This document summarizes two major human-induced disasters: the use of Agent Orange in Vietnam and the Chernobyl nuclear accident. Regarding Agent Orange, it describes how the US sprayed over 80 million liters from 1961-1971, contaminating the land, water, and people with dioxin and resulting in 400,000 deaths. The Chernobyl accident in 1986 was caused by a power surge and explosion that destroyed reactor number 4 and released massive radiation across Europe, forcing over 200,000 people to relocate. Both events caused significant environmental damage and negative health impacts that continue to this day, including increased cancer rates and birth defects.

1. HUMAN INDUCED DISASTERS
By: Memoona Rafique

2. Introduction
• Man-made (i.e., anthropogenic, or human-induced) hazards
are defined as those “induced entirely or predominantly by
human activities and choices”.
• This term does not include the occurrence or risk of armed
conflicts and other situations of social instability or tension
which are subject to international humanitarian law and
national legislation.
• Technological hazards are normally considered a subset of
man-made hazards.

3. A selected number of man-made hazards have been
chosen to illustrate the topic. These are
1. Chemical/industrial hazards
2. Nuclear and radiological hazards
3. Transport hazards

4. • Chemical, nuclear and radiological hazards, as well
as transport hazards are defined as those "originate from
technological or industrial conditions, dangerous procedures,
infrastructure failures or specific human activities.
• Examples include industrial pollution, ionizing radiation,
toxic wastes, dam failures, transport accidents, factory
explosions, fires and chemical spills. Technological hazards
also may arise directly as a result of the impacts of a natural
hazard event.
• A technological accident caused by a natural hazard is known
as a Natech.

5. Disasters related to chemical hazard

6. Exposure to Agent Orange, a
case of “ecocide”, Vietnam
• During the Vietnam War, the U.S.
Air Force sprayed more than 80
million liters of Agent Orange
and other herbicides
contaminated with dioxin, a
deadly compound that continues
to poison the land, the rivers, the
ocean and the people.

7. Brief Description
• Agent Orange was a herbicide that U.S. Forces sprayed over the
rural landscape in Vietnam from 1961 to 1971 to defoliate trees and
shrubs and kill food crops that were providing cover and food to
opposition forces.
• The Dioxin is the deadly toxin in Agent Orange. Agent orange was a
50/50 mixture of two herbicides: 2,4-D and 2,4,5-T.
• This operations was called the Operation Ranch Hand. From this
operation, the term ecocide (Zierler, 2011) was born to denounce
the environmental destructions and potential damage.

8. Cont.…………
Start of the conflict: 10/08/1961
Type of population : Rural
Intensity: High (widespread, mass mobilization, violence, arrests,
etc.)
Location of conflict: Tây Nam Bộ ( South-western region)
Affected Population: around 5,000,000 people have being exposed
to the agent orang
Deaths: 400,000

9. ENVIRONMRNTAL IMPACTS
Visible: Air pollution, Biodiversity loss (wildlife, agro-diversity), Food
insecurity (crop damage), Global warming, Loss of landscape/aesthetic
degrsadation, Soil contamination, Deforestation and loss of vegetation
cover, Surface water pollution / Decreasing water (physic-chemical,
biological) quality, Other Environmental impacts
Potential: Genetic contamination/Pollution

10. Before After

11. Health Impacts
• Visible: Exposure to unknown or uncertain complex risks
(radiation, etc…), Mental problems including stress, depression and
suicide, Occupational disease and accidents, Deaths, Other Health
impacts
• Potential: Malnutrition, Health problems related to alcoholism,
prostitution

12. Other Health Impacts
• Chemicals could be associated
with serious health issues such
as muscular dysfunction,
inflammation, birth defects,
nervous system disorders and
even the development of various
cancers.
• Even after 40 years of Vietnam
war babies are still suffering the
effects

13. Socio-economical Impacts
Visible: Violations of human rights, Land dispossession, Loss of
landscape/sense of place, Specific impacts on women, Displacement,
Other socio-economic impacts, Loss of livelihood
Potential: Increase in violence and crime, Loss of traditional
knowledge/practices/cultures
Other socio-economic impacts
• Specific impacts on children. Rural-to-urban migration rates
dramatically increased in South Vietnam

14. Out come/Response of Conflict
• The use of Agent Orange ended in the 1970s, it is no longer in use.
• Environmental improvements, rehabilitation/restoration of area
• Institutional changes
• Court decision (failure for environmental justice)
• Migration/displacement
Alternatives: To assist those who have been affected Vietnamese have
created "peace villages", to give victims medical and psychological help.
Demands:
• That the chemical “hot spots” must be cleaned up in Vietnam.
• Economic compensations for victims in Vietnam.
• To repair ecological damage

15. DISASTER RELATED TO RADIOLOGICAL
HAZARD

16. Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant Accident
• Chernobyl is considered the world’s worst nuclear
disaster to date.
• It occurred on April 26, 1986, when a sudden surge in
power during a reactor systems test resulted in an
explosion and fire that destroyed Unit 4.
• Massive amounts of radiation escaped and spread across
the western Soviet Union and Europe.
• As a result of the disaster, approximately 220,000
people had to be relocated from their homes.

17. How did it happen?
• Unit 4 was to be shut down for routine maintenance. A test was
conducted to determine the plant equipment’s ability to provide sufficient
electrical power to operate the reactor core cooling system and emergency
equipment during the transition period between a loss of main station
electrical power supply and the start-up of the emergency power supply.
• Workers did not implement adequate safety precautions or alert operators
to the electrical test’s risks. This lack of awareness led the operators to
engage in actions that diverged from safety procedures. Consequently, a
sudden power surge resulted in explosions and nearly complete
destruction of the reactor. The fires that broke out in the building
contributed to the extensive radioactive releases.

18. Environmental Effects
• The Chernobyl fallout had a major impact on both agricultural
and natural ecosystems in Belarus, Russia and Ukraine, as
well as in many other European countries.
• Radionuclides (iodine,cesium) were taken up by plants and
later by animals. In some areas, they were subsequently found
in milk, meat, forest food products, freshwater fish and wood.
• Environmental impacts vary according to location and
ecosystem. Forests and fresh water bodies have been among
the most affected ecosystems.
• The impacts on wildlife in the vicinity of the Chernobyl plant
are disputed

19. Health Effects
• The major population groups exposed were clean-up workers,
evacuees and residents of contaminated areas of Belarus,
Russia and Ukraine.
• There has been no clear evidence of any measurable increase
in radiation-induced adverse health effects in other European
countries.
• The immediate and short-term effects resulting from heavy
fallout exposure include radiation sickness and cataracts.
• Late effects are thyroid cancer, especially in children and
adolescents, and leukaemia among exposed workers. The
accident has also had important psychosocial effects.

20. Measures to protect the public
While the Soviets’ initial countermeasures were deemed inadequate,
over the next few years the government implemented extensive
measures to protect the public. These measures included:
• to decontaminating settlements
• removing substantial amounts of food from human consumption
• treating pasture
• providing clean (i.e., no contaminated) fodder to farm animals.
Currently resettlement of areas from which people were relocated is
on-going. In 2011, Chernobyl was officially declared a tourist
attraction.

21. THANK YOU