Is Fukushima the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind? A Comparison

Many pundits and supposed experts have claimed that Fukushima "is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind."


Sorry to inform you, but I think that is completely false. To even entertain that notion for a second is incredibly arrogant and ethno-centric thinking. It is ignorant and shows a complete lack of knowledge on human history. Be very suspicious of those who make these kinds of idiotic claims as they certainly are not steeped in factual information. But hey, don't believe me, in this article, I will let you be the judge.

SILHOUETTES - GET A JOB

Here is a list from Wikipedia on industrial disasters. This is a heavily edited list. There are many more at the Wikipedia site. I edited out many disasters as I figured that if there weren't at least a few hundred casualties, then it can't be much of a disaster (no disrespect to those who lost loved ones). Especially when you consider that, according to the International Labor Organization, at least 12,250 Chinese workers die in industrial accidents a month, every month, and an estimated 1.2 million people are killed in road crashes each year, and as many as 50 million are injured, a few dozen killed in an industrial accident seems like small potatoes. 


So far the death total from the Fukushima nuclear accident is zero. How many can you count from the list below that are much worse than that?

Chemical industry

• September 21, 1921: Oppau explosion in Germany killing 500–600 people and injuring about 2,000 more.
• 1932-1968: The Minamata disaster in Japan. Over 3,000 people died or suffered various deformities.
• April 16, 1947: Texas City Disaster at least 578 people died and another 3,500 were injured.
• December 3, 1984: The Bhopal disaster in India. Death toll range from 4,000 to 20,000. 
• April 22, 2004: Ryonchon Cargo Explosion at Railway Disaster in North Korea. 3,000 people killed or injured

Construction industry

• January 20, 1909: Chicago Crib Disaster. 100 men died. 

Defense industry

• July 17, 1944: Port Chicago Disaster. 320 people killed. 

Energy industry

• August, 1975: The Banqiao Dam flood in China. 100,000 immediately killed, plus over 150,000 died of subsequent epidemic diseases and famine. Total dead toll around 250,000, making it the worst technical disaster ever happened in history.
• March 16, 1978: The Amoco Cadiz spill. An oil tanker sank spilling of 68,684,000 US Gallons of crude oil (nearly ten times that of Exxon Valdez). This is the largest oil spill of its kind (from an oil tanker) in history.
• April 26, 1986: Chernobyl disaster. At the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Prypiat, Ukraine a test on reactor number four goes out of control, resulting in a nuclear meltdown. The ensuing steam explosion and fire killed up to 50 people with estimates that there may be between 4,000 additional cancer deaths over time. 

Food industry

• January 15, 1919: The Boston Molasses Disaster. Killing 21 and injuring 150.
• September 3, 1991: 1991 Hamlet chicken processing plant fire. 25 deaths.

Manufacturing industry

• January 10, 1860: Pemberton Mill Collapse. 145 workers killed and 166 injured.
• March 20, 1905: Grover Shoe Factory explosion 58 people killed and 150 injured.
• March 25, 1911: Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in New York City. 100 garment workers died in fire or jumped to their deaths.
• May 10, 1993: Kader Toy Factory fire in Thailand. 188 workers were killed, mostly young women.

Mining industry

• March 10, 1906: Courrières mine disaster in France. 1,099 workers died, including children.
• April 26, 1942: Benxihu Colliery disaster in China. 1,549 workers died, in the worst coal mine accident ever in the world.
• May 28, 1965: 1965 Dhanbad coal mine disaster in India. 300 miners killed.
• October 21, 1966: Aberfan disaster killing 116 children and 28 adults.

There are many more disasters and accident listed at the Wikipedia site. There's thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, more that are not listed on Wikipedia. Lots of accidents and disasters. Lots of deaths. Fukushima nuclear reactor accident deaths as of today, four months after the disaster began? 0. Zero. None. Nada. Zip. 全然. 無し. ありません。


Oh, and if you want a disaster that displaced more than 1,000 people and is still going on decades later, here's an interesting one:

• May 1962: The Centralia, Pennsylvania coal mine fire began, forcing the gradual evacuation of the Centralia borough. The fire continues to burn in the abandoned borough in 2011, 49 years later (emphasis mine).

These are facts. They are etched into history.


People who make claims like, "Fukushima is the biggest industrial catastrophe in the history of mankind" are stating opinions involved with speculation and conjecture. Anyone care to debate the facts?