From nuclear meltdowns to devastating oil spills, human errors have led to catastrophic events that shocked the world. Join us as we explore the most significant man-made disasters that left lasting impacts on communities, environments, and global consciousness.
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00:00It's almost certainly the most severe accident that has ever taken place in the short history
00:05of civilian nuclear power.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're looking at the most devastating disasters caused by
00:12human error that shocked people around the world.
00:15On the evening of the third day, the smog was at its very worst.
00:21The Aberfan Disaster, Aberfan, Wales.
00:25Keeping home and business close can sometimes lead to horrific consequences.
00:30The village of Aberfan learned this first-hand in 1966.
00:33In 1966, the coal industry was still booming in South Wales.
00:38The local colliery had been dumping waste onto Mynydd Merthyr above the village of Aberfan
00:43for some time.
00:44The residential area is located at the bottom of a hill containing several piles of waste
00:49accumulated during mining.
00:51Although the material is sensitive to water, the National Coal Board knowingly constructed
00:56them over the site of a natural spring.
00:59That waterway, combined with weeks of rain, caused it to break loose and careen toward
01:04Aberfan.
01:05And on the morning of the 21st, a subsidence caused that slurry to come crashing down like
01:10an avalanche into the village.
01:12Besides destroying homes, it hit a school, leading to the deaths of five teachers and
01:16over 100 students.
01:18The NCB was eventually found to be at fault, although none of its board members faced any
01:23repercussions.
01:24That this tragedy was, in fact, avoidable, with the blame resting entirely on the National
01:30Coal Board.
01:31Shockingly, they even attempted to offer victims a mere £50 each.
01:36Centralia Fire, Centralia, United States of America.
01:39While some human-caused catastrophes last a few days and are eventually resolved, others
01:44have been ongoing for decades, with no end in sight.
01:47It all began back in May 1962, when local officials unwittingly sparked an underground
01:54fire.
01:55Up until 1962, Centralia was a normal town in Pennsylvania.
01:59That year, officials decided that the best way to clear out a strip mine-turned-landfill
02:04was by burning it, a practice that had been outlawed.
02:07No one knows for sure how the blaze reached the coal, but it's possible that the pit hadn't
02:13been properly lined before the fire.
02:18As the trash burned, the townsfolk didn't realize it had ignited the coal beneath it.
02:24Nevertheless, they ignored the law and started the fire on May 27th, and it has been burning
02:29ever since.
02:30It had near-immediate effects, creating sinkholes and high levels of carbon monoxide, leading
02:35to severe health problems.
02:36By 1992, Centralia had been condemned, and most of its citizens bought out.
02:41Centralia, it was just finally a matter of money.
02:44It's going to cost more to dig this huge barrier and surround the coal and just buy
02:49everybody out.
02:50And so they decided to buy everybody out as a cheaper alternative.
02:54However, you can still visit today and see the steam rising from the 60-year-old blaze.
03:01Minamata Disease, Minamata, Japan
03:03This is truly the stuff of nightmares.
03:05For decades, the Chiso Corporation in Minamata, Japan, dumped water treated with heavy metals
03:11like mercury and lead into local waterways.
03:14And researchers soon worked out that the contamination was coming from the fish, their flesh full
03:19of mercury.
03:20But it took months before it was traced back to a chemical plant run by the chemical giant
03:26Chiso, which since 1951 had been discharging a derivative of mercury into the bay.
03:32Not only did this harm native fish, it also had a direct impact on those eating them,
03:37humans included.
03:38It wasn't until a child fell ill in 1956 that people even realized they'd been eating
03:43contaminated food.
03:45Many people had fallen ill, all in this area.
03:49There was a great deal of concern that it was contagious.
03:52The girl's symptoms, ranging from difficulty speaking to convulsions, began to appear in
03:57others.
03:58This neurological disorder, eventually named Minamata Disease, afflicted thousands of people,
04:03with nearly 2,500 individuals officially diagnosed by 2001.
04:08Nearly a decade after the discovery in Minamata, a similar outbreak occurred in Niigata, another
04:13Japanese region, due to pollution from an electrical company.
04:16I would like the whole world to understand the dangers of pollution.
04:21We humans should never make the same mistake again.
04:24Not ever.
