What was the biggest man-made singular disaster (wars don't count) of the 20th century?

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[ARCHIVED THREAD] - What was the biggest man-made singular disaster (wars don't count) of the 20th century? (Page 1 of 3)

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:37:17 PM EDT

Acts of terror, such as 9/11 don't count. I'm talking about disasters, not acts of or during war.

Sinking of the Titanic?

That's the best I can come up with.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:37:42 PM EDT

[#1]

Y2K

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:38:21 PM EDT

[#2]

Exxon Valdez was a pretty big disaster.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:39:03 PM EDT

[#3]

Well, Katrina was Bush's fault...

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:39:14 PM EDT

[#4]

Obama.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:39:26 PM EDT

[#5]

Bhopal

On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas which lead to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was initially recorded around 5,000. Many figures suggest that 18,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that around 8,000 have died since then of gas-poisoning-related diseases.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:39:30 PM EDT

[#6]

FDR's 'New Deal'.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:39:56 PM EDT

[#7]

Chernobyl.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:40:00 PM EDT

[#8]

Quoted:
FDR's 'New Deal'.

+87

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:40:16 PM EDT

[#9]

Man-Made disaster, and I'm the first to post Obama?

eta - I type too slow. DOH

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:40:19 PM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:
Obama.

Wrong century, he wasn't even a twinkle in Rahm Emanuel's eye before 2001.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:41:05 PM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:

Quoted:

FDR's 'New Deal'.

+87

Count me in for that.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:42:07 PM EDT

[#12]

Bohpal would be my guess as above. Chernobly would be up there as well. Seem that there was a ship carrying oxidizers that blew up and took out a port.

Then there was that above ground nuclear testing. It killed John Wayne :(

Eta: texas city 600 people killed worst disaster (industrial) in the states. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2009/04/dayintech_0416

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:42:25 PM EDT

[#13]

Quoted:
Bhopal

On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas which lead to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was initially recorded around 5,000. Many figures suggest that 18,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that around 8,000 have died since then of gas-poisoning-related diseases.

beaten by a couple of minutes...

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:42:42 PM EDT

[#14]

Soviet Union suffers worst wheat harvest in 55 years.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:42:57 PM EDT

[#15]

Texas City disaster, 1947

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:44:16 PM EDT

[#16]

Spanish flu.

50 million people dead.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:44:36 PM EDT

[#17]

unions

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:44:42 PM EDT

[#18]

Quoted:

Bhopal

On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas which lead to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was initially recorded around 5,000. Many figures suggest that 18,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that around 8,000 have died since then of gas-poisoning-related diseases.

Wow never heard about that. Check out this info from the article.

/snip

The soil and ground water near the factory site, has been contaminated
by the toxic wastes and other chemicals still leaking from the factory.

The Indian government, however, maintains that no such pollution has
taken place or that any such toxins are even present at the site.

/snip

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:45:45 PM EDT

[#19]

Quoted:

Spanish flu.

50 million people dead.

MAN MADE disaster

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:46:37 PM EDT

[#20]

Saint Francis Dam in 1928?

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:47:15 PM EDT

[#21]

Quoted:

Quoted:

Spanish flu.

50 million people dead.

MAN MADE disaster

Hello! It was developed in the same lab as the Chupacabra!

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:47:36 PM EDT

[#22]

Quoted:

Chernobyl.

That was my gut reaction too, not sure though.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:48:06 PM EDT

[#23]

Bhopal is a big one. Forgot about that. Chernobyl, too.

FWIW, getting back to the Titanic, it's amazing to think that if they had simply rammed the iceberg the ship never would have sunk.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:49:13 PM EDT

[#24]

A very strong contender is the millions of deaths caused by malaria in Africa.
This is all the worse because DDT had virtually eliminated it before Rachael Carson and the first of the Greens convinced everyone that DDT was a horrible environmental disaster.

Carson was totally wrong and the Left-Greens appear to have no problem with the millions of children that have died since.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:49:17 PM EDT

[#25]

Quoted:

Quoted:
Spanish flu.

50 million people dead.

MAN MADE disaster

oops.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:51:32 PM EDT

[#26]

Easy.

Banning the use of DDT to control malaria.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:52:24 PM EDT

[#27]

Quoted:
Bhopal

On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas which lead to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was initially recorded around 5,000. Many figures suggest that 18,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that around 8,000 have died since then of gas-poisoning-related diseases.

Word is, Union Carbide killed more Indians then Custer

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:53:26 PM EDT

[#28]

The elections of November 4th, 2008.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:53:38 PM EDT

[#29]

man made, I would agree on the zero

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:54:30 PM EDT

[#30]

Hey guys: We're talking about the 20th century.

