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An environmentaw disaster or ecowogicaw disaster is a catastrophic event regarding de environment due to human activity. This distinguishes it from de concept of a naturaw disaster. It is awso distinct from intentionaw acts of war such as nucwear bombings.
In dis case, de impact of humans' awteration of de ecosystem has wed to widespread and/or wong-wasting conseqwences. It can incwude de deads of animaws (incwuding humans) and pwants, or severe disruption of human wife, possibwy reqwiring migration.
Environmentaw disasters can have an effect on agricuwture, biodiversity, de economy and human heawf. The causes incwude powwution, depwetion of naturaw resources, custom industriaw activity or agricuwture.
- Seveso disaster, 1976 – Rewease of dioxin, uh-hah-hah-hah.
- Amoco Cadiz oiw spiww, 1978 – de vessew broke in two, reweasing its entire cargo of 1.6 miwwion barrews (250,000 m3) of oiw.
- Ok Tedi environmentaw disaster, 1984. As of 2006[update], mine operators have discharged about two biwwion tons of taiwings, overburden and mine-induced erosion into de Ok Tedi river system. About 1,588 sqware kiwometres (613 sq mi) of forest has died or is under stress.
- Bhopaw disaster, 1984 – Rewease of medyw isocyanate gas and oder chemicaws Some estimate 8,000 peopwe died widin two weeks. A government affidavit in 2006 stated de weak caused 558,125 injuries incwuding 38,478 temporary partiaw and approximatewy 3,900 severewy and permanentwy disabwing injuries.
- Chernobyw disaster, 1986 – The officiaw Soviet count of 31 deads has been disputed. An UNSCEAR report pwaces de totaw confirmed deads from radiation at 64 as of 2008. The eventuaw deaf toww couwd reach 4,000. Some 50 emergency workers died of acute radiation syndrome, nine chiwdren died of dyroid cancer and an estimated totaw of 3940 died from radiation-induced cancer and weukemia.
- Hanford Nucwear, 1986 – The U.S. government decwassifies 19,000 pages of documents indicating dat between 1946 and 1986, de Hanford Site near Richwand, Washington, reweased dousands of US gawwons of radioactive wiqwids. Radioactive waste was bof reweased into de air and fwowed into de Cowumbia River (which fwows to de ocean).
- Exxon Vawdez oiw spiww, 1989 – spiwwed 260–750 dousand barrews (41,000–119,000 m3) of crude oiw.
- Prestige oiw spiww, 2002 – spiwwed over 20 miwwion US gawwons (76,000 m3) of two different grades of heavy fuew oiw.
- Prudhoe Bay oiw spiww, 2006 – spiwwed up to 267,000 US gawwons (1,010 m3; 6,400 bbw).
- Kingston Fossiw Pwant coaw fwy ash swurry spiww, 2008 – spiwwed 1.1 biwwion US gawwons (4,200,000 m3) of swurry from a coaw pwant, covering 300 acres, fwowing down severaw rivers, destroying homes and contaminating water. Vowume spiwwed was over 7 times as much as de vowume of oiw spiwwed in de Deepwater Horizon disaster.
- Deepwater Horizon oiw spiww, 2010 – An expwosion kiwwed 11 men working on de pwatform and injured 34 oders. The gushing wewwhead was capped, after it had reweased about 4.9 miwwion barrews (780,000 m3) of crude oiw.
- Fukushima Daiichi nucwear disaster, 2011 – was an energy accident, initiated primariwy by de tsunami fowwowing de Tōhoku eardqwake on 11 March 2011. Immediatewy after de eardqwake, de active reactors automaticawwy shut down deir sustained fission reactions. The insufficient coowing wed to dree nucwear mewtdowns, hydrogen-air expwosions, and de rewease of radioactive materiaw. Levew 7 event cwassification of de Internationaw Nucwear Event Scawe.
Cwimate change and disaster risks
A 2013 report examined de rewationship between disasters and poverty. It concwudes dat, widout concerted action, dere couwd be up to 325 miwwion extremewy poor peopwe wiving in de 49 countries most exposed to de fuww range of naturaw hazards and cwimate extremes in 2040.
- Andropogenic hazard
- List of environmentaw issues
- Environmentaw hazard
- Emergency management
- Environmentaw emergency
- Mawdusian catastrophe
- Jared M. Diamond, Cowwapse: How Societies Choose to Faiw or Succeed, 2005
- Iwwustrated overview of environmentaw disasters due to human activity Archived 2007-02-08 at de Wayback Machine, incwuding deforestation, soiw erosion and de biodiversity crisis.
- End-of-de-Worwd Scenario:ecowogicaw Disaster
- Environmentaw Disaster Videos on Gaiagonewiwd.com
- Richard Schiffman (12 March 2013). "Two years on, America hasn't wearned wessons of Fukushima nucwear disaster". The Guardian.
- Martin Fackwer (June 1, 2011). "Report Finds Japan Underestimated Tsunami Danger". New York Times.
- Andrew Shepherd, Tom Mitcheww, Kirsty Lewis, Amanda Lenhardt, Lindsey Jones, Lucy Scott, Robert Muir-Wood, 2013; The geography of poverty, disasters and cwimate extremes in 2030; accessed 29/10/2013 http://www.odi.org.uk/pubwications/7491-geography-poverty-disasters-cwimate-change-2030
- Repubwic of Nauru. 1999. Cwimate Change – Response. First Nationaw Communication – 1999. Under de United Nations Framework Convention on Cwimate Change, United Nations