Comparing and Contrasting Vulnerabilities: Gulf of Mexico & Chernobyl Disaster

By: Sarah Jachim, Jose Olivera, Alex McCorkle, Sheena Jaggi, Linh Nguyen

Characterization of the hazard events using each of the criteria of characterization

Chernobyl Nuclear Disaster:

Characterization of the hazard events using each of the criteria of characterization

Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill:

Characterization of the hazard events using each of the criteria of characterization

Chernobyl vs Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill:

Socioeconomic variations in vulnerability for Chernobyl (Linh)

Wealth

Education

Gender

Health

Housing

Socioeconomic Variations

Socioeconomic variations in vulnerability for Gulf of Mexico disaster (Linh)

WealthEducation

Gender

Health

Housing

Socioeconomic Variations

Demographic variations in vulnerability for Chernobyl

- High Population of older people.

- Working age people left the region and therefore more elder people.

- Less working people - hard to recover economically.

- Increase in thyroid cancer among children due to iodine 131 inhaled or eaten.

-After 10 years, 500 cases were reported. Before 1986 - only 2 occurred per year.

Demographic Variations in vulnerability for Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill

- Oil Dispersant used to clean water - causing illness and death.

-Chemicals from dispersant - toxic substances making people sick.

- It caused poisoning from poly-aromatic hydrocarbons. (PAHs).

-Suffer through eye and nose irritation, blood in urine, vomiting etc.

-Again, older people will be more vulnerable to these diseases since they are older and have a weaker immune system.

- People died from swimming in the water.

Ethnic variations in vulnerability for Chernobyl (Alex)

Russia, Belarus, Ukraine, Turkey, Greece, Moldova, Romania, Bulgaria, Lithuania, Finland, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Austria, Hungary, Czechoslovakia, Yugoslavia, Poland, Estonia, Switzerland, Germany, Italy, Ireland, France and Corsica, the UK and Canada.

Affected 27 countries, mostly in Western Europe.

Ethnic variations in vulnerability for Gulf of Mexico disaster (Alex)

Affected the U.S., Florida and Louisiana, Cuba and Mexico.

People located near the coast of the affected areas were the most affected due to their land being covered in oil.

Overall evaluation of the level of vulnerability for both case studies (Jose)

• The vulnerability for both the USA and the USSR were high.

• However, the USA has a lower vulnerability since there were proven and tested methods of containing oil spills.

• The oil spill was also more environmental rather than causing direct death.

• The USSR on the other hand, had experienced something never before witnessed.

• The nuclear meltdown has affected a greater area and had the potential to wipe out half of Europe.

...Continuation

In the USA, they were adapting to the change. Rather than moving out, they stayed and employed the use of technology to clean up the oil spill.

The USSR was largely fatalistic. Most of the people chose to stay there citing the reason that they could not see the problem.

Practices

USA:

• Used methods such as chemical dispersants (Corexit - highly toxic)

• Microbes (both natural and manmade) ate the oil and contributed to the boom of plankton.

• Use of booms to prevent extensive damage to beaches and siphoned off oil through tankers.

USSR:

• The top down government didn't inform the population of Chernobyl

• Sacrificed human life in order to clean up the reactor

• Evacuated the town of Chernobyl

• Initial slow response

Sources

"Health Consequences of the Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Health_consequences_of_the_Deepwater_Horizon_oil_spill>.

"Chernobyl Nuclear Accident." 5. What Are the Social and Economic Costs of the Chernobyl Accident? N.p., n.d. Web. 15 Apr. 2013. <http://www.greenfacts.org/en/chernobyl/l-3/5-social-economic-impacts.htm>.

<http://tyandpants.files.wordpress.com/2010/03/siberia-russian-babushka.jpeg>.

http://usa.mfa.gov.by/eng/chernobyl/chernobyl_catastrophe

http://www.oecd-nea.org/rp/chernobyl/c0e.html

http://www.colorado.edu/hazards/resources/socy4037/Cutter%20%20%20Social%20vulnerability%20to%20environmental%20hazards.pdf

http://agriskmanagementforum.org/sites/agriskmanagementforum.org/files/Documents/Risk_Vulnerability.pdf

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chernobyl_Exclusion_Zone

http://www.nola.com/news/gulf-oil-spill/index.ssf/2013/01/bp_deepwater_horizon_spill_sci.html

http://www.businessinsider.com/gulf-of-mexico-deepwater-horizon-oil-spill-2010-4

http://www.education.noaa.gov/Ocean_and_Coasts/Oil_Spill.html

http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn19499-bps-head-of-safety-admits-human-error-over-oil-spill.html