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Disasters, Man-Made

Human error or negligence can sometimes lead to accidents, loss of life, environmental damage, disasters, and widespread social disruption. Find related resources on issues like preparedness, identifying hazards and safety. SCIS no. 1819493

All items

Images
Wreck of H. M. S. Orpheus
Wreck of H. M. S. Orpheus
The shipwreck of H. M. S. Orpheus occurred on 7 February 1863 at the mouth of the Manukau harbour. The sailing ship struck a massive sandbank (the Manukau bar) that could only be crossed at high tide.
Articles
Remembering Erebus
Remembering Erebus
Soon after an Air New Zealand DC10 crashed on Mt Erebus in 1979, a simple wooden cross was placed in Antarctica in remembrance of the 257 people who were killed, but wind-driven ice gradually erode...
Audio
Bhopal disaster
Bhopal disaster
Bhopal disaster gas leak from pesticide plant in 1984.
Audio
Dr Michel Boufadel
Dr Michel Boufadel
Oil from Exxon Valdez spill still on the beaches.
Articles
Columbia disaster
Pdf on the space shuttle Columbia and what went wrong.
Articles
The Hindenburg disaster
Article on Hindenburg disaster and the question around the safety of airships.
Videos
Descent from disaster
Using interviews, reenactments and archive images, each episode of Screentime series Descent from Disaster examines a major New Zealand disaster — what happened, and what was learnt. Presenters wer...
Audio
London's great fire memorial
London's great fire memorial
The monument to the Great Fire of 1666 has undergone 18 months of restoration.
Articles
Nuclear test victims remembered
French Polynesia's nuclear test veterans organisation says a ceremony to remember victims on Thursday should show the government how important its memorial site in Papeete is to many.
Audio
Fukushima 'slow motion Chernobyl'
Fukushima 'slow motion Chernobyl'
Environmentalists have tagged the Fukushima nuclear power plant a 'slow motion Chernobyl' after the Japanese government yesterday upgraded the status of the crisis.
Articles
Air Disaster
A plane plunges into a San Francisco bay in 1937 killing 11 people on board.
Articles
Erebus crash site map
Erebus crash site map
Map showing the flight path of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on 28 November 1979
Articles
Pike River mine disaster
Pike River mine disaster
On the afternoon of 19 November 2010, an explosion ripped through the remote Pike River mine on the West Coast of the South Island, killing 29 men.
Images
Railway Accident in England
Railway Accident in England
Image of Salisbury rail crash that derailed and smashed into a milk train killing 28 people.
Images
Mine 29 Shrine. 18 January 2011
Mine 29 Shrine. 18 January 2011
Shows a commemorative looped ribbon beside the words 'Mine 29 shrine'. A second version includes the words 'More rhyme than reason' and a third version has a question mark after the word 'shrine'. ...
Images
Sinking of Russian cruise ship
Sinking of Russian cruise ship
Russian cruise ship Mikhail Lermontov crashed into rocks near Port Gore.
Articles
California oil spill
An oil pipeline rupture near Santa Barbara in California is believed to have spilled up to 2,500 barrels of crude petroleum.
Images
Columbia crew lost
Columbia crew lost
The cartoon depicts a dejected-looking Statue of Liberty, sad about the loss of the crew of the spaceship Columbia. Nasa stopped flying the space shuttles after losing shuttle Columbia and its sev...
Articles
Great Fire in Chicago
The great fire in Chicago in 1871 killed 300 people.
Audio
Aral sea
Aral sea
Once the world's fourth largest lake, the Aral sea in Central Asia is now in it's death throes. Examining the human and environmental toll with our correspondent Tara Fitzgerald.
Articles
Brazil to sue over burst dam
Brazil plans to sue two mining companies for $NZ8 billion in damages caused by the burst of a dam which killed at least 13 people and polluted a major river valley.
Videos
Cave Creek inquiry
Cave Creek inquiry
News footage shows the scene at Cave Creek in Paparoa National Park on the South Island's West Coast after a Department of Conservation viewing platform collapsed, with tragic results. On 28 April ...
