Exxon Valdez Oil Spill 1989 Introduction The Exxon Valdez was a supertanker that transported oil for Exxon Mobil from Prince William Sound, Alaska, to California. On March 24, 1989, the tanker collided with a reef, leading to a massive oil spill that would eventually pollute nearly 1,990 km2 of shoreline after spilling 38 million litres into the sea. Estimates of the crude oil lost by the Exxon Valdez are imprecise, but around 30–40% evaporated, 10–25% was recovered, and the rest remains in the marine environment. There are many factors that contributed to the scale of the disaster, almost all of which are Exxon’s fault. The ships captain had a drinking problem and on the night of the incident he was unfit to be in charge of the tanker and so left an unqualified crewmember in control.
The Mont Blanc had been carrying benzol on its deck which was set on fire by the sparks from the collision. After desperate attempts to put out the fire, the crew jumped over board and tried to swim as far as possible. The benzol had started to leaked through the decks into the ships hold which contained over 2 700 tons of explosives. At 9:04am the fire reached the ships hold and a massive explosion occurred. The Mont Blanc was launched a mile in the air and over 2.5 square kilometres of the surround area were levelled and windows were shattered as far as Truro, Nova Scotia which is over 100 kilometres away.
DEVASTATING WALKER RIVER FLOOD! In the last couple of days California and Nevada have suffered the worst floods in living memory! Normally the river flows at 650 cubic feet per second, however in the past week the river flowed more than twice that and at a devastating rate that destroyed everything in its path, including lives of two people. The flood also inundated 63,000 acres of land and cost millions in damage and additional costs due to disruptions in travel and business. The Walker River begins at a confluence where the tributaries of the West and the East Walker Rivers meet.
Written by Ash Mathew. The BP oil spill, or also referred to as the BP oil disaster, is a historical oil spill that occurred in the Gulf of Mexico on April 20th 2010. An oilrig, Deepwater Horizon, owned by Transocean and leased out to BP had burst into flames because of a gas. The explosion killed 11 men on the rig and severely injured several more. Month of April Deepwater Horizon was a 9-year old drilling unit that was owned by Transocean, a drilling contractor.
Why was the Haitian earthquake so deadly? On January 12th 2010 at 16:53 local time (21:53 GMT) an earthquake hit the Caribbean island of Haiti. It was a colossal 7.0 on the Richter scale and lasted around 35 seconds, but inflicted a cataclysm which would take years to correct. It struck south of the capital Port-au-Prince destroying the presidential palace, UN HQ, as well as houses, schools and public buildings. The epicentre was a town named Leogane; about 19km (12 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, thousands were left homeless and up to 80-90% of buildings in Leogane were destroyed.
Rogue Waves For centuries, mariners have spread stories about giant sudden waves which appeared out of nowhere without warning which were strong enough to capsize even the mightiest and largest ships. Several vessels—such as the S.S. Waratah, the M.S. Munchen, and the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald—were all rumored to have been sunk by rogue waves (Walsh par. 3). Further, rogue waves have been blamed for ripping the bow off of a Norwegian freighter near the tip of South Africa in 1974, almost capsizing the Queen Elizabeth in 1942 off the coast of Greenland, striking the Queen Elizabeth H in 1995, and for swamping military aircraft carriers and tearing tankers in half (McDonald A21).
Hurricane Sandy destroyed millions of homes, brought a bunch of sand onto the roads, and killed 209 people. Sandy caused $52.4 billion in damages. Another hurricane that has hit the US is Hurricane Katrina. Hurricane Katrina caused subsequent floods and caused $81 billion in damaged. Katrina also killed at least 1,833 people in the time that it took to cross most of eastern North America.
A shining example of this type of response can be seen in the BP Oil Spill. This manmade disaster affected thousands of individuals and businesses in the Gulf Coast region as well as creating a cascade affect in ecological, healthcare and economical stability throughout the United States. Like ripples created in a pond when a tiny pebble is thrown in the after affects; experienced by the individual as well as the communities; generated from the original event are similar though they may be experienced at lesser degrees nationwide. The BP Oil Spill news reads like a Steven Segal movie script. It begins on a beautiful spring day (April 20th) with a failed preventer and ends with mass destruction of the surrounding environment and a way of life for those live in the Gulf area.
MGT30004 Sustainable Organization Change Project Marcus Richardson 100011109 Executive summary On the evening of April 20, 2010, a well control event allowed hydrocarbons to escape from the Macondo well onto Transocean’s Deepwater Horizon, resulting in explosions and fire on the rig (BP, Sep 8, 2010) On this day eleven people lost their lives while an addional 17 were injured. The oilrig continued to burn for 36 hours when eventually the rig sank to the bottom of the ocean. Oil continued to flow from the well for 87 days after the explosion, causing a enormous amount of damage. BP Exploration & Production Inc. was the lease operator of Mississippi Canyon Block 252, which contains the Macondo well. BP formed an investigation team that was charged with gathering the facts surrounding the accident, analyzing available information to identify possible causes and making recommendations to enable prevention of similar accidents in the future (BP, Sep 8, 2010).
Iceland is warmed by the Gulf Stream. The Laki eruption wasn’t really a single event, but rather 8 months’ worth of lava flows and explosions that ejected an astounding 14.7 km cubed of ballistic lava that came out of 140 vents. The eruption was caused by small earthquakes that were hardly detected by the seismometers the eruption caused a gigantic amount of smog and poisonous gasses to envelope Iceland in a matter of days which caused at least 10,000-15,000 deaths in Iceland alone. Consequences in Iceland Affects of a volcanic eruption An estimated 20–25% of the population died in the famine and fluoride poisoning after the fissure eruptions ceased. Around 80% of sheep, 50% of cattle and 50% of horses died because of