Credit goes to all the open websites of topic environmental disaster

1. TOPIC :ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
B.Sc 1st year
Submitted by :
V.ROHIT
VEDANT KUMAR CHANDRAKER
VIJAY KUMAR SAHU
VIVEK PRASAD
Guided by : MS. SHAHINA BANO
G.D. RUNGTA COLLEGE OF SCIENCE AND
TECHNOLOGY

2. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
We would like to express our special thanks of gratitude
to our
teacher “MS. SHAHINA BANO” as well as our principal
“Dr. NEEMA BALAN” who gave us the golden
opportunity to do
wonderful project on the topic “ENVIRONMENTAL
DISASTER”
which also helped us in doing a lot of research and we
came to know
about so many new thing. We are really thankful to them.
Secondly we would also like to thank our parents and

3. CERTIFICATE
This is to certify that this project has been
made by V.ROHIT, VEDANT KUMAR CHANDRAKER,
VIJAY KUMAR SAHU, VIVEK PRASAD of B.Sc (Computer
Science).
On the topic “ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER”, under
the guidance of our
EVS teacher “MS. SHAHINA BANO” and have been
completed it
successfully....

4. ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTER
INTRODUCTION
 An environmental disaster or ecological
disaster is a catastrophic event regarding
the environment due to human activity. This
distinguishes it from the concept of a natural
disaster. It is also distinct from intentional acts of
war such as nuclear bombings.
 In this case, the impact of humans' alteration of
the ecosystem has led to widespread and/or long-
lasting consequences. It can include the deaths
of animals (including humans) and plants, or
severe disruption of human life, possibly
requiring migration

5. EFFECTS OF ENVIRONMENTAL
DISASTER
 Environmental disasters can have an effect
on agriculture, biodiversity, the economy and human
health. The causes include pollution, depletion of natural
resources, custom industrial activity or agriculture.
Environmental disasters have a severely detrimental
effect on ecosystems. These catastrophes are often
short in duration, but have a lasting impact on the
animals and plants that live in the affected habitat.
Occasionally, environmental catastrophes change the
physical environment so much that the damage to the
ecosystem is irreversible. In other cases, environmental
damage can be contained and the habitat rehabilitated.
 Though environmental disasters take a terrible toll on
ecosystems, they can bring increased attention to
threatened habitats.

6.  In some cases, the increased oversight by
governmental, intergovernmental, and non-
governmental agencies results in legislation,
which reduces the impact of future environmental
disasters. For example, the Exxon Valdez oil spill
led to much stronger regulation of the oil shipping
industry. Also, additional funds were allocated for
cleaning up oil spills, should they occur again. In
the wake of the 2004 tsunami, the United
Nations began organizing an Indian
Ocean Tsunami warning system to alert citizens
when another gigantic wave is heading to shore.
 Humans have long believed that their scientific
creativity could meet the challenges of natural
forces.

7.  However, as Earth's resources continue to be
eroded by the growing population and its demand
for natural resources, it is ever more likely that
environmental disasters will increase both in
number and intensity. The following section
explores some of the better-known environmental
disasters that have occurred. It delves into the
effects that these catastrophes have taken on the
environment and on the human communities
involved.
 A 2013 report examined the relationship between
disasters and poverty. It concludes that, without
concerted action, there could be up to 325 million
extremely poor people living in the 49 countries
most exposed to the full range of natural hazards

8. TYPES OF ENVIRONMENTAL
DISASTER
 There are a number of various causes of
environmental disasters, these include: agricultural,
biodiversity, industrial, human health, natural and
nuclear disasters.
 Agricultural Disasters
Agricultural disasters are environmental disasters that
occurred as a result of an impact upon the agricultural
industry. An example of such a type of disaster is the
“dust bowl” that occurred in the United States and
Canada between S1934 and 1939.
Dust Bowl, a section of the Great Plains of
the United States that extended over
southeastern Colorado, southwestern Kansas, the
panhandles of Texas and Oklahoma, and
northeastern New Mexico. The term Dust Bowl was

