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and
technological disasters
of the 1950's
Earthquakes
Minamata Disease
Tsunamis
Tornadoes
August 15, 1950
Assam, India
North Lakhimpur
Assam Bridge on Ranganadi

Upper Assam Earthquake of 1950
On August 15, 1950 at 7:39pm at earthquake hit a relatively populated area of the Indo-China border. It had a magnitude of 8.6 and was rated as one of the strongest earthquakes in the 20th century. The earthquake was felt throughout most of north-eastern India and some parts of eastern India. It was felt over 4.5 million square miles and the shock laster 4-8 minutes. The earthquake caused sand vents (represent intense liquefaction due to intense ground shaking) which caused vast areas of land to be subsided or elevated. This altered the drainage of the region and large land slides. The large land slides dammed up many of the rivers which caused mass flooding. Some dams held, the one in the Subansiri River held for 8 days, but when it broke it caused a large wave and killed 532 people.  Most life lost was due to this flooding and not the earthquake itself. 1,526 deaths were recorded and in the Arbor Hills 70 villages were destroyed and 156 deaths occurred due to land slides.


                    
                             Temple in Dibrugarh, Assam               Fissures in the upper Assam
                                                                                                Trunk Road, Khowang
May 1,1956
Minimata, Japan



Child stricken with "Minamata Disease" (Mercury Poisoning)

Minimata, Japan Disaster

     Minamata is a small factory town dominated by the Chisso (in Japanese it's meaning is nitrogen) Corporation. Minamata faces the Shiranui Sea and Minamata Bay is part of it. From 1932-1968 the Chisso Coporation dumped an estimated 27 tons of mercury compounds into Minamata Bay. People who's diet relied heavily on fish suddenly became ill with what had symptoms like methyl mercury poisoning. This illness became known as "Minamata Disease". On May 1, 1956 Dr. Hajime Hisikawa reported that "an unclarified disease of the central nervous system has broken out." He linked the disease to the fish diets and investigators began to speculate that the sea was being polluted by the Chisso Coporation. To avoid more accusations the Chisso Coporation began dumping their waste into the Minamata River, but soon inhabitants living near the river began to show the same signs of "Minamata Disease". The government created a ban saying that no fish from the bay or river were to be sold to other parts of the country, and it released them from any responsibility for those who developed the illness. In July of 1959 researchers from te Kumamoto University concluded that organic mercury was the cause of the "Minamata Disease". Dr. Hosokawa performed a sealed experimentation infront of the Chisso Coporation to prove they were the cause but had no luck. He was banned from performing any more experiments or research and his findings were concealed by the coporation. Approximately 3,000 people would wait for verification from physicians that they had "Minamata Disease" while 798 had already been confirmed.


An elderly man with later signs of the Minamata Disease

November 12,1952
Southeastern coast of Kamchatka Peninsula


Midway Atoll- first Hawaiin island to be struck by Tsunami waves

Tsunamis of the 1950's

On November 5,1952 an earthquake measuring 8.2 struck the Southeastern coast of the Kamchatka Peninsula of the Russian Far East. Tsunami waves were created and spread across the North Pacific rapidly at more than 500mph. Five years later, on March 9,1957, another earthquake measuring 8.3 struck in the Aleutian Islands. This generated another tsunami which had waves up to 75 ft high. This tsunami traveled at a speed under 500mph, but covered 2,440 miles across the Pacific. The first wave reached Kauai at 9am.
 
 
 
      
Children playing in the bay after the Tsunami hit, but            A car left in the road by it's owner in the
about 7 minutes later another giant tidle wave hit the            tsunami that hit in '57.
same spot.

May 11,1953
Waco,Texas

The Waco Tornado

 On May 11, 1953 the town of Waco in Texas was hit by one of the U.S.'s deadliest tornadoes. Waco was a city that was built on cotton sustained by it's southern Baptist history. It lay near the steep banks of the Brazos River, tornadoes would never strike there. But that had just been an indian legend. Around 4pm, a cloud briefly touched the ground 10 miles south of Waco, but rose again. The funnel soon advanced toward Waco, and came crashing into the city with pausing. Buildings flew apart, telephone poles fell over, and cars blew along like tumbleweeds outside. The tornado had killed more than 100 people(uncounted), and some victims (that were still alive) went into shock. Many victims had to be dug out; one multi-story building had collapsed and trapped a switchboard operator under 15 ft of rubble. She was trapped for 14 hours, 2 of which took people to hear her cries. The tornado was notable because the fact it had come through a down town of the city and had created such large piles of debris. By the end of it the tornado injured many of the towns residents and killed a total of 114 people.
 

                           
 
 

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