10 Man Made Disasters That Shocked The World 

The Korean mall owner not only had an extra floor added on to support columns that couldn't hold the weight.....he also had three extremely large and heavy air conditioning units put on the roof. One of the units was moved and ran over the top of a support column causing it too crack. He was also so greedy when signs of danger appeared early and allowed for evacuation of everybody he refused. His reason? It was busy time at the mall and it might cause a reduction in sales. Even his own daughter in law,who worked at the mall, was not told of the danger and died.

About the Ohio train derailment, my grandma told me that a family friend of ours tried to warn Norfolk Southern that a disaster was coming if they didn’t do anything about it. They kept on ignoring him and forced him to quit or retire from the company on the fear that he would expose the company’s corruption. Companies should listen to their employees over health and safety concerns.

My friend works in a sugar factory here in my town. She's one of the cleaners who vacuum away that extra sugar dust. They do have a ventilation system to remove it mechanically, but they wanna be extra sure to keep the dust minimum because they actually had a small explosion/fire back in 2002.

He didn't include Chernobyl itself, because he knew it would outdo them by a large margin. All these are absolutely horrifying, but they can't even come close to the absolute mayhem of Chernobyl. The only thing that would come close if not outshine it was Bhopal.

You guys should’ve put the train incident in Lac Mégantic in Canada in the province of Québec. It destroyed an entire downtown and killed so many people.

Underworld outdid themselves with this one. The fact-filled, fast-paced disaster synopses were done with expertise, excellent visual accompaniment, and as always, the best narration out there. The mind-boggling consequences of human negligence grips hard on our consciousnesses.

My mom worked as a nurse at one of the hospitals in Savannah when the sugar factory combusted. She was called in and I went with her in a pair of her scrubs. I only moved patients but the entire er smelled like a bbq. It took me a long time to be able to eat sweet bbq again. It was terrible. Sugar burns are unique and those men suffered greatly. We were in Conyers when the chlorine factory experienced the same thing a few years before the sugar factory. The entire town smelled like a pool. They had to repaint a lot of things to fix the damage. She was called in for that one too but I was younger and didn't go with her that time. Terrible memories.

3:08 "when you mess with the world oil supply the United States will likely get involved." That gave me a good laugh.

im surprised the Beirut explosion didnt make it, I mean that practically reformed the entire harbour among everything else

In Kuwait, to this day, we are still suffering from the effects of that crazy war. Respiratory diseases, skin diseases, and cancer have increased

Killed over 500 and injured over 900 and only got 10 years?!? That's wild

The same risk you have with sugar dust exist in every bakery with flour. Flour explosions are a common risk.

If a bearing is creating sparks, it hasn't seen proper maintenance for a long time. As an industrial maintenance mechanic, I would know. Wow!

Bruh, imagine your house burns down, and you decided to make The Sims.

The first thing about that UK explosion is that it’s that a similar thing happened here in Puerto Rico. In CAPECO, there was an explosion, the cause was that one of the tanks overflow and formed a vapor cloud, which ignited a fire and then a massive explosion rocked the area. This happened back in Oct 23rd 2009, and I still remember it.

No mention of Bhopal, or the 2020 Beirut explosion?

It’s very very sad that all of these are human made with a sprinkling of greed. It really doesn’t matter how much money you have your still going to end up dead, but these humans don’t care what other life form they take out. SHAMEFUL 😢

I remember watching that Oakland firestorm from a second story balcony. We could see hot water heaters exploding and cars trying to get down the hillsides. There were so many firetrucks, but the entire hillside and all the houses were in flames. The fire moved very quickly. It was a bit frightening and quite sad to watch.

Lemme tell y'all, my husband, our friends, and I went to an escape room in East Palestine, OH, in December 2022. When we got there in the evening, there was a long train ZOOMING through the downtown rail line through the town. It had to be going at least 90 mph, if not over 100. We were saying to ourselves that it's only a matter of time that it would happen. Oh, and apparently there is a book that was written before the disaster that almost predicted the whole incident as well.

Was the 2020 Beirut explosion not considered man-made?

All of these fires have me gasping for air. I truly hope humanity learns and does better for the Planet and itself. 😕

Another great video that really held my interest from start to finish. And the time really went fast.

Love your channel, watch it almost daily.

