Disaster

Marathon Refinery Fire: How Industry Goes Quiet During A Crisis

August 31, 2023 Sara Sneath and Julie Dermansky, DeSmog. Educate! Disaster, Louisiana, Media, Public safety

Thick black smoke billowed and flames rose from two chemical storage tanks at the Marathon Petroleum refinery between Reserve and Garyville, Louisiana, on Friday. Geraldine Watkins saw the towers of smoke through the passenger seat window of a car that morning, while she was on her way to a court hearing about whether another tract of land in St. John the Baptist Parish, where Garyville is located, would be zoned for heavy industrial use. Despite the alarming view, no community-wide alarms had sounded when a naphtha leak started a fire at the refinery earlier that morning.

The Irony Of World Refugee Day: Celebrating, Then Blaming The Victims

June 22, 2023 Ramzy Baroud, MintPress News. Educate! Disaster, Greece, Refugees, World Refugee Day

Fadi, a Syrian teenager with curly hair and an acne-covered face, has miraculously survived one of the greatest migrant boat disasters in the modern history of the Mediterranean. Only 104 people have been rescued from a boat that carried an estimated 750 refugees after it capsized on June 13 in the open sea near the coastal town of Pylos. Scores of lifeless bodies have been pulled out from the water, and many more have washed ashore. Hundreds are still missing, feared dead, many of whom are women and children, as they huddled on the lower deck of the 30-meter boat. Fadi survived. A heart-rending photo shows the young Syrian sobbing as he met his older brother, Mohammed, who rushed to the port of Kalamata, Greece, to see him.

The Railroad Industry Loved Modern Brakes And Safety, Until They Didn’t

March 9, 2023 Justin Mikulka, DeSmog. Educate! Capitalism, Disaster, Railroads, Workplace Safety

National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) chair Jennifer Homendy concluded that the East Palestine, Ohio, rail disaster was “100% preventable.” The certainty of this statement raises the obvious question: Why did this happen? The answer was actually provided by one of Homendy’s predecessors at the NTSB. In 2014, speaking about the spate of oil train disasters that were occuring, NTSB chair Deborah Hersman told the Associated Press that, “We know the steps that will prevent or mitigate these accidents. What is missing is the will to require people to do so.” The NTSB has no enforcement capability, so its recommendations are often ignored by the rail industry.

Ohio Community Confronts Company, Politicians After Train Wreck

March 3, 2023 Otis Grotewohl, Workers World. Organize! Accountability, Disaster, East Palestine, Environment, Railroads

President Joe Biden’s trip to Kiev, Ukraine, Feb. 20 shocked people living near East Palestine, Ohio, who have been devastated by a Feb. 3 toxic train derailment. The accident involved a 150-car train owned by Norfolk Southern, carrying dangerous and hazardous chemicals, which jackknifed due to a broken axle. On Feb. 6, state authorities slowly released and burned dangerous chemicals, such as the cancer-causing vinyl chloride and others, into the air. Since then, people in the area have faced various health problems ranging from slight headaches and sore throats to coughing up and vomiting blood.

‘There Should Have Been A Playbook On This’: Expert On Ohio Train Disaster

February 24, 2023 Bob Hennelly, Work-Bites. Educate! Disaster, East Palestine, Ohio, Railroads

While the abused residents of East Palestine, Ohio packed their local high school gym on Wednesday night to sort through the contradictory messaging from officials, freight trains with vast quantities of toxic chemicals rumbled through equally vulnerable and unprepared corridor communities across America. Invariably, these are communities that have some history of betrayal and abandonment by predatory capitalism and rely on selfless community volunteers to staff their fire apparatus and ambulances. They were the frontline infantry for COVID. They are the arms and legs of mutual aid 24-7 responding to any and all natural and man-made disasters in America’s heartland.

