A catastrophic oil spill disaster, a nuclear holocaust, and the sea turned into a desert.
Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill
The growth of oil in the 1970s changed the political, economic, and the state of the world's industries. As oil dependence increases, The piercing of the heart of the sea was the same. However, and the prospect of prosperity, fear of environmental disaster also increased. Strict laws and regulations were put in place to prevent the inevitable disaster but in 2010, that fear lived through the largest oil spill in history. April 20, 2010, a Deepwater Horizon offshore drilling rig. an explosion that resulted in the deaths of 11 workers and the immeasurable loss of the ecosystem. In theory, the 125-foot-long [125 m] rig was fitted with the latest disaster prevention programs but on that fateful day, with a combination of human error and technical issues, all systems collapsed.
It all started when the crew decided to stop digging in a deep well and began pumping cement into the hole to prevent oil and gas leaks. However, cement the well did not close properly as oil and gas began to leak and began to rise toward it face. Although pressure tests were available to deal with such situations, the results they were misinterpreted and the test was finally taken as usual. After this fatal mistake, oil as well gas began to rise and began to destroy other existing safety systems.
The rig was fitted with a lock to close the safety valves in the event of emergencies. The explosion blocker had two different programs to launch it automatically but both failed due to flat battery and faulty switch. There was no combined response from personnel and the system is considered too complex to call in an emergency. So one mistake after another it caused an explosion that seemed to be miles away.
The loss of 11 workers was just one sad part of the accident. 3 to 5 million barrels of oil spills at sea and in the next 3 months, it was the largest oil spill overseas. in history. During the first week of the incident, the bloodshed passed Exxon
The Valdez Oil Spill of 1989 which spilled the largest oil spill in US-controlled waters. But that was not all. The leak lasted 87 days and the average 60,000 barrels of oil were being emptied daily. when it is finally controlled, Deepwater Horizon oil spill breaks previous record for the world's worst oil spills, Ixtoc-1 leak in Mexico in 1979. As a result, marine animals suffered as millions died at sea. Half the oil spill that sank in the sea caused permanent damage. The devastation was widespread of 180 thousand square kilometers equivalent to the Oklahoma region in size.
A long legal process was started after the incident with the British Petroleum - the Deepwater Horizon rental company was fined $ 20.8 billion, which has become the largest natural disaster management solution in United States history.
An unprecedented fine was not the only cost of the error. The company was also instructed to sign in the cost of cleaning and the cleaning process itself was not straightforward either.
The first step was to use the floating bombs around the sewing machine to keep the oil from spreading. Afterward, they used handmade collectors to collect the excess oil. Effort they were not very successful as they managed to collect only 2% of the total amount spent. Additional reduction is achieved through controlled combustion and the use of Disperants and absorbents. Despite efforts, only one sixth of the total devastation has been eliminated so far while cleaning costs and fines have risen to $ 80 billion. More than a decade after the catastrophe, the oil spill continues to threaten wildlife and it is predicted that some of these species may take over 70 years to recover from them.
Castle Bravo End of Second Tail
World War I brought to the fore the most devastating weapon in human history. The bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki remains the subject of divisive debate to this day.
The destruction of the two cities was great but powerful weapons were fired during the war they were not close to the Castle Bravo inspection conducted less than 9 years later. The Bikini Atoll had been a U.S. nuclear missile base since 1946. There was a nuclear weapons test on the island earlier, but in March 1954, another such test failed miserably. Scientists they were to test a device with a yield of 5 megatons. However, they made a big mistake too once the machine is off, produce a yield of 15 megatons. To put that in perspective, the
The explosive device was 1000 times more powerful than the bomb dropped on Hiroshima. When the device was turned off, it was a no-brainer. A cloud of mushrooms formed after a huge explosion that traveled 40 miles in the sky. That's four times higher than traditional airlines. The couple could not keep theirs eyes open and some even call it the “second day”.
