Geoscience Reference
In-Depth Information
Belgium, Germany, Poland and Russia. One of the most deadly mine accident of
the early twentieth century was the Courri
res mine disaster occurred in 1906 (more
than 1,000 victims, some of them children) near the French city of Lens.
8
Besides the accidents directly caused by technical malfunctions or human neg-
ligence in using machinery or during production or extraction processes, should
also be considered those disasters and emergencies caused by environmental events
indirectly in
è
uenced by human actions. During the nineteenth century the poor land
management and the urbanization process of major industrial cities in some cases
multiplied the disruptive effects of
oods and landslides causing damages and
casualties. The severe impact of the great urban and industrial agglomerations on
river basins and the lack of modern hygiene and health legislations were other
factors that determined some environmental emergencies such as the Great Stink of
London occurred during the summer of 1858, when the river Thames became a sort
of huge sewer. This episode posed the question of the urban pollution and of the
management and channeling of drinking water and wastewater to insure safety of
the population and prevent the repeated outbreaks of cholera.
Directly related to the process of industrialization can also be considered phe-
nomena such as air pollution episodes which occurred and had so much popular
echo during nineteenth century. The pollutants emitted from the chimneys as a
result of the different stages of the production process, mixed with the fumes
produced by the coal for civilian uses, repeatedly caused huge emergencies that in
some cases had dramatic consequences on public health. These events were reg-
istered especially in some great cities of the United Kingdom, in some areas of
central and Western Europe, but also in more industrialized areas of the United
States (Chicago, Pittsburgh, St. Louis, Cincinnati). One of the most serious epi-
sodes of nineteenth century was recorded in London between 1879 and 1880.
Despite legislation on emission of smoke (introduced since the 1960s, following the
studies of Robert Angus Smith on the effects of acid rains),
9
a heavy cloak of fog
mixed with smoke remained for months on the city. The visibility was nearly zero:
people that went out of the house to walk, was forced, to not get lost, to proceed
along the walls of buildings. This phenomenon had also serious consequences on
public health. According to some sources the London smoke of 1879
1880
-
increased the mortality rate of 220 %. The peculiar
”
described in some novels by Charles Dickens or painted by Claude Monet, by 1905
was called with a new term: smog (smoke plus fog).
Besides the industrial hazards, the public transport hazards and disasters were
probably the most relevant threats to public safety during nineteenth and early
twentieth century. The development of modern mass transport systems in
“
London Pea Soup Fog
uenced a
relevant debate on the question of the safety of the passengers of the traditional
means of transport (e.g. ships) and of the new ones: from train lines of urban
8
Karmis (
2001
).
9
Smith (
1872
).