Water Testing After Ohio Derailment Led By Rail Company Itself

February 20, 2023 Chris D'Angelo, HuffPost. Educate! Disaster, East Palestine, Railroads, Water

East Palestine, Ohio - The testing that Ohio authorities relied on to declare the municipal water in East Palestine safe to drink after a disastrous train derailment was funded by the railroad operator itself and did not initially comply with federal standards, HuffPost has learned. Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine (R) on Wednesday afternoon announced that new testing from five wells that supply the town’s municipal drinking water “showed no evidence of contamination” after a Norfolk Southern freight train loaded with tons of hazardous materials derailed in the area on Feb. 3. “With these tests results, Ohio EPA is confident that the municipal water is safe to drink,” DeWine’s office wrote in a news release.

Organizations Provide Mutual Aid To Residents Of East Palestine, Ohio

February 18, 2023 It's Going Down. Organize! Disaster, East Palestine, Mutual Aid, Ohio, Railroads, Solidarity

Organizations and affinity groups across Ohio are uniting to offer support and mutual aid to those most affected by last week’s train derailment and subsequent release of toxic chemicals. We are accepting donations of both funds and supplies for communities in and around East Palestine, Ohio. This disaster is a policy decision. The Biden administration and Congress refused to support rail workers in their demands to improve safety in December 2022 and January 2023. Ohio Governor DeWine mandated the conditions to allow the toxic burn off in lieu of alternative remediations. The purpose for escalating the release of volatile chemicals was to speed up the process for trains to resume to generate profit for the companies who perpetuated this catastrophe.

Disaster In Cuba Highlights Biden’s Disastrous (And Illegal) Foreign Policy

August 22, 2022 Margaret Flowers, Clearing the FOG. Podcast Cuba, Disaster, International Solidarity, Joe Biden, US Sanctions

On August 5, lightning caused a fire at an oil supertanker base in Matanzas, Cuba. The fire caused the collapse of three large oil tanks, killed 16 people and wounded 146 people. Immediately, friendly nations sent aid, including $70 million in oil from Russia, but the United States only provided technical advice to the neighboring Caribbean nation that has been crippled by six decades of the US' economic blockade. Clearing the FOG speaks with Arturo Lopez-Levy of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs about the fire, the Biden administration's continuation of Trump's policies in Cuba and the campaign to change that, as well as the shifting politics in Latin America as more nations defy the illegal blockade and work to create a zone of peace.

While Cuba Deals With Blazing Fire, The US Heartlessly Watches And Waits

August 11, 2022 Natasha Lycia Ora Bannan and Medea Benjamin, Common Dreams. Educate! Cuba, Disaster, Economic Blockade, International Solidarity

By now, the images of the oil explosion that erupted in the Cuban province of Matanzas on Friday, August 5 and continues blazing have become international news. When lightning struck an oil tank in Cuba's largest oil storage facility, it quickly exploded and began to spread to nearby tanks. As of now, four of the eight tanks have caught fire. Dozens of people have been hospitalized, over 120 have been reported injured, at least 16 firefighters are still reported missing and one firefighter has died. This latest disaster—the largest oil fire in Cuba's history—comes at a time when Cuba is currently undergoing an energy crisis due to soaring global fuel costs, as well as over-exploited and obsolete infrastructure. The raging fire will undoubtedly further exacerbate the electricity outages that Cubans are suffering from as a result of the on-going energy crisis that is occurring in the middle of one of the hottest summers on record globally.

One Dead And 121 Injured In Fuel Storage Depot Fire In Matanzas, Cuba

August 7, 2022 Orinoco Tribune. Educate! Cuba, Disaster, Economic Blockade, Oil and Gas

At least one person has died, 17 firefighters are missing, and 121 people have been injured in a huge fire that broke out on Friday, August 5, in a fuel depot in Matanzas, in western Cuba, 60 miles east of Havana. The fire started on Friday evening after a lighting hit a fuel tank in Matanzas, and then in the early hours of Saturday it spread to a second tank, causing a big explosion around 5:00 A.M. while government officials and firefighter teams were trying to control the first explosion. All throughout Saturday Cuban authorities worked tirelessly to prevent the fire from reaching a third tank. The storage facility consists of eight storage tanks overall. The governments of Mexico and Venezuela have already sent expert teams to help the Cubans in the midst of the catastrophe that has shaken the island nation subjected to more than 60 years of an illegal US blockade.

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