10.  The region’s exposed topsoil, robbed of the anchoring
water-retaining roots of its native grasses, was carried
off by heavy spring winds. “Black blizzards” of
windblown soil blocked out the sun and piled the dirt in
drifts. Occasionally the dust storms swept completely
across the country to the East Coast. Thousands of
families were forced to leave the region at the height
of the Great Depression in the early and mid-1930s.
The wind erosion was gradually halted with federal
aid; windbreaks (also known as shelterbelts)—swaths
of trees planted to protect soil and crops from wind—
were planted, and much of the grassland was
restored. By the early 1940s the area had largely
recovered.
 Biodiversity Disasters
Biodiversity disasters are environmental
disasters that resulted as an after effect of

12. moving in to a new territory and destroying or
severely damaging new species or having a
destructive effect upon the natural environment.
An example of such a type of disaster is the
introduction of rabbits in to Australia or the
presence of Dutch elm disease.
Dutch elm disease (DED) is a devastating wilt
disease of elm (Ulmus) trees. In the last century
there were two extremely destructive pandemics
of DED, which spread across Europe and North
America (Figure 8.10a and b). The first, caused
by Ophiostoma ulmi(Ascomycota), started in
about 1910 and had died down by the 1940s after
killing 10–40% of elms. The second epidemic,
which appeared around the 1940s was caused
by Ophiostoma novo-ulmi, a much more
aggressive pathogen.

13. These two species evolved independently in different
parts of the world. As Ophiostoma novo-ulmi spreads,
it is replacing the Ophiostoma ulmi, and may well have
picked up ‘useful’ genes from the latter during this
process. Ophiostoma novo-ulmiexists as two
subspecies – Eurasian (novo-ulmi) and North
American (americana). There is another DED
pathogen – Ophiostoma himal-ulmi– found in the
Himalaya; this is in a natural balance with the elms and
bark beetles in the area, and does not cause
epidemics.
 Industrial Disasters
Industrial disasters are disasters which occur as the
result of large industries impacting the natural
environment either in a small radius or on a global
span. An example of such a type of industrial disaster
is the leak of methyl isocyanate that occurred in the
Bhopal disaster or the use of CFC’S depleting the

15. Madhya Pradesh state, India. At the time, it was called
the worst industrial accident in history.
On December 3, 1984, about 45 tons of the
dangerous gas methyl isocyanate escaped from an
insecticide plant that was owned by the Indian
subsidiary of the American firm Union Carbide
Corporation. The gas drifted over the densely
populated neighbourhoods around the plant, killing
thousands of people immediately and creating a panic
as tens of thousands of others attempted to flee
Bhopal. The final death toll was estimated to be
between 15,000 and 20,000. Some half a million
survivors suffered respiratory problems, eye irritation
or blindness, and other maladies resulting from
exposure to the toxic gas; many were awarded
compensation of a few hundred dollars. Investigations
later established that substandard operating and
safety procedures at the understaffed plant had led to
the catastrophe. In 1998 the former factory site was
turned over to the state of Madhya Pradesh.

16.  Human Health Disasters
Human health disasters result from the spread of
disease or other cause of mass death among the
human species causing mass destruction and
devastation. An example of such a type of human
health disasters is the introduction of the Bubonic
Plague in to the population or the spread of
smallpox among the new Americas.
 Natural Disasters
Natural disasters are disasters that occur as a
natural process of weather patterns or other
factors affecting Earth. These types of natural
disasters can include: earthquakes, hurricanes,
tornadoes, tsunamis, mudslides, sinkholes and
droughts.

18.  Nuclear Disasters
Nuclear disasters result from nuclear activity such as
a nuclear spill or damage to a nuclear power plant that
result in a radiation leak. Many people lump nuclear
disasters in with industrial disasters; however, due to
the significance of the damage caused by nuclear
disasters and the unique nature of the disasters
themselves they should be separated in to their own
category. An example of nuclear disaster is the recent
Fukushima power plant damage that resulted from the
2011 tsunami.
The Fukushima Dai-Ichi Nuclear Power Station is
located in the towns of Futaba and Ohkuma, 250km
north of Tokyo city in Japan. The first unit of the
nuclear station was commissioned in 1971. In total the
station has six boiling water reactors which together
have a power generation capacity of 4.7GW.
Fukushima Dai-Ichi was the first nuclear plant to be
constructed and operated entirely by Tokyo Electric
Power Company (TEPCO).