Images
UN identifies people migrating due to climate change.
UN identifies people migrating due to climate change.
Shows a family of refuges in the water. A voice calls out, "Sorry! Love to help but the UN says you're terrorists!" At the top of the cartoon text reads, 'Security Council identifies people compel...
Images
Never!! can't happen!!
Never!! can't happen!!
Never!! Can't happen!! and yet it did. People were confident that there could be never be a nuclear leak and yet there was a partial meltdown on March 28, 1979 at the Three Mile Island Unit in Penn...
Images
Kaitangata coal mine
Kaitangata coal mine
On the morning of 21 February 1879, thirty-nine miners went to work at the Kaitangata Coal Mine. The men found a pick at the entrance to the mine, indicating that the mine had been checked for meth...
Images
Seacliff mental hospital
Seacliff mental hospital
Seacliff hospital was built in 1884 and housed close to 500 patients. Additions to the buildings were constructed out of wood and this fact proved fatal on the night of a major fire in December 194...
Images
Hyde railway accident
Hyde railway accident
On 4 June 1943, the Cromwell Dunedin express was carrying 113 passengers to Dunedin, many of them heading for the Dunedin winter show.
Images
Welcome to Chernobyl
Welcome to Chernobyl
Following an explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant the city Chernobyl, in northern Ukraine was largely abandoned in April 1986. Large quantities of radioactive material contaminat...
Articles
Wreck of the Titanic
Wreck of the Titanic
The Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic ocean on 10 April, 1912. The ship carried 2,200 passengers and crew. It was the Titanic’s maiden voyage.
Articles
Chernobyl accident 1986
Causes and impact of the nuclear Chernobyl plant explosion in Ukraine.
Articles
Quick facts: What you need to know about the Syria crisis.
Syria’s civil war has created the worst humanitarian crisis of our time.
Articles
Design4Disaster
Examples of project designs that can help people in times of disaster.
Articles
Top 10: environmental disasters
New Zealand has not been immune to large- scale environmental disasters.
Articles
Costa Concordia: what happened
Infographics, videos and coverage of what happened to the cruise ship Costa Concordia.
Articles
The Great Smog of 1952
Fog and smoke from innumerable chimneys cause London to choke.
Articles
Huge mistakes that led to catastrophe
Lesson plan on man-made disasters in history.
Articles
Bulli mine disaster
A memorial for those who lost their lives in the Bulli mine disaster in Australia.
Articles
Is anyone underground, anyone, anyone?
Twenty-nine miners were killed in New Zealand's Pike River Mine explosion.
Articles
Worst mining disasters In human history
Quick profits and lack of safety standards caused several of these mining disasters.
Articles
Brief history of nuclear accidents
Seven nuclear accidents worldwide and how they happened.
Videos
The Titanic
Computer generated imagery shows how the Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea.
Articles
The Aral sea crisis
Soviet government actions that led to the drying up of the Aral sea.
Images
New Zealand sea level rise
Interactive maps that reveal the future New Zealand's coastline.
Articles
What a Disaster! School Journal Level: 2; Aug 2012
The impact of the Rena through the eyes of a young girl.
Articles
Environmental disasters
Leading anthropogenic and environmental disasters as a result of negligence or human error.
Articles
Kaimai crash
In 1963, a DC-3 airliner took off from Auckland bound for Tauranga. It never made it.
Articles
Challenger disaster
Videos and accounts to help understand the Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster.
Videos
Tenerife aircraft disaster
The collision of the Pan Am Flight 1736 and the KLM Flight 4805 at Tenerife.
Articles
10 Worst man made disasters of all time
Major disasters that have had the most effect on people and the environment.
Articles
Al Ayyat train fire – 2002
A cooking gas cylinder explodes causing over 300 deaths on the train in Al Ayyat in Egypt.
