieved 2021-02-08.
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s://web.archive.org/web/20210401222024/https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environmen
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conomic-inequality-growing) on April 1, 2021. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
18. reaTWeather. "10 Years Later: Was Warming to Blame for Katrina?" (https://www.climatecen
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Retrieved 2021-03-31.
19. US EPA, OAR (2015-12-29). "Sources of Greenhouse Gas Emissions" (https://www.epa.go
v/ghgemissions/sources-greenhouse-gas-emissions). US EPA. Retrieved 2021-03-31.
20. Allen, Troy D. (2007). "Katrina: Race, Class, and Poverty: Reflections and Analysis". Journal
of Black Studies. 37 (4): 466–468. doi:10.1177/0021934706296184 (https://doi.org/10.117
7%2F0021934706296184). JSTOR 40034317 (https://www.jstor.org/stable/40034317).
21. Murti, R. (2018, June 01). Environment and disasters. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from
https://www.iucn.org/theme/ecosystem-management/our-work/environment-and-disasters
22. Ariza, M. A. (2020, September 29). As Miami keeps Building, rising SEAS DEEPEN its
social divide. Retrieved February 24, 2021, from https://e360.yale.edu/features/as-miami-
keeps-building-rising-seas-deepen-its-social-divide
23. Republic of Nauru. 1999. Climate Change – Response. First National Communication –
1999 (http://unfccc.int/resource/docs/natc/naunc1.pdf). Under the United Nations
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Further reading
Davis, Lee (1998). Environmental Disasters (https://archive.org/details/environmentaldis00d
av_kl4). New York: Facts on File, Inc. ISBN 0-8160-3265-3.

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