Corporate greed is allowed by corrupt politicians 😡

I learned a lot about the Sampoong Department Store Collapse, Chernobyl, and Fukushima on Seconds from Disaster. I tell ya...when it was the Sampoong Department Store collapse, I never yelled at the TV so much because of all the damn negligence. In the episode, the building's manager and the architect had begged the building's owner to close down the department store because there was a lot of loud noise coming from the fifth floor (like banging) because there had been a huge crack surrounding one of the pillars in the restaurant...and that's why they had closed the fifth floor that day. They also turned off the AC, which was a hot day btw and a lot of employees were having trouble dealing with the heat inside. However, the building's owner didn't want to because money was apparently more important than people's lives as he wanted people to continue to shop. With Chernobyl, I felt that was better preventable than Fukushima imo. The reason why is that the disaster of Chernobyl happened during a safety test of all damn things. They wanted to know if the plant's generators can kick on and start generating power if there was something that caused a power outage (like what happened with Fukushima when the initial earthquake happened before the tsunami hit). They did this test at night rather than during the day because less people use energy at night than during the day. Problem is the night crew was a junior crew and no one from the senior crew was there when this happened. Because there was no communication between the head operator in the control room and the person controlling the water (I think it was the one controlling the water), that's when things got real. Unfortunately, imo though, I felt like the question they were trying to answer during the safety test at Chernobyl was answered when Fukushima happened. Yes, the tsunami made things worse at Fukushima...but if I remember correctly, they were struggling to stabilize the plant before the tsunami hit.

The Oregon 'Almeda' wild fire of 8 Sep 2022 belongs here. It destroyed 3,000 acres and 2,600 homes in the towns of Ashland, Talent, and Phoenix. A small grass fire was driven through the towns by freak high winds; homes exploded and were totally consumed in minutes. The destruction was devastating, and the most significant loss was though low income neighborhoods. The towns pulled together, and reconstruction has been given top priority. However, loss of trees and nature habitat was horrible, and those areas are slow to recover. Miles of dead, burnt trees still stand in a long stretch between Ashland and Phoenix.

@0:55 "fifty BILLION gallons"? I checked: The Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal had a capacity of about 60 million Imperial gallons (273 million liters) of fuel. MILLION, not BILLION.

The catastrophic Fireworks( 2000) accident in Enschede ( Netherlands) was one of the worst man made accidents in Europe after WW2.

I am sure that most of those responsible for these disasters are not in jail, complements of their politicians...........etc ?

If the Fukashema nuclear plant had been built on the west coast of Japan, it would still be running today!

This episode is very sad & unbelievable but very well resached & told to marks to all the team involved, just go's to show there's far to many company's that are very Greedy and only think of there profits

I thought around 90% of this was good however I need to point out that the US DoT has publicly stated the NS train derailment in East Palestine OH would have happened regardless of whether the tanker cars had the ECB’s installed or not, so to attempt to implicate the railroad for not installing these breaks is incorrect at this time. More details uncovered in time will eventually reveal the true nature of what caused the derailment.

Oh WOW!!!! Didnt expect my little area to be in this video much less be #2. Part of Amerens large expenses in this was cleaning all the large boulders out that washed into Johnsons shut ins state park. I think the park was closed for a couple of years because of this as well. I remember when they had the new turbines shipped from across the country. The were so large they required a special rig that had a driver in front and back. Also they had to shut highways down because they was so wide. Ameren offered tours of the new dam for a few years after it reopened. It was an amazing stie to see from the top of the new dam the path the water took. The new dam itself is impressive.

Paradise California should of been on here. Thank you PG&E.

The Australian bushfires are some of the worst in the world, and sadly many are started by people not caring about the real cost of their "fun".

Wow, this give a whole new creepy meaning to the Oakland Fire scenario from Sim City.

I was watching the San Francisco 49ers vs. the Detroit Lions at Candlestick Park on TV on a sweltering hot Sunday afternoon - at the same time when the Oakland Hills fire happened, I had noticed that the broadcast feed from KPIX-5 was breaking up throughout the first half, and then I saw what happened. If it wasn’t hot enough as it was, it’s unbearably hot 🥵

I love how funny and how cool underworld is I subscribed on all the electronics I could find.

...and no mention of the Bhopal disaster in India. For shame!

I remember watching the Oakland firestorm on the TV in our office, across the bay in Santa Clara. As the stories came out, it was appalling how complacent the "officials" were to this danger... and the people who purchased these homes.