Posted: 9/4/2010 7:58:17 PM EDT

[#31]

Halifax Explosion

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:00:26 PM EDT

[#32]

Quoted:
Bhopal

On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas which lead to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was initially recorded around 5,000. Many figures suggest that 18,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that around 8,000 have died since then of gas-poisoning-related diseases.

This^

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:00:49 PM EDT

[#33]

Bhopal was my guess.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:01:07 PM EDT

[#34]

Quoted:
Obama.

Damn.....

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:02:17 PM EDT

[#35]

1975 China dam disasters. 85,000 + dead.
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/aug1975.htm

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:03:52 PM EDT

[#36]

Quoted:

Chernobyl.

Can't think of much worse.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:03:57 PM EDT

[#37]

In terms of destruction of humanity, nothing beats the potential of some forms of government.

Genocide

Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.

History Place

Adolf Hitler to his Army commanders, August 22, 1939:
"Thus for the time being I have sent to the East only my 'Death's Head Units' with the orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish race or language. Only in such a way will we win the vital space that we need. Who still talks nowadays about the Armenians?"

The term 'Genocide' was coined by Polish writer and attorney, Raphael Lemkin, in 1941 by combining the Greek word 'genos' (race) with the Latin word 'cide' (killing). Genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948 means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including: (a) killing members of the group (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Recent to Past Occurrences

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths
Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Deaths
Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths
Nazi Holocaust: 1938-1945 - 6,000,000 Deaths
Rape of Nanking: 1937-1938 - 300,000 Deaths
Stalin's Forced Famine: 1932-1933 - 7,000,000 Deaths
Armenians in Turkey: 1915-1918 - 1,500,000 Deaths

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:05:27 PM EDT

[#38]

Quoted:
Hey guys: We're talking about the 20th century.

Hey, Barry was born in the 20th century.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:05:56 PM EDT

[#39]

The movie Avatar?? Maybe Hurt Locker?? Oh I am sure it was the combination of both in the same year...

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:06:04 PM EDT

[#40]

Bhopal came to mind, first.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:11:24 PM EDT

[#41]

Quoted:
1975 China dam disasters. 85,000 + dead.
http://www.sjsu.edu/faculty/watkins/aug1975.htm

Wow, never heard of that.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:14:12 PM EDT

[#42]

Quoted:
FDR's 'New Deal'.

This. He set the cause of liberty back a few centuries.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:14:26 PM EDT

[#43]

Quoted:

In terms of destruction of humanity, nothing beats the potential of some forms of government.

Genocide

Genocide is the deliberate and systematic destruction, in whole or in part, of an ethnic, racial, religious, or national group.
History Place

Adolf Hitler to his Army commanders, August 22, 1939:

"Thus for the time being I have sent to the East only my 'Death's Head Units' with the orders to kill without pity or mercy all men, women, and children of Polish race or language. Only in such a way will we win the vital space that we need. Who still talks nowadays about the Armenians?"

The term 'Genocide' was coined by Polish writer and attorney, Raphael Lemkin, in 1941 by combining the Greek word 'genos' (race) with the Latin word 'cide' (killing). Genocide as defined by the United Nations in 1948 means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group, including: (a) killing members of the group (b) causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group (c) deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part (d) imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group (e) forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.
Recent to Past Occurrences

Bosnia-Herzegovina: 1992-1995 - 200,000 Deaths

Rwanda: 1994 - 800,000 Deaths

Pol Pot in Cambodia: 1975-1979 - 2,000,000 Deaths

Nazi Holocaust: 1938-1945 - 6,000,000 Deaths

Rape of Nanking: 1937-1938 - 300,000 Deaths

Stalin's Forced Famine: 1932-1933 - 7,000,000 Deaths

Armenians in Turkey: 1915-1918 - 1,500,000 Deaths

Yeah, if the body count is the thing we're after...all the ethic cleansing that went on in the 20th century takes the top spots.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:17:40 PM EDT

[#44]

Quoted:
Bhopal

On December 3, 1984, a Union Carbide Corporation pesticide plant in Bhopal leaked around 32 tons of toxic gases, including methyl isocyanate gas which lead to the worst industrial disaster to date. The official death toll was initially recorded around 5,000. Many figures suggest that 18,000 died within two weeks, and it is estimated that around 8,000 have died since then of gas-poisoning-related diseases.

Yup. I was gonna say Union Carbide

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:19:15 PM EDT

[#45]

the election of Bill Clinton.

It lead to the revamping of the CRAwhich led to the housing bubble which led to Obama.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:22:05 PM EDT

[#46]

Edsel.

Posted: 9/4/2010 8:24:18 PM EDT

[#47]

Not a war. The murder of upwards of 50,000,000 Chinese after the Reds came to power in 1949? Or how about the murder of upwards of 6,000,000 Ukranians in the 1930s? Not good enough? 1.5 million Armenians in or about 1915?

More recently? Ok, the election of Mr. Obama as the President of the United States!