The Unanticipated Train Disaster Of Graniteville And Explore How The Field Of Emergency Management

On January 15, 1919, one of the most tragic and strange disasters occurred in Boston, Massachusetts. It was around forty degrees that day, when two days previously it had been only two degrees. At 12:30 PM 2,300,000 gallons of molasses spilled into the streets near Keany Square after the tank holding it exploded, most think due to a combination of poor design and the drastic temperature flux. The aftermath was tragic, with twenty one deaths and one hundred and fifty injured. The company who owned the tank was quick to blame others, but soon it was found that the tank was poorly constructed, and if more time had been taken, the Boston Molasses Disaster would never have happened.

This tragic fire demonstrated how the fire inspections and precautions were noticeably lacking safety for these workers even though “a little more than five months before the tragedy Firemen Edward F. O’Conner made a routine inspection and said the Asch Building was ‘good’ and the building was ‘fireproof’”(28). The fire finally died down with over one hundred dead bodies piled along the streets. Sunday morning “thousands of people began to form into a slowly moving parade around the city blocks”(89). The people were walking in honor of these workers and would go around trying to identify the bodies and confiscate any items the bodies my have possessed for reminiscences. On the other hand, the departments felt immediate quilt for not stepping in to fix the Asch building before, because the departments knew of the horrible safety and health precautions the Asch building had but nobody emphasized the problems. “But who was to blame?” (113). Chief Croker was quick to blame

It has been called the worst train disaster in U.S. history. The wreckage of the Sunset Limited on September 22, 1993 took 47 lives. There are many circumstances surrounding this wreck that affect the many stakeholders involved.

With a total passenger load of about 600 people, there was a great deal of confusion after the collision. Witnesses and neighbors ran to the smoking train, and helped remove injured and dazed passengers, even before the first emergency vehicles could arrive at the rural location.

The morning started out with a routine tour of duty, hauling 62 freight cars and a caboose. Little did the crew know that down the mainline another event was unfolding. A track gang and a foreman traveled by motorcar to pick up some switch ties. When the group arrived at Red Desert, they were approached by a sheep herder, who needed assistance getting his sheep across the tracks. The foreman assigned two men to flag each direction of track. He also ordered that switch of each side of the passing track to be opened. (That means that the switch is in a middle position, not thrown to either side, which will always lead to derailment.) This would cause the signals to indicate a stop signal. As one of the men opened up the siding switch, he saw 4005 roaring down the track, the workman tried to close the switch before the engine could pass… it was too late. The engineer applied the emergency brake, however, at the time 4005 was going about 50 MPH (80 KPH). The engine, tender, and first 18 cars turned on its’ side, The massive and near full tender smashed into the cab of 4005, destroying it completely. Although the engineer and brakeman were killed instantly, the front brakeman survived the wreck and gave an account as to what happened. “The switch, they threw it right in front of us, they didn’t give us a chance. I felt the engine rock. I don’t know how many times it rocked. The next thing I knew I felt the steam

This external stakeholder is critical to the area is this Commission is the regulatory body for the development, storage and transportation of all hazardous chemicals throughout Texas. More specifically, the RRC has specific oversight over the oil and gas industry. How this external stakeholder sees its importance to a regionalized organization such as the HSEM, is the potential risk regarding the transmission of hazardous materials such as oil and gas. The Dallas/Fort Worth Metroplex is home to several refineries, oil storage farms, petrochemical plants, and has a large industrial complex which utilizes hazardous materials. This point is raised with the intent to encourage participation by a state regulatory body all the while this agency is represented in Texas’s state emergency management plan. Simply stated if the with the footprint of such a significant industry, the regulatory body needs to be an active stakeholder in the planning process. This point is reinforced via United States Senate Bill 546, 114 Congress “Response Act” (2016); the Texas RRC will support emergency management preparation regarding the transmission of hazardous

The effects of a chemical attack can take weeks to recover from including the devastation on the environment, the affects it has on the local communities, and the fear that spreads across the world. Local, state and federal agencies, such as environmental protection agency, FEMA, and other local emergency management agencies, will be involved in relocating victims to temporary housing, aiding in the cleanup, and the continued evaluation of vulnerabilities present and the security measures can be improved upon to prevent future

