Boston Molasses Disaster

On the morning of December 6, 1917, a tragic disaster prevailed itself in the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia. During WW1, the cause of this tragedy was the collision of two ships; the Norwegian vessel SS Imo and the Belgian steamer, the Mont Blanc which occurred in front of the Halifax port. Halifax played a crucial role during the war because it was deemed the docking station where soldiers and supplies were sent overseas. Essentially, The Halifax Explosion was the largest blast in Canadian history, which in turn caused rigorous turmoil throughout the nation; despite such devastation, alleviation teams came to help seatone Halifax.

The Great Chicago Fire of 1871 was one of the largest disasters in American history. Practically overnight the great city of Chicago was destroyed. Before the fire there was a large drought causing everything to be dry and flammable, then a fire broke out in the O’Leary’s barn and spread throughout the city. Many attempts were made to put out the fire but there were too many errors and problems in the beginning. After the fire many people were left homeless and had to help build their city again (Murphy, 39)

There were only two survivors in the direct path of the surge.The first was 25 year old Louis-Auguste he ran off from his laboring job and didn't work all day.He drank that entire night then turned himself

-A giant explosion in Oklahoma City in 1995, killed 168 lives, was a retribution for a

Introduction. On 06 January 2005, a cargo train carrying a massive amount of chlorine spilled in Graniteville, South Carolina creating panic and indeed chaos to both citizens and emergency managers on how to properly respond to the hazardous materials released from the train wreckage. The people of the small rural town of Graniteville located just outside of Aiken, South Carolina, where caught in their sleep when Freight train 192 traveling approximately 47 mph struck other consignments spilling a dangerous amount of chlorine gas into the atmosphere. As a result of this disaster, 5,400 individuals were evacuated from their homes whiling causing nine death. The magnitude of such disaster was one that would change any town or city forever.

February 15th, 1898, the USS Maine was hit with a mine as it sat in the Havana Harbor. There is large speculation to whether that is the truth or not. Over the years it is still a topic of debate as of what caused the explosion. Some believe that the Spaniards did it, others believe it was a clumsy mistake of misplaced ammo, others believe it was a spontaneous coal fire that caught a box of ammunition on fire. No matter the cause, the loss of the ship and 260 of her crew was devastating to America at the time and led to strong feelings of dislike towards the Spaniards, leading to the Spanish-American war of 1898. The theories behind the explosion of the USS Maine is mainly focused around two ideas, there are many angles that can be viewed for the cause of this disaster and its fueling of the war that will be examined in this paper.

April 19, 1995, 9:02 a.m: a bomb was set off beneath the Alfred P. Murrah Building. The bomb damaged the structural support beams and the Northern support columns. Half of the building collapsed. 168 people died (Cook 5). Eric McKisick, a district manager, recalls the incident, ¨I made an assumption that, hey, everybody is out, everybody is good, and I left at that point. It wasn't ´till much later that I saw the devastation and understood they didn't respond because they couldn't.” Not only were there a large number of casualties, 300 people were also injured, some of whom were physically impaired for the rest of their life. A child who was in the building at the time of the explosion states, “I have no recollection of that day, but I’m reminded everyday about it because of my breathing problems (Brandes, Heide, Schapiro).”

Some disasters are so impactful, that they forever change the course of history. On March 25, 1911, one such event took place. The infamous Triangle Shirtwaist Fire occurred that day, and left one hundred and forty-six people dead in its wake. While many at the time thought the story would soon pass, and with it all the potential bad publicity, the story of the fire spread quickly, and outraged many people. As a result, the Triangle Shirtwaist Fire ended up changing many

On the afternoon of March 25, 1911, a fire broke out in the 10-floor Asch Building, a block east of Manhattan's Washington Square. This is where 500 mostly young immigrant girls were producing shirts for the Triangle Shirtwaist Company. Within minutes, it spread to consume the building's upper three stories. Firemen at the scene were unable to rescue those trapped inside: their ladders weren't tall enough. Exits were locked, and the narrow fire escapes were inadequate. Panicked, many jumped from the windows to their deaths. People on the street watched in horror. The flames were under control in less than a half hour, but 146 people perished, 123 of them women. It was the worst disaster in the city's history.

The large loss inspired the Boston Port Act and many other taxes that harmed the colonists. The Act completely outlawed the use of the Boston Port preventing the entire city from making trades with anyone. The losses were terrible. No ship under any circumstances was allowed to enter on any business whatsoever. The Act also displaced the Boston Government but no sources are very clear on that. it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it it

The Triangle Shirtwaist Fire not only affected the city of New York, but also the rest of the country. It forever changed the way our country would look at safety regulations in factories and buildings. The fire proved to America what can and will happen if we over-look safety regulations and over-crowd buildings. Unfortunately, 146 lives are taken before we fully understand this concept.

At 9:40 pm on February 15 1898 a massive explosion rocked the Maine, soon after there was a second one. The Maine sunk almost immediately. Unfortunately the explosions happened in the front of the ship close to the living quarters of the men. Out of the 354 men on board 266 died from the blasts. Many others were injured terribly.

The day was absolutely beautiful, sunny with decent temps which made for perfect running condition for the runners during the 117th Boston Marathon, and event held on Patriot’s day to commemorate the battle of Lexington and Concord that had started the Revolutionary War in 1775. 23,000 runners lined up at the starting line in the city of Hopkinton, the first wave of runners started at 9:32. At approximately 2:49 p.m. is when 2 bombs went off, at least 5,600 people still racing towards the finish line at the time of the explosion (History).

tea thrown into the harbor. 92,000 pounds of tea dumped at Griffins Warf because of a tea

Nestled in the heart of Halifax lies the legendary harbour. The day is December 6th, 1817. It seems as if it is a normal day in Halifax. The two ships that caused the explosion were the ‘Imo’ and the ‘Mont Blanc’. The Mont Blanc was a French general cargo and a munitions ship owned by Cie Generale Transatlantique. The ship was considered very old yet had a