Desde fusiones nucleares hasta derrames de petróleo devastadores, los errores humanos han provocado eventos catastróficos que conmocionaron al mundo. Únete a nosotros mientras exploramos los desastres más significativos provocados por el hombre que dejaron impactos duraderos en las comunidades, los entornos y la conciencia global.
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00:00It's almost certainly the most severe accident that has ever taken place in the short history of civilian nuclear power.
00:19On the evening of the third day, the smog was at its very worst.
00:31In 1966, the coal industry was still booming in South Wales.
00:36The local colliery had been dumping waste onto Menydd Merthyr, above the village of Aberfan, for some time.
01:01The water that was running, combined with weeks of rain, caused it to turn off and rush towards Aberfan.
01:14In addition to destroying houses, it hit a school, causing the death of five teachers and more than 100 students.
01:20It was finally determined that the National Coal Board was to blame,
01:24although none of the members of its board had to face any repercussions.
01:30The tragedy was, in fact, avoidable, with the blame resting entirely on the National Coal Board.
01:36Surprisingly, they even tried to offer the victims the scarce sum of £50 each.
01:42Centralia fire, Centralia, United States of America.
01:46While some catastrophes caused by man last a few days and are finally resolved,
01:52others have been occurring for decades, without an end in sight.
01:57It all began back in May 1962, when local officials unwittingly sparked an underground fire.
02:19No one knows for sure how the blaze reached the coal,
02:22but it's possible that the pit hadn't been properly lined before the fire.
02:29As the trash burned, the townsfolk didn't realize it had ignited the coal beneath it.
02:35However, they ignored the law and caused the fire on May 27.
02:40It had almost immediate effects, creating sewers and high levels of carbon monoxide,
02:45which caused serious health problems.
02:48In 1992, the state of Pennsylvania expropriated all the town's real estate.
03:06However, you can still visit the place today and see the steam coming out of a fire
03:12that hasn't been extinguished in 60 years.
03:15Minamata disease, Minamata, Japan.
03:18This looks like something out of a nightmare.
03:21For decades, the Chizo corporation in Minamata, Japan,
03:24poured treated water with heavy metals such as mercury and lead into the local waterways.
03:46It also had a direct impact on who ate them, including humans.
03:51It wasn't until a girl got sick in 1956 that people realized
03:55that they had been eating contaminated food.
04:07The symptoms of the girl, who went from difficulty speaking to convulsions,
04:12began to appear in other people.
04:15This neurological disorder, which was finally called Minamata disease,
04:19affected thousands of people, and in 2001, almost 2,500 people were officially diagnosed.
04:26Almost a decade after the discovery in Minamata,
04:29a similar outbreak occurred in Niigata, another Japanese region,
04:32due to the contamination of an electric company.
04:42Oil spill in the Gulf War, Persian Gulf.
04:46The war has caused some truly brutal acts throughout history,
04:50and this is one of the most insensitive.
05:04During the Gulf War of 1991, things intensified to the point
05:08where no one saw it coming.
05:11In an attempt to prevent the troops of the United States from invading the country,
05:15Saddam Hussein allegedly ordered a massive and continuous oil spill in the Persian Gulf.
05:21It lasted a week, with thousands of tons poured daily.
05:31It covered the feathers of the sea birds,
05:35which caused the death of approximately 30,000 of them.
05:39A 1993 study that claimed that the environmental impact in the long term would be insignificant
05:45has provoked continuous debates since then.
05:48Considered one of the first real acts of eco-terrorism,
05:51this is still one of the biggest spills in the history of humanity.
06:04The oil could clog desalination plants that supply most of the region's drinking water.
06:22Libby got news of one of the worst environmental bombshells in Northwest history,
06:26widespread asbestos contamination from years of vermiculite extraction at the W.R. Grace mine.
06:34Asbestos are small fibers that cause swelling in the lungs.
06:38The company, W.R. Grace and Company, supposedly knew about it,
06:43and still sent workers to the mines every day.
06:53As a result, both workers and residents were exposed,
06:57which caused the death of almost 10% of the population.
07:01In 2009, the government intervened to provide more than $100 million in aid and process the company.
07:07However, they were absolved shortly after.
07:15Oil spill in the Exxon Valdez, Prince William Sound, Alaska.
07:19Although the accidents are involuntary, not all are defendable.