On April 17, 2013 the disaster of West, TX was an ammonium nitrate explosion at a fertilizer storage and distribution facility. The explosion killed 15 and 200 other people were injured. According to the United States Geological Survey, the explosion was recorded as a 2.1-magnitude tremor. 350 homes and buildings were damaged or destroyed, including three schools, an apartment complex and a nursing home. The last time the plant had been inspected by OSHA (Occupational safety and Health Administration) was in 1985. The force of the explosion was 7.5-10 tons of TNT. The injuries that were seen included typical 'blast injuries': punctured lungs, bowels, eardrums and wounds caused by flying shrapnel and debris. Some had broken bones and head injuries

There are disasters occurring all around the world that most individuals will not hear of due to a lack of media coverage. Many of these disasters can have incredibly detrimental effects on entire populations, and those at risk deserve a chance to educate themselves. Two of the disasters found were the West Fertilizer plant explosion and the increasing rate of acidification of ocean water. Despite the fact that these disasters pose such incredible dangers, they were found to be among the least reported on stories amongst media outlets. Although these disasters have not been covered nearly as much as other major catastrophes, such as hurricane Katrina, they still have far reaching physical and emotional consequences and have their own unique story.

On the 5th of October 1999 at 8.06 am, a light commuter train left Paddington station from Platform 9 on route to Bedwyn in Wiltshire. Approximately three minutes later the train collided with a high-speed train coming from the opposite direction at a combined speed of 130 mph causing the deaths of 31 people, including the drivers of both trains (~400 injured). IK20 passed signal SN109 on gantry 8 at red for danger, travelling at 41 mph and accelerating.

Every emergency or disaster, from a small house fire to a hurricane that devastates entire communities, have a distinct cycle. This is

Toyota’s disaster management team mission is to “maintain the optimum state of disaster preparedness through planning, preparation, training and exercise.”

On the 17th of April, 2013 a fire and subsequent explosion at the West Fertilizer Company facility in West, Texas caused the death of twelve emergency responders, three civilians and injured over two hundred and sixty others. The explosion destroyed the WFC site and many other buildings, making it one of the “most destructive incidents investigated by the U.S. Chemical Safety Board.”[2] The CSB report found that a fire of unknown source caused the piles of stored ammonium nitrate to be covered with soot which heated up and eventually caused the ammonium nitrate to detonate. OSHA and the EPA, neither had regulations

Conversely the “Metrolink commuter train #102, operated by Amtrak, [that] was en route from Oxnard, in Ventura County, California, to Los Angeles” (National Transportation, 2015a, p. 1) only had “About eight (8) seconds [warning, before] the train collided with the truck and utility trailer.” (National Transportation, 2016a, p. 3; NTSBgov, 2015b). Prior to the collision, after being on duty slightly over an hour the 3 person crew “departed the Oxnard station at 5:39 a.m., with the student engineer at the controls” (National Transportation, 2015a, p. 7), and a reported “46 passengers” on board (National Transportation, 2015b, p. 1). Quickly following Metrolink Commuter train #102’s departure from the Oxnard station –the station being less than 2 miles away from the scene of the accident– “while sounding the train horn, the engineer-in-training noticed something ahead that appeared to be on the tracks, and placed the train into emergency braking [immediately]” (National Transportation, 2016a, p. 3). Instantly, the crash caused “four (4) train cars [to derail], with three of them overturning and coming to rest on their sides” (NTSB Media Relations, 2015). The NTSB investigation confirmed that “Train #102 consisted of a cab/coach car (#645) at the lead end of the train, which

We hear about them on the news: tornadoes in Oklahoma, hurricanes in Mexico, floods in Bangladesh. When they hit close to us, or even worse, affect someone we know, we feel heartache or some other emotional reaction. If they hit far from us, we may passively acknowledge their happening and move forward. Disasters are an ever-present part of our lives; they scare us; they sadden us; they happen to us. But just what makes an event a disaster? A disaster, I argue, is an event that affects at least one person, and often property, in a devastating way. In other words, a disaster causes an effect that requires an active recovery for its victims. This in turn raises the point about experiences of the same disaster on different people in different places, and I argue that different perspectives on the same disaster allow us to prepare and respond to disaster more effectively and sufficiently.