Images
Fish off at Fukushima
Fish off at Fukushima
On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the Pacific Coast of Tōhoku, Japan. This resulted in meltdowns of three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Thousands of p...
Articles
Solomon Islands gold ridge gold mine
Solomon Islands gold ridge gold mine
The new owner of Solomon Islands Gold Ridge gold mine claims the previous owner left behind a US$29 million dollar environmental disaster.
Articles
Nuclear disasters
Nuclear disasters
Nuclear power is another source of power like wind, water or solar power. It is a cheap, reliable and clean source of energy, however the biggest disadvantage is that it can be very dangerous when ...
Articles
Iwi and kaimoana
Ngā Iwi o Tauranga Moana (a collective group for Māori tribes in Tauranga) concerned about the effects of the oil spill and debris on kaimoana.
Articles
Pike River Mine disaster 2010
Pike River Mine disaster 2010
The explosion at Pike River Mine on 19 November 2010 killed 29 men. This was a major disaster for New Zealand in recent times. Two years later the Royal Commission of Inquiry began an investigation...
Articles
World Health Organisation on Coronavirus
The World Health Organisation declares cononavirus outbreak meets the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
Articles
Deepwater horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also called Gulf of Mexico oil spill, largest marine oil spill in history.
Articles
Kamai crash
In 1963 a DC-3 crashed into the Kaimai Range.
Articles
The wreck of the Rena
The Rena salvage operation cost $700 million.
Articles
Chernobyl : facts about the nuclear disaster
Discusses the events and repercussions of the 1986 nuclear disaster.
Websites
WWW
EPIC
Find more information on this topic on EPIC. Databases recommended: Australia NZ Reference Centre, Gale In Context: High School, Gale In Context: Global Issues. School login maybe required.
Articles
Climate change consequences for New Zealand
Beyond the next few decades global warming, caused mostly by human activity, will begin to dominate.
Videos
What happened to the Hindenburg?
The Hindenburg is a largest airship ever built. Unfortunately it caught fire and was completely destroyed.
Images
Wreck of H. M. S. Orpheus
Wreck of H. M. S. Orpheus
The shipwreck of H. M. S. Orpheus occurred on 7 February 1863 at the mouth of the Manukau harbour. The sailing ship struck a massive sandbank (the Manukau bar) that could only be crossed at high tide.
Articles
Remembering Erebus
Remembering Erebus
Soon after an Air New Zealand DC10 crashed on Mt Erebus in 1979, a simple wooden cross was placed in Antarctica in remembrance of the 257 people who were killed, but wind-driven ice gradually erode...
Audio
Bhopal disaster
Bhopal disaster
Bhopal disaster gas leak from pesticide plant in 1984.
Audio
Dr Michel Boufadel
Dr Michel Boufadel
Oil from Exxon Valdez spill still on the beaches.
Articles
Columbia disaster
Pdf on the space shuttle Columbia and what went wrong.
Articles
The Hindenburg disaster
Article on Hindenburg disaster and the question around the safety of airships.
Videos
Descent from disaster
Using interviews, reenactments and archive images, each episode of Screentime series Descent from Disaster examines a major New Zealand disaster — what happened, and what was learnt. Presenters wer...
Audio
London's great fire memorial
London's great fire memorial
The monument to the Great Fire of 1666 has undergone 18 months of restoration.
Articles
Nuclear test victims remembered
French Polynesia's nuclear test veterans organisation says a ceremony to remember victims on Thursday should show the government how important its memorial site in Papeete is to many.
Audio
Fukushima 'slow motion Chernobyl'
Fukushima 'slow motion Chernobyl'
Environmentalists have tagged the Fukushima nuclear power plant a 'slow motion Chernobyl' after the Japanese government yesterday upgraded the status of the crisis.
Articles
Air Disaster
A plane plunges into a San Francisco bay in 1937 killing 11 people on board.
Articles
Erebus crash site map
Erebus crash site map
Map showing the flight path of Air New Zealand Flight TE901 on 28 November 1979
Articles
Pike River mine disaster
Pike River mine disaster
On the afternoon of 19 November 2010, an explosion ripped through the remote Pike River mine on the West Coast of the South Island, killing 29 men.