04:25Gulf War Oil Spill, Persian Gulf.
04:27War has caused some truly brutal acts to be committed throughout history, and this is
04:32by far one of the most senseless.
04:34Saddam's latest terror weapon assaulted the beaches of Saudi Arabia today.
04:38Saudi officials call it a catastrophe.
04:41It is already history's largest oil spill.
04:44During the 1991 Gulf War, things escalated to a point no one saw coming.
04:49In an attempt to prevent United States troops from invading, Saddam Hussein allegedly ordered
04:54a massive, continuous oil spill into the Persian Gulf.
04:57It lasted for a week, with thousands of tons being dumped daily.
05:01The first victims of the disaster struggling to free themselves from its grip.
05:06It coated the feathers of marine birds, leading to an estimated 30,000 perishing.
05:11A 1993 study claiming the long-term environmental impact would be insignificant has sparked
05:17continuous debates since.
05:19Considered one of the first real acts of eco-terrorism, this has remained one of the largest leaks
05:24in human history.
05:25The Sierra Club, for instance, said that dumping could destroy the Gulf for decades, limiting
05:30fishing and the food supply.
05:32And if it spread far enough down the Gulf, the oil could clog desalination plants that
05:37supply most of the region's drinking water.
05:39Montana Asbestos Cloud, Libby, United States of America.
05:43At one point, their resources made them an epicenter of mining, but that prosperity came
05:48with unforeseen circumstances.
05:50Libby got news of one of the worst environmental bombshells in Northwest history, widespread
05:54asbestos contamination from years of vermiculite extraction at the W.R.
05:58Grace mine.
05:59Libby, Montana, used to be the source of 80 percent of the world's supply of vermiculite,
06:04a mineral that's utilized in heating and insulation.
06:06What the citizens weren't aware of is that it contained asbestos, small fibers that wreak
06:11havoc on the lungs.
06:13The firm, W.R.
06:14Grace and Company, were allegedly aware of this, but still sent workers into the mines
06:19daily.
06:20Hundreds of workers contracted lung cancer and other diseases from working at the mine,
06:24which was contaminated with asbestos.
06:26As a result, both laborers and the residents were exposed, causing nearly 10 percent of
06:31the population to die.
06:32By 2009, the government stepped in to provide over $100 million in aid and prosecute the
06:38company.
06:39However, they were acquitted soon afterwards.
06:41The end of the active cleanup operations is a success, but one mixed with an economic
06:46impact.
06:47Exxon Valdez Oil Spill, Prince William Sound, Alaska.
06:50While accidents are unintentional by default, not all are defensible.
06:54In 1989, the tanker Exxon Valdez was transporting oil from Alaska when the unimaginable happened.
07:01One of the worst oil spills in U.S. history brought Americans images of blackened beaches,
07:06dying wildlife, outrage, and betrayal.
07:10During the shipping process, only one officer was left on the bridge, a direct violation
07:14of company policy.
07:16He was unable to change courses and made direct contact with a nearby reef.
07:21Nearly 6 million gallons of oil spilled within the first few hours.
07:24Neither Exxon nor Alyeska, the oil pipeline company in charge of the immediate response,
07:30was ready for such a large spill.
07:32Alyeska was supposed to have an emergency response team at its terminal in Valdez, but
07:37eight years ago, the team was disbanded.
07:39The cleanup alone was disastrous, causing employees and volunteers to fall ill.
07:44The environmental impact was even greater, with hundreds of thousands of animals dying.
07:50Blame was heaped on the captain of the tanker, who was allegedly intoxicated at the time,
07:55and he was eventually convicted of a misdemeanor.
07:57Today, not only is it no longer the largest, but there are more than 50 spills worldwide
08:04that have surpassed what happened here.
08:06Great smog of London.
08:07London, England.
08:08By the 1950s, many cities had fully embraced industrialization, and London was no exception.
08:14It started on the 5th of December.
08:17Fog laid a blanket over the London area.
08:19The cold weather at the time led to an increased amount of coal being burned, with residents
08:23relying on a lesser-quality version high in sulfur dioxide.
08:28In 1952, an anticyclone and a lack of wind caused the city's pollutants to be trapped
08:34in the air, which severely reduced visibility and triggered intense respiratory issues.