19. Units 1, 2, 3 and 4 of the nuclear complex were
damaged in a series of events after the 11 March
2011 earthquake and tsunami that struck the
nation.
The earthquake had cut off the power supply
needed to pump cooling water into the damaged
reactors. A portion of the fuel rods which create
heat through nuclear reaction was exposed due to
the failure of the cooling system caused by the
tsunami. This failure resulted in nuclear explosion in
the reactors.
Efforts to cool the reactor vessels with seawater
and boric acid failed. The evacuation zone around
the nuclear complex was doubled from six to 12
miles and was further extended to 30km radius

20. SOME ENVIEONMENTAL
DISASTER
 CHERNOBYL
The worst nuclear-power-plant disaster in
history. On April 26, 1986, one of reactor
at the Chernobyl power plant in Ukraine
exploded, resulting in a nuclear meltdown
that sent massive amounts of radiation into
atmosphere, reportedly more than the fallout from
Hiroshima and Nagasaki. That radiation drifted westward,
across what was then Soviet Russia, toward Europe. Since
then, thousands of kids have been diagnosed with thyroid
cancer, and an almost 20-mile area around the plant
remains off-limits. Reactor No. 4 has been sealed off in a
large, concrete sarcophagus that is slowly deteriorating.
While the rest of the plant ceased operations in 2000,
almost 4,000 workers still report there for various
assignments.

21.  Kuwaiti Oil Fire
Saddam Hussein knew the war was over.
He could not have Kuwait, so he wasn't
about to let anyone else benefit from its
riches. As the 1991 Persian Gulf War
drew to a close, Hussein sent men to
blow up Kuwaiti oil wells. Approximately 600 were set
ablaze, and the fires — literally towering infernos —
burned for seven months. The Gulf was awash in
poisonous smoke, soot and ash. Black rain fell. Lakes
of oil were created. As NASA wrote, "The sand and
gravel on the land's surface combined with oil and soot
to form a layer of hardened 'tarcrete' over almost 5
percent of the country's area." Scores of livestock and
other animals died from the oily mist, their lungs
blackened by the liquid.

22.  Love Canal
In 1978, Love Canal, located near
Niagara Falls in upstate New York, was
a nice little working-class enclave with
hundreds of houses and a school. It just
happened to sit atop 21,000 tons of toxic industrial
waste that had been buried underground in the
1940s and '50s by a local company. Over the years,
the waste began to bubble up into backyards and
cellars. By 1978, the problem was unavoidable, and
hundreds of families sold their houses to the federal
government and evacuated the area. The disaster
led to the formation in 1980 of the Superfund
program, which helps pay for the cleanup of toxic
sites.

23.  The Exxon Valdez
On the night of March 24, 1989,
Exxon Valdez oil tanker ran aground
Bligh Reef in the pristine waters
of Alaska's Prince William Sound. The
first of what would turn out to be10.8
million gal. of oil began to spew forth
into the cold waters. It would eventually spread almost
500 miles from the original crash site and stain
thousands of miles of coastline. Hundreds of
thousands of birds, fish, seals, otters and other
animals would perish as a result, despite the
mobilization of more than 11,000 people and 1,000
boats as part of the cleanup. While the Exxon
Valdez oil leak is considered to be the largest man-
made environmental disaster in U.S. history, the Gulf
of Mexico spill may eventually surpass it in severity.

24.  Tokaimura Nuclear Plant
On Sept. 30, 1999, Japan's worst
nuclear accident happened in a
facility northeast of Tokyo. Three
workers at a uranium-processing
plant in Tokaimura, then the center
of the Japanese nuclear-power industry,
improperly mixed a uranium solution. A blue flash
heralded trouble. As TIME wrote, "One [worker]
was knocked unconscious. Within minutes, the
others were nauseated, and their hands and
faces were burned bright crimson." Two ended up
dying, and hundreds were exposed to various
levels of radiation.

25.  The Aral Sea
In early April 2010, United Nations Secretary-
General Ban Ki-moon traveled to Central Asia,
where he laid eyes upon a "graveyard of ships" —
rusting fishing trawlers and other vessels stranded
in a desert that stretched for miles in all directions.
It was the Aral Sea ... or what used to be the Aral
Sea. Situated between Uzbekistan and
Kazakhstan, the Aral was once the fourth largest
lake on earth, as big as Ireland. Since the 1960s,
however, when Soviet irrigation projects diverted
several of its source waterways, the Aral has
shrunk 90%. What was once a vibrant, fish-
stocked lake is now a massive desert that
produces salt and sandstorms that kill plant life
and have negative effects on human and animal
health for hundreds of miles around. Scores of