07:23In 1989, the oil tycoon Exxon Valdez transported oil from Alaska when the unimaginable happened.
07:40During the shipping process, only one officer remained on the bridge,
07:43a direct violation of the company's policy.
07:46He could not change course and came into direct contact with a nearby reservoir.
07:50Almost 6 million gallons of oil spilled in the first hours.
08:10The cleaning itself was disastrous, as it caused employees and volunteers to get sick.
08:15The environmental impact was even greater, with hundreds of thousands of dead animals.
08:19The blame fell on the captain of the oil company, who was supposedly drunk at the time,
08:24and was finally convicted of a minor crime.
08:35The Great Fog of London, London, England.
08:38In the 1950s, many cities had fully adopted industrialization,
08:44and London was no exception.
08:49Fog laid a blanket over the London area.
08:52The cold climate of the time caused more coal to be burned,
08:55and residents depended on a lower quality version with a high content of sulfur dioxide.
09:01In 1952, an anticyclone and the lack of wind caused the city's pollutants to be trapped in the air,
09:09which severely reduced visibility and triggered serious respiratory problems.
09:15Quite a number of people had bronchitis because of industrial pollution exposure and because they smoked.
09:23When they breathed polluted air, this became very hard for them.
09:30The fog remained for four days before a current of air finally expelled it from the city.
09:36Initially, it was reported that around 4,000 people died,
09:40but modern estimates place the number of deaths at approximately 12,000.
09:46This disaster was so serious that it prompted the British Parliament to pass the 1956 Clean Air Law.
10:06The Bhopal Disaster, Bhopal, India.
10:09Some chemical products that were created to be useful can have devastating effects on our health.
10:26In 1984, citizens of Bhopal learned it firsthand when several avoidable factors,
10:32such as the malfunction of security equipment and obstructed pipes,
10:36caused one of the worst chemical disasters in history.
10:39Union Carbide India Ltd., an American property factory,
10:44accidentally spilled toxic methyl isocyanate into the air and surrounding neighborhoods.
11:01Most of the residents were asleep at the time,
11:04which did not give them a chance to evacuate.
11:07More than 500,000 people were affected and almost a third were children.
11:12The number of deaths skyrocketed,
11:14and the survivors suffered physical, neurological and emotional scars.
11:19Finally, the company was held responsible
11:22and was ordered to pay $470 million to those affected in 1989.
11:28Oil spill in deep waters, Gulf of Mexico.
11:32Although it may be the most recent oil spill on this list, it is by far one of the worst.
11:48It was assumed that the BP Deepwater Horizon oil tank
11:53had a mechanism to prevent methane gas from passing through the pipes,
11:57but those valves failed.
11:59This caused the gas to rise to the drilling platform,
12:02which triggered a massive explosion that killed 11 workers.
12:06And this was just the beginning.
12:14It is estimated that 210 million gallons of oil were spilled,
12:18destroying entire ecosystems in the process.
12:21The spill had disastrous effects on local marine life,
12:24and some species mutated to have huge wounds and be born without eyes.
12:35In 2011, BP was officially blamed,
12:38but despite several criminal charges,
12:40none of those involved received prison sentences.
12:43Hey, we haven't reached the end yet, but almost.
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12:51Very well, let's go to the end.
12:53The Chernobyl disaster, Pripyat, Ukraine.
12:56When most people think of tragedies that could have been avoided easily,
13:01this usually comes to mind, and the reason is obvious.
13:16In April 1986,
13:18the operators of the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Ukraine
13:22tried an experiment to cool the reactor
13:25and check its performance during an emergency.
13:28A combination of an accidental voltage drop
13:30and a design flaw in the machine
13:32led to an unexpected voltage rise.
13:42This caused a giant fusion that released radiation into the air.
13:46Hours passed and dozens of people became ill
13:49before evacuation was ordered.
13:51The environmental impact was immense.
13:54Several trees died and several animal species
13:57lost their ability to reproduce.
13:59Cleaning is expected to last until 2065,
14:02which means that by then,
14:04the effects could be even worse.
14:17The idea? Shield the entire reactor under a concrete dome.
14:21What disaster, perpetrated by humans,
14:24do you think will have the greatest impact in the long term?
14:26Tell us in the comments
14:28and don't miss these other videos of WatchMojo Español.