http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_zIuzktBctg

On April 26, 1986, the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant in Ukraine (then part of the USSR), experienced a catastrophic nuclear accident in which an explosion and fire released radioactive particles into the atmosphere. The Chernobyl disaster is the worst nuclear power plant accident in history, both in terms of cost and casualties. It was classified as a level 7 event, which is the highest level on the International Nuclear Event Scale. In this video, Alla Yaroshinskaya, a Ukrainian political and journalist, discusses new documents she had discovered about the tragedy. Of the first document, Yaroshinskaya says: “What I found in my archive in this document that 75 million people in the Soviet Union were covered by Chernobyl. So this figure, nobody knows about it. This is just a new figure.” Yaroshinskaya then goes on to talk about discovering a document that says that the children and pregnant women that were removed from the contaminated area around Chernobyl were sent back to the area after only three months.

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Alla Yaroshinskaya on Helping Victims of Chernobyl appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RTy2ykKBxIY

On November 24, 2012, a fire engulfed a garment factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At least 120 people were killed when they were unable to escape the enflamed building. Scott Nova explains how working conditions in Bangladesh made this tragedy both predicable and hopefully preventable.

The post 2012 Dhaka fire
Dhaka Garment Factory Fire: Who is Responsible? appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T1WHB2P7-wM

On November 24, 2012 a fire erupted in the Tazreen Fashion factory in Dhaka, Bangladesh. At least 120 people, mostly factory workers, lost their lives. Mukta Begum survived the blaze, though she was taken to the hospital with injuries.

The post 2012 Dhaka fire
Survivor of 2012 Dhaka Factory Fire Speaks Out appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RHhmtDQOoXc

Dr. Robert Ballard recalls his excitement on the day he found the wreckage of the RMS Titanic in 1985 during a joint French-American expedition led by Jean-Louis Michel of Institut français de recherche pour l’exploitation de la mer (IFREMER) and his crew from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution. Ballard on what the Titanic looked like underwater: “It’s somewhat like going to a haunted house…” He explains how the discovery was a somewhat accidental one for Ballard was originally sent by the U.S. Navy for a separate mission–to map nuclear submarines lost in the Atlantic during the Cold War. Ballard and his crew’s excitement towards their discovery quickly dissipated when they realized they should not “be dancing on someone’s grave.” During his famous career, Ballard has also found other well-known ships such as the German battleship, Bismarck, and the PT-109.

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Robert Ballard on His Roundabout Titanic Discovery appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kkbnFfldsOc

Vietnamese doctors and civilians discuss the ongoing impact of Agent Orange on the country 35 years after the end of the Vietnam War. Although the United States used the herbicide Agent Orange to kill the crops of communist insurgents, the chemical mixture has had devastating effects on the people who were exposed to it. Today, children continue to be born with birth defects, cancer, and other illnesses caused by it.

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The Weapon That Outlived the War appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=91Lq9GPyht0

During the 2010 Copiapó mining accident, relatives speak on hearing the shocking news of the cave-in on August 5, 2010 at the San Jose copper and gold mine in Chile: “I felt rage and pain and frustration. I thought, ‘How can they be trapped like that?’ They are not animals. But here in Chile, they’ve always treated our miners like animals.” The 33 miners, known as “Los 33,” were all rescued after spending 69 days underground.

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Relatives Await Outcome of Chilean Miners appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pq-M7-awFKo

Jeff Hart, Matt Staffel, Doug Reeves and Jorge Herrera are all drillers that helped to rescue the 33 miners trapped underground during 2010′s Copiapó mining incident that took place in Chile. Here, a reporter interviews the four men on various aspects of their rescue mission. They discuss the type of equipment and unique methods they used which allowed them to rescue the men in 33 days, a much shorter time than was originally predicted for the mission. When asked how this experience has changed them, Staffel expressed it as “the most important thing” he’s ever done. The drillers also put emphasis on how much more they now appreciate the time they spend with their loved ones since the miners could not be with their families for such a long period of time.

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The Heroes of the Mining Incident appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hRdy2gx8_Kc

Luis Urzua, the last miner rescued after the 2010 Copiapó Mining incident in Chile, is shown speaking with Chilean President Sebastián Piñera. Piñera welcomes Urzua back and gives a celebratory speech as all 33 miners were safely rescued. The president wraps-up the speech by leading the group of onlookers in a sing-along of the Chilean national anthem.

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The Last Miner Rescued in Chile appeared first on Witnify.

Author: Dennis Takahashi-Kelso

“The auditorium crackled with tension; the audience, including many fishermen—who for years had opposed the shipping of oil by tanker and who felt that their livelihoods were at stake—were angry and frightened. It reminded me that a big oil spill is always a human crisis, not just an environmental disaster.”

Photo: Valdez-Cordova Census Area County, Alaska. Source: Creative Commons.