Images
Railway Accident in England
Railway Accident in England
Image of Salisbury rail crash that derailed and smashed into a milk train killing 28 people.
Images
Mine 29 Shrine. 18 January 2011
Mine 29 Shrine. 18 January 2011
Shows a commemorative looped ribbon beside the words 'Mine 29 shrine'. A second version includes the words 'More rhyme than reason' and a third version has a question mark after the word 'shrine'. ...
Images
Sinking of Russian cruise ship
Sinking of Russian cruise ship
Russian cruise ship Mikhail Lermontov crashed into rocks near Port Gore.
Articles
California oil spill
An oil pipeline rupture near Santa Barbara in California is believed to have spilled up to 2,500 barrels of crude petroleum.
Images
Columbia crew lost
Columbia crew lost
The cartoon depicts a dejected-looking Statue of Liberty, sad about the loss of the crew of the spaceship Columbia. Nasa stopped flying the space shuttles after losing shuttle Columbia and its sev...
Articles
Great Fire in Chicago
The great fire in Chicago in 1871 killed 300 people.
Audio
Aral sea
Aral sea
Once the world's fourth largest lake, the Aral sea in Central Asia is now in it's death throes. Examining the human and environmental toll with our correspondent Tara Fitzgerald.
Articles
Brazil to sue over burst dam
Brazil plans to sue two mining companies for $NZ8 billion in damages caused by the burst of a dam which killed at least 13 people and polluted a major river valley.
Videos
Cave Creek inquiry
Cave Creek inquiry
News footage shows the scene at Cave Creek in Paparoa National Park on the South Island's West Coast after a Department of Conservation viewing platform collapsed, with tragic results. On 28 April ...
Images
UN identifies people migrating due to climate change.
UN identifies people migrating due to climate change.
Shows a family of refuges in the water. A voice calls out, "Sorry! Love to help but the UN says you're terrorists!" At the top of the cartoon text reads, 'Security Council identifies people compel...
Images
Never!! can't happen!!
Never!! can't happen!!
Never!! Can't happen!! and yet it did. People were confident that there could be never be a nuclear leak and yet there was a partial meltdown on March 28, 1979 at the Three Mile Island Unit in Penn...
Images
Kaitangata coal mine
Kaitangata coal mine
On the morning of 21 February 1879, thirty-nine miners went to work at the Kaitangata Coal Mine. The men found a pick at the entrance to the mine, indicating that the mine had been checked for meth...
Images
Seacliff mental hospital
Seacliff mental hospital
Seacliff hospital was built in 1884 and housed close to 500 patients. Additions to the buildings were constructed out of wood and this fact proved fatal on the night of a major fire in December 194...
Images
Hyde railway accident
Hyde railway accident
On 4 June 1943, the Cromwell Dunedin express was carrying 113 passengers to Dunedin, many of them heading for the Dunedin winter show.
Images
Welcome to Chernobyl
Welcome to Chernobyl
Following an explosion and fire at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant the city Chernobyl, in northern Ukraine was largely abandoned in April 1986. Large quantities of radioactive material contaminat...
Articles
Wreck of the Titanic
Wreck of the Titanic
The Titanic struck an iceberg and sank in the North Atlantic ocean on 10 April, 1912. The ship carried 2,200 passengers and crew. It was the Titanic’s maiden voyage.
Articles
Chernobyl accident 1986
Causes and impact of the nuclear Chernobyl plant explosion in Ukraine.
Articles
Quick facts: What you need to know about the Syria crisis.
Syria’s civil war has created the worst humanitarian crisis of our time.
Articles
Design4Disaster
Examples of project designs that can help people in times of disaster.
Articles
Top 10: environmental disasters
New Zealand has not been immune to large- scale environmental disasters.
Articles
Costa Concordia: what happened
Infographics, videos and coverage of what happened to the cruise ship Costa Concordia.
