PART 2 : HUMAN INSTIGATED DISASTERS (MAN MADE DISASTERS)

PART 2. HUMAN INSTIGATED DISASTERS (MAN MADE DISASTERS)

Human-instigated disasters are the consequence of technological hazards. Examples include stampedes, fires, transport accidents, CBRN Emergencies( Chemical, Biological, Radiological, Nuclear Emergencies) Industrial accidents. War and deliberate attacks may also be put in this category

Examples:

CHEMICAL ATTACK;

Halabja

year 1988

-Chemical Attack by Iraqi forces    over Northern Iraq Kurdhish populated

-Death toll around 5,000

-Injured more than 10,000

SYRIA CIVIL WAR

Damacus

Chemical Attacks done at Damacus area

-on 30th Aug2013

-at 12 locations

-1429 civilian deaths including 423 children

TOKYO SUBWAY

Sarin Gas( Nerve Agent )

-Deaths-12

Non-fatal injuries-about 1,050

Perpetrator- Aum Shinrikyo

CHEMICAL INDUSTRIAL ACCIDENT

Bhopal Gas Tragedy

On the night of 2–3 December 1984

-at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL)

-pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh

Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other chemicals

Estimates vary on the death toll. The official immediate death toll was 2,259. The government of Madhya Pradesh confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125 injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately 3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-related diseases.

CHEMICAL TRANSPORTATION ACCIDENT

Although the major chemical accidents seem most threatening because they often kill people outright, it is the smaller, more routine accidents and spills that affect most people. Some of the most common spills involve tanker trucks and railroad tankers containing gasoline, chlorine, acid, or other industrial chemicals. Many spills occur during the transportation of hazardous materials; one study found that 18,000 hazardous materials spills occurred during 1976. In 1983, spills from 4,829 highway and 851 railroad accidents resulted in eight deaths, 191 injuries, and damages exceeding more than $110,000,000. The National Environmental Law Center reported that 34,500 accidents involving toxic chemicals were reported to the EPA's Emergency Response and Notification System between 1988 and 1992, meaning that on average, a toxic chemical accident was reported nineteen times a day in the United States, or nearly once every hour.

BIO WARFARE

A biological attack is the intentional release of a pathogen (disease causing agent) or Bio-toxin (poisonous substance produced by a living organism) against humans, plants, or animals. An attack against people could be used to cause illness, death, fear, societal disruption, and economic damage.

AGENTS

• Plague
• Cholera
• Tularemia
• Brucellosis
• Q Fever
• Smallpox
• Monkeypox
• Arboviral Encephalitides
• Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers
• Staphylococcal Enterotoxin B
• Ricin
• Botulinum Toxin
• Mycotoxins

EXAMPLES

1.In 1985, Iraq began an offensive biological weapons program producing anthrax, Botulinum toxin, and Aflatoxin. During Operation Desert Storm, the coalition of allied forces faced the threat of chemical and biological agents. Following the Persian Gulf War, Iraq disclosed that it had bombs, Scud missiles, 122-mm rockets, and artillery shells armed with Botulinum toxin, Anthrax, and Aflatoxin. They also had spray tanks fitted to aircraft that could distribute agents over a specific target.

2.In September and October of 1984, 751 people were intentionally infected with Salmonella, an agent that causes food poisoning, when followers of the Bhagwan Shree Rajneesh contaminated restaurant salad bars in Oregon.

3.In 1994, a Japanese sect of the Aum Shinrikyo cult attempted an aerosolized (sprayed into the air) release of anthrax from the tops of buildings in Tokyo.

4.In 1995, two members of a Minnesota militia group were convicted of possession of ricin, which they had produced themselves for use in retaliation against local government officials.

5.In 1996, an Ohio man attempted to obtain Bubonic Plague cultures through the mail.

6.In 2001, anthrax was delivered by mail to U.S. media and government offices. There were four deaths.

RADIO-LOGICAL AND NUCLEAR EMERGENCY

A Radiological emergency is an emergency in which there is, or is perceived to be, a hazard due to radiation exposure from a source. As sources of radiation are used in various fields, including industry, medicine and research, Radiological emergencies may occur anywhere.

THESE EMERGENCIES CAN BE IN THE FORM OF THE FOLLOWING:

1. Nuclear Bombs(More Destructive than Atom Bomb)

2. Atom Bombs ( Hiroshima and Nagasaki)

3. RDD ( Radiological Dispersal Device)

   - Radio-active Source + IED(Improvised Explosive Device)

3. RED ( Radiological Exposure Device)

4. Unintentional

           a) Accident with the carriage of Radioactive Material during Transportation

b)Wrong / Faulty Practices with Radioactive material

Example: MAYAPURI Scrap Market -Cobalt-60

c)Failure of Machinery in at Nuclear Power Plant

Example: Chernobyl Nuclear power plant Blast

On April 26, 1986, a sudden surge of power during a reactor systems test destroyed Unit 4 of the nuclear power station at Chernobyl, Ukraine, in the former Soviet Union. The accident and the fire that followed released massive amounts of radioactive material into the environment.

After the accident, officials closed off the area within 30 kilometers (18 miles) of the plant, except for persons with official business at the plant and those people evaluating and dealing with the consequences of the accident and operating the undamaged reactors. The Soviet (and later on, Russian) government evacuated about 115,000 people from the most heavily contaminated areas in 1986, and another 220,000 people in subsequent years

RADIO ACTIVE MATERIALS AGENTS

1. URANIUM

2. THORIUM

3. CESIUM

4. COBALT

5. IRIDIUM

6. IODINE

7. STRONTIUM

8. AMERICIUM

RADIO LOGICAL /NUCLEAR DISASTER SCENARIO

Immediate and direct effect of 20 KT nuclear weapon detonation would affect

- about 65 sq.km of arae

-about 32 lakh inhabitants (polpulation density 0.5 lakh/sq.km

-about 3.2 lakh deaths in the first few months(-50% on 151 day)

-about 7.5 lakh will be injured affected due to INR

-Fallout zone app. 4000 sq.km may change on wind direction and velocity.

In case of Chernobyl it was more than 2,00,000 sq.km

-about 40 lakh will be affected due to fall out