Global & Disaster Medicine

Archive for the ‘Historical Event’ Category

10/9/1963: “……The displaced water crashed over the dam and into the Piave River below. It stormed down the river and engulfed the town of Longarone. Within minutes the town had virtually vanished and nearly 2,000 people were dead. The tsunami-like wave then rushed down to San Martino, where it killed hundreds more……”

“…..The Vaiont Gorge was located in a section of the Alps known for instability. In 1963, the area experienced heavy rains—about 90 inches by October 9. At 10:41 p.m., the wet land could no longer hold and a massive landslide came crashing down from Mount Toc, causing a huge pile of dirt and rocks to plunge into the reservoir at about 70 miles per hour. The impact of the debris caused an immense wave of water to rise as high as 300 feet above the level of the dam……”


The most devastating fire in United States history burns in Peshtigo, Wisconsin on October 8, 1871. Some 1,200 people lost their lives and 2 billion trees were consumed by flames.

HxC

 


October 8, 187: The Great Chicago Fire, a two-day blaze that kills between 200 and 300 people, destroys 17,450 buildings, leaves 100,000 homeless and causes an estimated $200 million (in 1871 dollars; $3 billion in 2007 dollars) in damages.

HxC

 


Virginia Tech and Lead Poisoning from the active shooter event

“……On April 16, 2007, Goddard was in French class at Virginia Tech when he was shot four times……One bullet pierced his shoulder and then exited. But three other bullets shattered into tiny pieces in his body, and doctors said it was too risky to remove them…..Goddard is suffering from lead poisoning. At one point, his levels were seven times higher than what’s considered safe….”The short term symptoms are hard to recognize — things like fatigue, irritability, memory loss. stomach pain,” Goddard said. “At the time when I learned about this, I was in grad school, I had a two-year-old, was about to have another one, and was trying to find a job. A lot of those things going on in my life could have caused those things.”
His mother who encouraged him to get a blood test after she read an article about the lasting impact of lead ammunition in shooting survivors.
Since his diagnosis, Goddard has had hip surgery to remove more bullet fragments, and he’s tried Chelation therapy to clear the toxic metal from his body.
“I tried it for a month,” he said. “I had to take like 30 pills a day, every day, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
The treatment worked, but Goddard struggled to take so many pills every day. As soon as he stopped taking the pills, the lead in his body elevated to dangerous levels again, although they aren’t as high as before he tried the therapy…..”

He was shot four times during the rampage at Virginia Tech and now he’s slowly being poisoned by the toxic lead bullets that are still in his body.

NBC

“……On April 16, 2007, Goddard was in French class at Virginia Tech when he was shot four times……One bullet pierced his shoulder and then exited. But three other bullets shattered into tiny pieces in his body, and doctors said it was too risky to remove them…..Goddard is suffering from lead poisoning. At one point, his levels were seven times higher than what’s considered safe….”The short term symptoms are hard to recognize — things like fatigue, irritability, memory loss. stomach pain,” Goddard said. “At the time when I learned about this, I was in grad school, I had a two-year-old, was about to have another one, and was trying to find a job. A lot of those things going on in my life could have caused those things.”
His mother who encouraged him to get a blood test after she read an article about the lasting impact of lead ammunition in shooting survivors.
Since his diagnosis, Goddard has had hip surgery to remove more bullet fragments, and he’s tried Chelation therapy to clear the toxic metal from his body.
“I tried it for a month,” he said. “I had to take like 30 pills a day, every day, for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.”
The treatment worked, but Goddard struggled to take so many pills every day. As soon as he stopped taking the pills, the lead in his body elevated to dangerous levels again, although they aren’t as high as before he tried the therapy…..”

Victims of the 2010 cholera outbreak in Haiti, which killed at least 10,000 people and infected hundreds of thousands more, are petitioning the US supreme court on Tuesday to hold the UN accountable for having brought the disease to the stricken country.

The Guardian

“……The UN has admitted that cholera was introduced to Haiti by peacekeepers in 2010 after about 1,000 troops were redeployed from Nepal to help in emergency work following a devastating earthquake. Basic health measures that could have been taken to prevent the transfer of the disease at the cost to the UN of only $2,000 were not taken, and instead raw sewage from the peacekeepers’ camps was dumped directly into rivers from which thousands of Haitians routinely drew water for cooking and drinking.

A leaked report carried out by the UN itself a month after the initial outbreak of cholera found serious sanitation flaws in the Haiti peacekeeping mission. Yet for six years the world body continued to deny it had anything to do with the health catastrophe……”

computer generated depiction of a cholera organism


The deadliest mass shooting in U.S. history at the time of the attack: “On the night of October 1, 2017, a gunman opens fire on a crowd attending the final night of a country music festival in Las Vegas, killing 58 people and injuring more than 800. The shooting only lasted 10 minutes


September 28, 1994: “…..852 people die in one of the worst maritime disasters of the century when the Estonia, a large car-and-passenger ferry, sinks in the Baltic Sea due to stormy weather and waves that topped 20 feet.

HxC


9/27/1854: Heavy fog causes two ships, the Arctic and Vesta, to collide, killing 322 people off the coast of Newfoundland

HxC

“……On September 20, the Arctic left Liverpool, England, for North America. Seven days later, just off of the Newfoundland coast, it came into a heavy fog. Unfortunately, the ship’s captain, James Luce, did not take the usual safety measures for dealing with fog—he did not slow the Arctic, he did not sound the ship’s horn and he did not add extra watchmen……”

 


9/25/1978: A Pacific Southwest Airlines jet collides in mid-air with a small Cessna over San Diego, killing 153 people

HxC

“…….The planes nose-dived straight into San Diego’s North Park neighborhood, destroying 22 homes and killing seven people on the ground. All 144 people on the 727 were killed, as well as both of the Cessna’s pilots……..”


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