Castle Bravo created a 100-meter deep sea and radioactive fallout is spread over a vast area in the Pacific Ocean. Shortly thereafter, Japanese fishing A ship named Lucky Dragon was caught on a beach 150 kilometers from the area explosion. One of the workers died of an illness in the days that followed and others he had serious problems. The incident has caused a great deal of controversy between the two countries considering their history and the United States had to pay compensation to those affected.
The lives of residents of the Marshall Islands were disrupted as they had to evacuate their houses for ever. But that was not the end of the story. Obviously, there was more serious human error as islanders were not immediately notified of the disaster. As radioactive fallout begins to fall on residents, they are caught unawares. Many they thought it was snow and, according to one account, children ate it from their bodies.
The people of Marshall continue to have serious health consequences to this day. According to 2010 reports, after the incident, the incidence of cancer increased and 55% of the total population it could be the result of a nuclear holocaust. Sixteen years later, the United States government tried to relocate a few families in Bikini Atoll as they said the area was safe. However, they were also removed after exposing high levels of radiation.
The Castle Bravo incident is still the biggest tragedy in U.S. history. However, it is the 5th largest explosion in history as well somehow behind the largest nuclear weapon ever detonated. That record is maintained with the Soviet Union inspection of the "Tsar Bomba" with a yield of 50 megatons.
ARAL SEA
Completing today's list of man-made disasters is described as “extremely widespread the shocking catastrophe of the twentieth century ”by the United Nations Development Program.
The Aral Sea was once the fourth-largest body of water in the world, greater than Lake Michigan and Lake Huron. Because of its sheer size, it worked as a the base of the Soviet fishing industry. At its peak in the 1950's, it produced more than 40,000 tons of fish annually, representing one-sixth of the total fish production in the Soviet Union.
The lake was surrounded by fishermen's residences and provided jobs for at least 40,000 workers he lived in the region around the lake. All of that changed in the late 1960's, when the Soviet Union launched its ambition to become the world's largest producer cotton. The uncultivated Central Asian country was chosen for agricultural expansion, spelling doom for the Aral Sea. Cotton is a water-resistant crop and under the new irrigation system, water from Aral Sea's main water suppliers,
Amu Darya and Syr Darya, were to be relocated to newly cultivated farms. By the 1980's, the Soviet Union was the fourth largest producer of cotton. The Aral Sea, however, was poor. An engineering error in designing an irrigation system meant that more water was drained from the canals than originally intended. The pool was like that annual decline and depth drop from more than 60 meters in 1960 to just 10 meters in the next two decades. The engineers saw a big mistake, but it was too late.
The Aral Sea now had only about 10 percent of the water flowing into the mid-1960s and in 1987, was divided into two distinct sections: the North and South Aral Sea. Water loss has had a devastating effect on the ecosystem. As the evaporation is rapid, the sea bed became salty, causing the death of nearly every fish. The sea began to turn in the desert they also bring dust storms that damage the air quality by transporting salt once agricultural waste in nearby residential areas. A desert-like environment also meant that it was very hot in summer and winter was very cold. Air quality affected residents who had respiratory problems and sometimes the mortality rate of children reached 7.5%.
Locals began calling the toxic sea "Aral tears". Naturally, there has been a large influx of people as fishing communities approach urban areas better opportunities. The nearby cities were completely deserted and prosperous the fishing industry collapsed. Discarded fishing boats and boats can be seen in the dry area water to this day, paints a grim picture of the damage done over the past forty years.
The breakup of the Soviet Union in 1991 marked the silver line of the dying lake as two newborn states, Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, share the shores of the Aral Sea.
There have been rapid efforts to revitalize the lake ecosystem like Central Asia countries become part of the United Nations Aral Sea (R85 million) environmental reform program. After a few hurdles, the project achieved great success in 2005 in the form of 13 km. A long dam pumps water back to the North. The dam has been a success raising the water level by 4 meters in just 6 months. This allowed the fish to come back again through the use of fish breeding methods, North Aral began restoring its ecosystem.
A few fishermen have returned and the catch has begun to increase. Thanks to concerted efforts, another part of the Aral Sea is thriving. Put it back in its place The glory of the past may be a very distant bridge but Aral's tears may be wiped away in the end.