On March 24, 1989, a few hours after the Exxon Valdez spill began, Alaska Gov. Steve Cowper and I boarded the tanker. At the time I was serving as Alaska’s commissioner of environmental conservation. We flew on a single-engine floatplane from the town of Valdez to a cove near the tanker, hitched a ride on a Coast Guard boat, climbed a long rope ladder dangling from the deck, and found our way up to the bridge. From there, we could see that there was hardly any response activity underway

After several hours, we flew back to Valdez, where we went directly into a community meeting—still wearing our oily boots—to report on what we had seen on the water. Already on the stage of the community hall were Exxon officials, who had arrived from Houston. The auditorium crackled with tension; the audience, including many fishermen—who for years had opposed the shipping of oil by tanker and who felt that their livelihoods were at stake—were angry and frightened. It reminded me that a big oil spill is always a human crisis, not just an environmental disaster.

Although much has been written about the Exxon Valdez oil spill disaster, here are some surprising facts.

Emergency decisions and orders. Prior to the spill, response requirements were weak. The governor had to declare a state of emergency before I could issue an emergency order substantially increasing the spill preparedness requirements for tankers operating from the oil terminal at Valdez—the terminus of the Trans-Alaska Pipeline Spill experts from Norway arrived unexpectedly, and they worked with the state’s experts to hammer out details. We wrote the orders by hand in a makeshift office using a cardboard box as a table; and despite these primitive beginnings, many of the orders’ terms later were adopted as part of Alaska law.

Oil spill response plan abandoned. Exxon was legally in charge of the spill response, limiting other authorities’ ability to act. But Exxon didn’t carry out its preapproved oil spill response plan because the response barge was “out of service and unavailable for use.” As others have pointed out, even if it had responded, there were not enough skimmers and boom available to do an effective job. Exxon’s failed response made it clear that we needed a backup plan. The Oil Pollution Act of 1990 for the first time enabled federal officials to direct the response in a major spill.

Volunteers and state agency staff put together their own cleanup: “The Mosquito Fleet.” Frustrated at the slow response, local residents joined with state agency employees to organize their own response using low-tech equipment, local knowledge and plenty of hard work. They based the operation on a borrowed ferry and secured a vacuum truck—dubbed “Miss Piggy.” Miss Piggy sucked up oil corralled by containment booms deployed from skiffs. The Mosquito Fleet successfully protected Sawmill Bay, 15 miles from the town of Valdez, and it stimulated changes in Exxon’s management of the response.

A small percentage of the oil was actually contained and removed. No more than 14 percent of the spilled oil was actually removed. According to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, “[N]early 11 million gallons of oil spread slowly over open water during three days of flat calm seas. Despite the opportunity to skim the oil before it hit the shorelines, almost none was scooped up. … Dispersants were applied, but were determined to be ineffective because of prevailing conditions.”

Even with 22 years of response preparedness improvements, the U.S. Geological Surveyestimated that only 19 percent of the spilled oil following the BP Deepwater Horizon oil disaster was removed or was dispersed by chemicals.

Spilled oil has lingered for decades: According to the Exxon Valdez Oil Spill Trustee Council, “oil persists in the environment and in places, is nearly as toxic as it was the first few weeks after the spill.”

This persistence was unexpected. Only through research conducted on the ground, long after the cleanup had ended, were scientists able to detect tens of thousands of gallons of persistent, toxic oil. “Beaches in the area are unique because of their composition and structure, and the lack of waves and winter storm action. This, along with the colder temperatures, is partly why oil has persisted and remained toxic here.”

Among the lessons is that the potential for long-term damage remains wherever oil persists after an oil spill, whether it is on the ocean bottom or in marshes, mangroves or other habitats that are not dynamic.

Effective restoration requires science-based planning and long-term science. Twenty-five years after the Exxon Valdez oil disaster, resources and ecosystems continue to recover; and we have a better understanding of spill response needs and challenges. Restoration following the spill demonstrated the importance of three key factors: comprehensive restoration planning, projects based on clear criteria and tested by independent review, and long-term, scientific monitoring to evaluate the effectiveness of restoration. Most of the affected organisms have recovered, some after a long struggle. Today, populations of only two species, pigeon guillemot and Pacific herring, are still listed as “not recovering.” Through scientific monitoring of their status and understanding the factors that may affect their recovery, changes in restoration methods or management tools may be implemented.

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[TEXT] Exxon Valdez Oil Disaster 25 Years Later appeared first on Witnify.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2YY0xw5r1ro

Watch historic footage of the Hindenburg airship as it catches on fire and crashes to the ground as reporter Herbert Morrison’s live commentary describes what is happening to the airship.

The post Hindenburg Disaster
Footage of the Hindenburg Disaster With Emotional Live Commentary appeared first on Witnify.