Human Induced Hazards
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Objective: To discover what constitutes a technological hazard and to find out about the worst events in recent history.
Task 1 - Watch the Top 10 Man-Made Disasters video to the right hand side. Annotate the Top 10 disasters* onto this map and basic information including date, causes, effects and death rates. *You may need to use Google to research precise locations. Task 2 - Now that you have your top 10, try to classify them into types of human induced hazards such as overgrazing, energy etc. Task 3 - Describe the global spatial distribution of the hazards that you have plotted onto your map. Task 4 - Which types of human induced disaster have the highest rate of deaths and displacement? |
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Indicative List of Technological Hazards - Source
The following list indicates the type of actions which can constitute technological hazards:
- release of chemicals to the atmosphere by explosion, fire
- release of chemicals into water (groundwater, rivers etc.) by tank rupture, pipeline rupture,
chemicals dissolved in water (fire),
- oil spills in marine environment
- satellite crash (radionuclides)
- radioactive sources in metallurgical processes
- other sources of releases of radionuclides to the environment
- contamination by waste management activities
- soil contamination
- accidents with groundwater contamination (road, rail)
- groundwater contamination by waste dumps (slowly moving contamination)
- aircraft accidents
- releases and contaminations as a consequence of military actions (e.g. depleted uranium), or
destruction of facilities
- releases as consequence of the industrial use of biological material (e.g. viruses, bacteria, fungi)
The following list indicates the type of actions which can constitute technological hazards:
- release of chemicals to the atmosphere by explosion, fire
- release of chemicals into water (groundwater, rivers etc.) by tank rupture, pipeline rupture,
chemicals dissolved in water (fire),
- oil spills in marine environment
- satellite crash (radionuclides)
- radioactive sources in metallurgical processes
- other sources of releases of radionuclides to the environment
- contamination by waste management activities
- soil contamination
- accidents with groundwater contamination (road, rail)
- groundwater contamination by waste dumps (slowly moving contamination)
- aircraft accidents
- releases and contaminations as a consequence of military actions (e.g. depleted uranium), or
destruction of facilities
- releases as consequence of the industrial use of biological material (e.g. viruses, bacteria, fungi)