08:39Quite a number of people had bronchitis because of industrial pollution exposure and because
08:46they smoked.
08:47When they breathed polluted air, this became very hard for them.
08:54The smog remained for four days before a breeze finally rolled through and broke it.
08:58Initially, it was reported that around 4,000 people died, but modern estimates put the
09:03death toll at approximately 12,000.
09:06This disaster was so severe that it prompted the British Parliament to enact the Clean
09:10Air Act of 1956.
09:12We still had smog, but as time went on, we had the availability of smokeless fuels like
09:19natural gas, like oil.
09:22Without that, we'd have been in a bad way.
09:25Bhopal Disaster, Bhopal, India.
09:27Some chemicals that were created to be helpful have devastating effects on our health.
09:32The scenes are simply hellish.
09:34So much suffering from India's invisible killer.
09:37At one point, an official said one death was being recorded every minute from the poison
09:41gas leak in the city of Bhopal.
09:43In 1984, the citizens of Bhopal learned this firsthand when several avoidable factors,
09:49like malfunctioning safety equipment and clogged pipes, caused one of the worst chemical disasters
09:54in history.
09:55Union Carbide India Limited, a U.S.-owned factory, accidentally leaked highly toxic
10:00methyl isocyanate into the air and surrounding neighborhoods.
10:04At 74, she is bent but hardly broken by what she has seen.
10:09She tries to comfort by listening, these men saying, we can hardly see anymore.
10:15Most residents were asleep at the time, giving them no chance to evacuate.
10:19Over 500,000 people were impacted, with nearly a third being children.
10:23The death toll skyrocketed, and survivors endured physical, neurological, and emotional
10:29scars.
10:30Ultimately, the company was held accountable and ordered to pay $470 million to those affected
10:36in 1989.
10:37BP Deepwater Oil Spill, Gulf of Mexico
10:40Although it may be the most recent oil spill on this list, it's by far one of the worst.
10:45The U.S. Coast Guard received a mayday from the bridge and flashed this distress call.
10:51The Deepwater Horizon on fire, with all persons off the vessel, the person in the water.
10:56BP's tanker Deepwater Horizon was supposed to have a mechanism in place to prevent methane
11:01gas from getting through the pipes, but those valves failed.
11:05This caused the gas to rise into the drilling rig, triggering a massive explosion that killed
11:1011 workers.
11:11This was just the beginning.
11:12BP had an opportunity to explain to the American people, and quite frankly, they blew it.
11:16He was going to do whatever he could to protect the company.
11:19An estimated 210 million gallons of oil then leaked, destroying whole ecosystems in the
11:25process.
11:26The spill had disastrous effects on local marine life, with some species mutating to
11:31have gaping sores and no eyes.
11:34Money from the Restore Act is now making its way to coastal communities to help restore
11:39the Gulf.
11:40In 2011, BP was officially blamed, but despite several criminal charges, none of those involved
11:46received any prison time.
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12:04Chernobyl disaster, Pripyat, Ukraine.
12:07When most people think of easily preventable tragedies, this one often comes to mind.
12:12And it's clear to see why.
12:13They wanted to see whether the reactor could still be cooled if the plant lost power.
12:19But they violated safety protocols and several power surges occurred inside the reactor.
12:25In April 1986, operators at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine attempted an
12:31experiment to cool the reactor to test its performance during an emergency.
12:35A combination of an accidental power dip and a design flaw within the machine resulted
12:40in an unexpected power surge.
12:42But the fact that they've had to reveal it and admit that there are casualties suggests
12:47they're deeply worried about the scale of it.
12:49This caused a giant meltdown, releasing radiation into the air.
12:53It took hours and dozens falling ill before an evacuation was called.
12:58The environmental impact was immense, with several trees dying and several animal species
13:03losing the ability to reproduce.
13:05The cleanup is expected to last until 2065, meaning until then, the effects could become
13:12even worse.
13:13Radiation is still leaking.
13:15Efforts to contain the contamination began back in 1997, when the Chernobyl Shelter Fund
13:20was established.
13:22The idea?
13:23Shield the entire reactor under a concrete dome.
13:26Which disaster perpetrated by humans do you think will have the biggest long-term impact?
13:31Let us know in the comments below.
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