The bunsfield one woke up my whole street not knowing what happened

Passing away shortly after being released from prison is the best karmic FU ever.

Love the footage of the doves flying into the Olympic torch

The east Palestine one is crazy. My cousin got evacuated and I live like an hour north and got headaches from the toxic smoke

Was part of desert storm……sky was totally black from these oil fires!!

I was expecting the Bhopal Gas Tragedy

My parents heard the Buncefield explosion in Berkshire. It's something that has few videos or documentaries about, so a standalone video would be nice!

Pepcon explosion was crazy

Poor Mother Earth, she provides all of mankind with everything it needs to support oneself, yet, mankind continuously insists upon destroying her ecosystem. To quote an old margarine commercial, "It's not nice to fool with Mother Nature".

I remember October 20, 1991 very well. The Oakland Hills Fire was an unforgettable disaster; and we had just experienced the Loma Prieta earthquake just 2 years and 3 days earlier. We were convinced that we would have another catastrophe on October 23, 1993. For the record, I also remember working at Maxis Software in 1997.

That’s 60 million gallons not billion 0:57

Top Ten biggest bushfires is a must

Please give measures in metric too, that's what most countries use. Feet and gallons mean very little for us.

I used to drive past Buncefield and it still smelt awful weeks after.

...and Norfolk Southern has had THREE other derailments since February 2023, and it’s only the end of March 2023.

r.e. England explosion~ an American top fuel dragster can register Richter 2.0+ off the starting line...😎

Thansk for calling out Norfolk.

I vividly remember this disaster taking place in Sissonville in WV. In 2012, a large natural gas pipeline exploded and sent a giant ball of fire over hundreds of feet. The inferno scorched homes, power lines, sent fiery debris in the air setting homes ablaze and destroyed a part of I-77. The fire was so hot, IT MELTED THE ROAD. All you could see was singed brick below the road. It was caused by a corroded pipe that wasn't inspected in over 25 years. The scars left from the explosion is hard to notice now but it can still be seen today. The neighborhood was evacuated and the explosion was covered extensively by various news outlets. It was a horrific experience which led to more strict inspection measures to be implemented to prevent such a disaster again, but sadly. History repeated itself in Kentucky back in 2022 when another neglected pipeline in central Kentucky exploded, taking one life, injuring others and closing off a major highway.

The Buncefield fire (explosion) happened when me & my missus were living in St. Albans, about 10 miles away. We woke up when a strange wind which went on and on bothered us, we didn't have a clue what was going on, but we were renting a house which was quite old and sometimes the wind rattled the windows. It was winter & it was early in the morning & our bedroom faced east,. After a while, the noise went away & we went back to bed. When we got up & went about our Sunday morning routine we were amazed to see "black rain" cinders falling down like snow, big ones & looking up to the sky one side (north) was clear wintry sunshine, and the south was jet black clouds. It was quite something. I worked at a university a few miles east in Hatfield, I could see the flames, seriously, flames and horrible black smoke rising, this was over 15 miles from the incident. Quite a big deal at the time.

The only one of these I don't agree with (while it was a disaster, the comments about how there were improper safety measures aren't accurate) is the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. The entire coastline sank by nearly 1 meter after the earthquake, which allowed the Tsunami to overtake the Sea Wall that protected it. The reactor complex was guarded by a protective seawall designed for a maximum wave height of 5.5m (18 feet). The Tsunami in that area was recorded with a maximum wave height of almost 40 meters (130 feet) in the Iwate Prefecture. No amount of planning could have prevented something of this magnitude.

NUMBER 10: FOR A FIRE TO OCCUR, YOU NEED SIMULTANEOUSLY THREE INGREDIENTS, OXYGEN, FUEL, AND A SPARK OR A SOURCE OF IGNITION, THE FIRST TWO WERE PRESENT BUT HOW ABOUT THE THIRD ONE?

What about the beirut explosion, bigger than any of these!

Number 1 should have been the Indian Bhopal Chemical Disaster in 1984. Over 3,000 people died at a Union Carbide pesticide plant. It is widely recognised as the most toxic disaster in human history.

Just for future reference, the oil company "Total" is a french one. And it's pronounced "Tow taal", like it's two different words.

You forgot the explosion in Lebanon that happened a few years ago.

