911 is the first. The images from that day live on because of the stark violence and helpless tragedies of those who died, and those who mourn them. The 'coverage' was so wide, so uncontrolled... that we all saw things we never wanted to see, and no government could prevent us from seeing.
Bhopal. There was no filmed image of people in the throes of death... butthe later published images of so many faces that died in their sleep, in waking asphyxiation and in anguished panic... can never leave the memories of those who have witnessed them. An estimated 10X the number of people who died on 911, died at Bhopal. They were poisoned by an American company (Union Carbide) that have refused to accept responsibility for failng to provide adequate safety checks to this day. They are protected by international law. No one doubts their guilt.
Hillsborough, Sheffield, England. In 1999, a football match took place between Liverpool and Nottingham Forest in the English FA Cup. One end of the ground (the Leppings Lane Stand) was designated for Liverpool fans. Due to poor crowd control, and confusion amongst the police and emegency services... a 'crush' was created within the standing area, and despite police surveilance. CCTV and television cameras being present, people died of crush injuries and asphyxiation in full view of those who might have rescued them. Live radio broadcasts relayed the tragedy as it unfolded... and recorded tv pictures were shown later.
Investigations 23 years after the event showed that the victims had been wrongly blamed for their own deaths... and that the police and other emergency services had lied about their culpability in terms of falsified evidence, and a corrupt subsequent investigation, including that of the coroner.
The truth about that day is still an untold story.
The shuttle disasters didn't upset me that much, remember that every crew member had not only trained hard to be there, but had been very motivated to be there. That usually translates in to being pushy, assertive, whatever you wish to call it and probably playing a fair bit of cut-throat.
I was much more upset by 9/11, because the victims there were just regular folks of all sorts, and had done nothing to bring it upon themselves.
The Oklahoma City bombing was another case of innocents just doing their jobs and being blown away. What was really indecent there is that Bill Clinton turned it into an attack on him. So unneeded barricades were built in Washington and elsewhere to thwart copy-cat bombers. Like shootings, sufficient media coverage always inspires copy cats, If the make a big deal out of somebody crashing their bicycle into a crown and killing somebody, copy cats have to try it too (6 last year in the U.S.).
The Bath Township, Mi. bombing of 1927 was pretty awful. The media says tha was "The first mad bomber", but it wasn't. The Haymarket bomb in Chicago turns out to have been thrown by a member of the Pinkerton Detective agency, but the press blamed in on "anarchists". Seven police were killed, one by the bomb and six by pistol fire from other police, along with four innocent members of the crowd. Look up "false flag operations".
There have been several disasters called "natural disasters", but really there are natural events that human stupidity turn into disasters.
Titanic
Exxon Valdez spill
Flood of New Orleans after Katrina when the levees broke
BP oil Spill
Car crash that killed Lady Diana the most photographed woman in history (no seriously)
The Hindenburg
the Titanic
The fire at the Coconut grove
The molasses flood of Boston
Lockerbie
Dumfries Council, check up on DG1 swimming pool
I thought Colombia?
This week saw the 27th anniversary of the Challenger disaster where 7 people died just after lift off, including the schoolteacher Christa McAuliffe. I remember the event very clearly - I was 12 at the time. It still shocks me even now.
Can you tell me some other similar events, as I am interested in learning more about disasters, and the causes of such things, whether they are caused by human error, nature, accident, etc.