Articles
The Great Smog of 1952
Fog and smoke from innumerable chimneys cause London to choke.
Articles
Huge mistakes that led to catastrophe
Lesson plan on man-made disasters in history.
Articles
Bulli mine disaster
A memorial for those who lost their lives in the Bulli mine disaster in Australia.
Articles
Is anyone underground, anyone, anyone?
Twenty-nine miners were killed in New Zealand's Pike River Mine explosion.
Articles
Worst mining disasters In human history
Quick profits and lack of safety standards caused several of these mining disasters.
Articles
Brief history of nuclear accidents
Seven nuclear accidents worldwide and how they happened.
Videos
The Titanic
Computer generated imagery shows how the Titanic sank to the bottom of the sea.
Articles
The Aral sea crisis
Soviet government actions that led to the drying up of the Aral sea.
Images
New Zealand sea level rise
Interactive maps that reveal the future New Zealand's coastline.
Articles
What a Disaster! School Journal Level: 2; Aug 2012
The impact of the Rena through the eyes of a young girl.
Articles
Environmental disasters
Leading anthropogenic and environmental disasters as a result of negligence or human error.
Articles
Kaimai crash
In 1963, a DC-3 airliner took off from Auckland bound for Tauranga. It never made it.
Articles
Challenger disaster
Videos and accounts to help understand the Challenger Space Shuttle Disaster.
Videos
Tenerife aircraft disaster
The collision of the Pan Am Flight 1736 and the KLM Flight 4805 at Tenerife.
Articles
10 Worst man made disasters of all time
Major disasters that have had the most effect on people and the environment.
Articles
Al Ayyat train fire – 2002
A cooking gas cylinder explodes causing over 300 deaths on the train in Al Ayyat in Egypt.
Images
Fish off at Fukushima
Fish off at Fukushima
On March 11, 2011 a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck off the Pacific Coast of Tōhoku, Japan. This resulted in meltdowns of three reactors in the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant. Thousands of p...
Articles
Solomon Islands gold ridge gold mine
Solomon Islands gold ridge gold mine
The new owner of Solomon Islands Gold Ridge gold mine claims the previous owner left behind a US$29 million dollar environmental disaster.
Articles
Nuclear disasters
Nuclear disasters
Nuclear power is another source of power like wind, water or solar power. It is a cheap, reliable and clean source of energy, however the biggest disadvantage is that it can be very dangerous when ...
Articles
Iwi and kaimoana
Ngā Iwi o Tauranga Moana (a collective group for Māori tribes in Tauranga) concerned about the effects of the oil spill and debris on kaimoana.
Articles
Pike River Mine disaster 2010
Pike River Mine disaster 2010
The explosion at Pike River Mine on 19 November 2010 killed 29 men. This was a major disaster for New Zealand in recent times. Two years later the Royal Commission of Inquiry began an investigation...
Articles
World Health Organisation on Coronavirus
The World Health Organisation declares cononavirus outbreak meets the criteria for a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC).
Articles
Deepwater horizon oil spill
Deepwater Horizon oil spill, also called Gulf of Mexico oil spill, largest marine oil spill in history.
Articles
Kamai crash
In 1963 a DC-3 crashed into the Kaimai Range.
Articles
The wreck of the Rena
The Rena salvage operation cost $700 million.
Articles
Chernobyl : facts about the nuclear disaster
Discusses the events and repercussions of the 1986 nuclear disaster.
Websites
WWW
EPIC
Find more information on this topic on EPIC. Databases recommended: Australia NZ Reference Centre, Gale In Context: High School, Gale In Context: Global Issues. School login maybe required.
Articles
Climate change consequences for New Zealand
Beyond the next few decades global warming, caused mostly by human activity, will begin to dominate.
Videos
What happened to the Hindenburg?
The Hindenburg is a largest airship ever built. Unfortunately it caught fire and was completely destroyed.

Other resources

Top results for Disasters, Man-Made from AnyQuestions

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