Читать книгу Disaster Response and Recovery - David A. McEntire - Страница 46

Because of the ease of moving people, goods, and services around the world, we are faced with several transportation hazards. A transportation hazard is an accident that occurs on roads or railways, at sea or in the air. Such incidents may result from adverse meteorological circumstances, human error or mechanical failure. For example, there may be a massive vehicle accident owing to wet and wintery weather. At other times, tired or careless drivers may overturn their tankers on freeways, which carry hazardous materials and force the evacuation of neighborhoods and portions of cities. Train derailments may also occur and may result from reckless young drivers trying to beat the safety gates, animals grazing on the tracks, and the expansion or contraction of rails due to heat and freezing temperatures. Disturbing mistakes may also occur. In July 2013, the conductor of a train in Spain was talking on a cell phone and failed to slow down as necessary for an approaching curve. The wreck claimed the lives of 79 people. On April 2, 2021, Taiwan experienced its worst rail accident in seven decades. A train traveling 80 mph near the city of Hualien hit a construction vehicle that was mistakenly parked on the rails. The eight‐carriage train then derailed inside a tunnel. At least 50 people were killed, and 200 others were injured. Besides deaths, train derailments can also emit hazardous materials into the environment and create a cleanup nightmare for rail companies and surrounding communities.

Instances of cruise ships and ferries sinking, vessels crashing into docks, or oil tankers hitting jagged rocks and puncturing their hulls are transportation hazards that have occurred in the past and in more recent years too. Almost everyone is aware of the sinking of the Titanic, which killed over 1500 people in 1912. The event illustrated the impact of careless navigation, the danger posed by icebergs, and the need for a sufficient number of lifeboats on ships. Unfortunately, there continue to be many other examples of shipping accidents at sea.

On December 6, 1917, two ships – the Mont‐Blanc and the SS Imo collided in the Halifax Harbor in Canada. Barrels of benzol on the Mont‐Blanc caught fire and TNT in the hull soon exploded. The resulting blast was devastating, destroying many nearby buildings and killing about 2,000 people. It required a massive international relief effort on the part of the Canadian and U.S. governments.

In January of 2012, the captain of the Costa Concordia deviated from the designated route in the Mediterranean Sea and struck rocks. The Italian cruise liner sunk and 32 people died as a result. The sinking of ferries is also common in places like India or the Philippines, where they are often overloaded with people and supplies. On other occasions, captains have lost control of ships in harbors in New York and Canada. One of the most notorious incidents was the 2003 Staten Island Ferry crash. The vessel ran into a concrete pier, killing 11 people and injuring over 70. In some cases, extreme environmental damage may result from shipping accidents. The most notable transportation‐related oil spill in U.S. history occurred on March 24, 1989, in Prince William Sound, Alaska. When the Exxon Valdez ran aground, more than 240,000 barrels of oil were deposited into the seawater, polluting the beach and killing thousands of animals.