Catastrophe - A Guide to World's Worst Industrial Disasters

Disasters have been a menace, throughout history. Earlier, disasters were, mainly due to natural happenings and unfortunate incidents, like epidemics, droughts, earthquakes, landslides, floods, wind storms, etc. But, with the rapid development of science and technology, now, disasters have become a part of our modern life. The apparent change in the scenario is that now, besides natural disasters, have emerged man-made disasters, like industrial disasters. In fact, Industrial Disasters are a real hazard, nowadays; there is no country which is immune from disasters, though vulnerability to disaster varies. The definition, adopted by the World Health Organisation (WHO), terms a disaster, as, "The result of a vast ecological breakdown, in relations, between man and his environment, a serious and sudden (or slow, as in drought) disruption on such a scale that the stricken community needs extraordinary efforts, to cope with it, often with outside help or international aid." In modern times, perhaps, the industrial disasters are the worst, among all disasters. So, there was a need for a comprehensive book on Industrial Disasters, as a subject. This modest work is a meaningful effort, in the same direction. This comprehensive study on Industrial Disasters, in an academic manner, has culminated into an exhaustive and exclusive work on the subject.