Environmental Disasters Dear readers, in this article, I will talk about 5 major environmental disasters that are the biggest evidence of how humans have harmed the world in the last 50 years.
Environmental Disasters can be accurately described as the "Environmental Issue," which develops due to damages caused by various elements in nature, either directly or indirectly, by human actions. The types of disasters that arise from nature's own events are referred to as "Natural Disasters." For centuries, nature has been able to manage the disasters that occur within itself, while disasters caused by humans create artificial conditions that prevent nature from renewing itself. Additionally, such environmental disasters can lead to unforeseen issues like ozone layer depletion and global warming.Many environmental disasters that have left a mark in the past have occurred due to human actions. If we list these environmental issues:1- Chernobyl DisasterKnown as the largest nuclear accident of the 20th century, years have passed since the Chernobyl disaster, but the traces of this catastrophe have not yet been erased. The major disaster occurred on April 26, 1986, in the city of Chernobyl, located 14.5 km northwest of the city of Pripyat in Ukraine. The explosion in the nuclear plant's fourth reactor was caused by a combination of the faulty design of the four reactors, each with a power of 1,000 Megawatts (MW), and the negligence of technicians and Soviet officials who disabled the safety system to conduct an experiment, leading to a series of errors. In the initial phase of the explosion, 31 people died, and later, 4,000 individuals who participated in rescue and cleanup efforts lost their lives within a year. By 2004, cases of thyroid cancer were reported in 4,000 children under the age of 18 in Ukraine, Russia, and Belarus. Countless children, adults, and animals underwent mutations.Following the disaster, Turkey also entered a period where cancer rates would significantly increase, and the effects of this period continue to be felt even today. The rate of cancer patients in 1986 tripled in the Marmara Region in 1987 and tripled again in the Black Sea region.many of our people died.
2- Bhopal Disaster
On December 3, 1984, in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, India, there was a major gas leak at the American Union Carbide pesticide factory. The cause of the accident was initially declared to be sabotage. Later, the Indian government's investigation team revealed that a worker cleaning a filter in the phosgene separation unit had wet the valves on the line with water, causing the water to mix with tank number 610.
The state government reported that 3,787 people living in the vicinity died immediately. Within weeks, it was reported that 3,000 more, and then 8,000 people had died. The total deaths reached 15,000. The number of injured was reported to be 558,125. It was determined that 38,478 of them were temporarily disabled, while 3,900 were left with serious and permanent disabilities. Comments were made that the effects of this disaster were even greater than those of Chernobyl.
3- Kuwait Oil Fires
In 1991, Iraqi military forces set fire to about 600 oil wells as they withdrew from Kuwait after the Gulf War. Seven months later, only about 400 of these had been brought under control. The Persian Gulf was covered with toxic smoke, soot, and ash. In the region where rain fell pitch black, lakes of oil formed. The situation had reached a point where the U.S. National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) stated that "the sand and gravel in the area combined with oil to form a layer covering almost 5% of Kuwait." Crops left in the oil-laden fog rotted, and animals perished due to the liquid covering their lungs.
4- Love Canal Disaster
In 1978, Love Canal, located near Niagara Falls in the outskirts of New York, was a quiet town consisting of hundreds of homes and a school inhabited by the working class. The Love Canal area, an unused canal site, was developed in the 1940s and 1950s for industrial purposes.has become a landfill filled with approximately 22,000 tons of chemical waste by the companies.
It has been revealed that the Hooker Chemical Company discharged exactly 22,000 tons of toxic waste into the Love Canal ditch located northwest of New York between 1940 and 1953. The fact that hundreds of children and adults from the Niagara area began flocking to hospitals with similar complaints raised suspicion. There was an abnormal increase in the rates of leukemia, asthma, epilepsy, and many other diseases. Upon further investigation, the cause was found. In samples taken from water and soil, extremely toxic substances such as benzene and dioxin, as well as hundreds of different carcinogenic compounds, were found in very high amounts. Following this disaster, which caused hundreds of deaths, the area was completely evacuated; it was quarantined, and it took years for it to be cleaned.
5- Seveso Disaster
Seveso is a small town located 20 km from Milan in northwestern Italy. On July 10, 1976, an explosion occurred in a reactor producing trichlorophenol (TCP) at the ICMESA Chemical Company factory right next to the town, releasing a white gas cloud into the environment. This toxic gas was dioxin (TCCD), one of the most toxic gases known to date. Shortly after, animal deaths began to be observed in the town. Five days after the explosion, hospital visits began. After examinations, it was understood that a large area of the town was completely contaminated, and about 100 houses were completely evacuated. Blood tests were conducted on the townspeople for monitoring. This incident caused people to suffer from nausea, blurred vision, and particularly led children to fall ill with a skin disease known as "chloracne."
In summary, we can say that throughout history, various disasters have occurred; however, instead of learning from these disasters, we are dragging our world into more and more disasters every day. The most fundamental behavior we need to adopt at this point is to think about our future generations and ensure that the current system becomes more environmentally friendly and that awareness is raised in this regard. In this way, we can secure both our future and...We will have preserved our nature.