Sugar plants are no joke! There is an Amalgamated Sugar plant near me that nearly exploded. There was a fire, and a few people got pretty hurt, but fortunately, nothing like what happened in the clip happened here.

Those Kuwaiti oilwells sure were a blast to put out! CUDD Pressure Control - good times

God bless the firefighters

Well, just saw a Norfolk Southern train derailed in New Castle, PA, about 21mi from East Palestine, OH. No hazardous materials were involved.

Not even 24h after this video, we have a new disaster ❗ Pennsylvania chocolate factory explosion ❗

Wow

The Sanpoon department store is a tragic note for all retail there is a movie you can watch here on RU-vid

No Mention of the WW1 Halifax Harbour Explosion?! The Damage of that Explosion was More Massive than about Half of what you mention.

I never knew sugar was flammable or combustible to such a degree

Hold up cutty, save some room on your list, humankind hasn't seen anything yet, unfortunately!!!🙏🤔😵‍💫

No.1 Clip Who Knew That Out Of Tragedy "The Sims" Was Born, Taking The Bad And Something Good Came Out Of It.

Your description of Sampoong is incomplete / inaccurate. The 5th floor was planned to have an ice skating rink, but instead was converted to have several restaurants put in. All that extra unplanned weight on the building pushed the support columns to their limit. What started the slow collapse of the building was the action of sliding several large air conditioning units placed on the roof of the building to a different location. when they slid them across the roof, one of the support columns took a direct hit, and over the course of several weeks the column slowly cracked until it lost all structural integrity.

0:57 It was around 60 million gallons, not 60 billion gallons of feul, which is only 0.1% of what you said.

Makes you wonder where the global wormer worming is coming from

60 billion gallons of fuel? Come on man, fact check yourself!

Norfolk Southern's New motto: Norfolk You

Bophal India really should have made the list

What OKC Murrah building bombing. That was man made & quite an explosion

I’d never heard of the first one, and I’m from the UK

Wait….the brakes haven’t been updated since the CIVIL WAR??!!

Where's the biggest explosion ever; the 2020 Beirut explosion? Hard to find any scarier / crazier / wilder videos than those from that disaster, outside of the incomprehensible videos from the Indian Ocean tsunami in '04 that took a quarter million lives.

On the railroad train wreck the switches have sensors on them to monitor the brakes just for that reason but the sensors failed and it was over heated brakes

Please add time stamps!

0:50 Correction: Holland is just a region. Use "The Netherlands" to speak about the country.

I GOT TO WIRE THE EQUIPMEMT HONEYWELL USED TO REPLACE ALL THE COMPUTERS AFTER THIS HAPPENED TO THE OIL WELLS. THEY OPENED AN OLD BUILDING AND SET UP AN EMERGENCY ASSEMBLY LINE. I WAS IN CHARGE OF THE CREW DOING THE WIRING. WE HAD TO MOVE FAST TO KEEP UP WITH THEM SETTING THE LINES UP. I WAS A LOT OF FUN.

Thresher also had a ballast problem. Blowing the ballast tanks requires no power, and should creare enough buoyamcy to bring the boat up. But tests on sister ships to Thresher showed the blast of air g9t ecxtremely cold, forming ice on filters on the air pipes inside the ballast tanks as humidity in the compressed air froze, quickly plugging the filters with 8ce, and doo ing the ship and crew, had this worked the power loss would like not have resulted in deaths 9r loss of the sub. The Navy launched the SUB SAFE program as a result, a very exacting series of tests and requirements.

I live a hundred miles away from that explosion in the UK, but I remember no bang.

Are you going to cover the Flixborough disaster of 1974?

Notice how they made it a point to point out the official report on the sugar factory incident

Love watching anything about disasters until they mention a town 20 miles from my house. East Palestine is scary and it will be a long time before we know just how much damage was really done and just how far it spread.

It bugs me how everyone always says there were 6 nuclear reactors in fukushima, 2 were in the building process and did not have fuel So... there was 4!!!

Some seriously crazy stuff, but not sure how these were rated because #1&2 seem to be from the wrong list or something. The Ohio train wreck & the Japanese Tsunami disaster much more catastrophic. However, the worst disaster ever IMO, isn't even on the list; the Beirut Explosion.

5:58 no trumpets?

The chemical in East Palestine Ohio. Was POLYVINYL CHLORIDE. Far more carcinogenic than vinyl chloride.

Man made that shocked the world " not really "