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6 Natural Disasters That Were Caused by Human Stupidity

cracked.com — This is by no means a final list. The world's still young.

Who dugg this? Made popular Oct 5, 2009

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  • ftc08, on 10/05/2009, -3/+77I'd make an honorable mention for Hurricane Katrina.

    Not to be insensitive, but building a town below sea level, right on the coast known for getting battered by hurricanes, downhill from a large lake, and not maintaining safety barriers... That's a recipe for disaster.
  • appleseed1234, on 10/06/2009, -0/+64Somewhere in West Philadelphia, you will find an old basketball court with a single ball lying in the middle.

    Pick it up and start shooting hoops. After a while, a small group of hooligans will approach you and challenge you to a fight, which you must accept.

    After the fight, you must go home and relay the events to your mother. She will then inform you that you have an aunt and uncle living in one of the districts of Los Angeles, and out of fear, she will send you to live there for an indefinite period of time.

    With your bags packed, go to the street corner, and whistle for a cab. The cab that will pull up will bear the word FRESH on the license plate, and upon closer inspection, novelty fuzzy dice will hang in the mirror. Although you will suddenly realize that cabs
    like these are extremely hard to find, do not bear any thought to it. At this point you MUST point out in front of the car and say ‘Yo homes to Bel Air'.

    You will stop in front of a mansion, and it will be sometime between seven and 8 o'clock, even though it will feel like you've been traveling mere seconds. Get your luggage out and say ‘Yo homes, smell ya later!', but do NOT turn back to face the cabby. Walk up to the door, look over your shoulder once, and then knock on the door three times.

    If you follow these instructions, your life will get flip-turned upside-down.
  • thenorwegian, on 10/05/2009, -0/+60I used to live in PA, and visited Centralia on many occasions (usually at night to freak myself and friends out.) It's such a creepy place, JUST like Silent Hill. If you have the chance- visit. Drive past the abandoned part of the highway, and stop right before the first stop sign in town. Park to the left, there's a dirt road. Now on foot, walk up the hill, carefully making sure you stay on the broken path (the gases coming from around the trails are very dangerous, and there are many sinkholes.) Make sure you have something to cover your face with to help filter the poison. Keep walking on the path and you will reach a forest area. a few minutes up there will be a clearing with an old grave yard. There is something up there (not sure what it is) so don't go alone. When I was there, a man sized creature (hopefully a bear) spotted us with it's moon illuminated eyes and then ran off.

    If you decide to explore the abandoned highway (old 61) also don't be alone. During the day there are hillbilly kids that drive around on four wheelers. Not joking. They are creepy as *****. I was there alone one day and 3 four wheelers came barreling towards me from what seemed to be thin air. They faked like they were going to run me over, then zipped past me. The girl (I think she was a girl) gave me the middle finger and they disappeared. If you go at night, bring a blunt object, as there are a few bums that wander the forest. You know they are close when you smell their piss.
  • Maddcovv, on 10/05/2009, -4/+62They aren't really 'natural' disasters if they are caused by humans. They are just disasters.
  • daEvan, on 10/05/2009, -0/+36I'll be sure to go follow these directions and do this.
  • mrgeekguy, on 10/05/2009, -0/+36At all of these disasters I can picture a guy that failed science class saying ,"***** it, I know what I'm doing"
  • joenuck89, on 10/05/2009, -0/+33Tell that to everyone living in Florida.
  • levitron, on 10/05/2009, -0/+25I love the Lake Peigneur story- there's a great video on YouTube about it, with footage of it draining: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Of8cm0kS8.

    Also written up on Damn Interesting: http://www.damninteresting.com/lake-peigneur-the-s ...
  • diggcensors, on 10/05/2009, -0/+22and Holland
  • moskrin, on 10/05/2009, -0/+21"Once national attention was brought to the incident, Congress spent $42 million dollars in a massive relocation effort. Most residents, fearing everything from a large-scale collapse to consumption at the hands of a vengeful Earth, accepted the offer and moved to near by cities."

    Plan B!
  • zeabu, on 10/05/2009, -0/+19weren't they all? I fail to see a difference between Centralia and Chernobyl (in terms of damage and human-caused).
  • DeskFlyer, on 10/06/2009, -0/+18At least Floridians have the sense to obey mandatory evacuation orders.
  • kitsua, on 10/06/2009, -0/+17win
  • bruleboy, on 10/05/2009, -0/+16Psh. thats not as bad a 35mph tidal wave of molasses
  • Shmebber, on 10/05/2009, -0/+15Too late actually, considering it's already been mentioned...
  • damnshoes, on 10/05/2009, -3/+18What about the Chernobyl disaster?
  • MrBastian, on 10/05/2009, -0/+15http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y4Of8cm0kS8

    remove the ''.'' a the end of the link
  • preppypoof, on 10/05/2009, -0/+13no, the whole point of the Darwin Awards is that you do something stupid that kills (or renders unable to reproduce) *yourself*. this article has people that are the opposite of that - doing something stupid that kills other people, meaning that your "stupid genes" are now taking up a slightly larger percentage of the gene pool.
  • IphtashuFitz, on 10/05/2009, -0/+12The thing that blows my mind about the Lake Peigneur incident is that it sucked 11 barges down into the mine as water flooded into it. Then two days later as the flooding ended, 9 of those barges popped back up to the service like corks. Talk about an amazing display of natures power. Sucking something like a barge under water takes a LOT of force.
  • piieerrrree, on 10/06/2009, -0/+12I wish I could favourite comments.
  • hackiavelli, on 10/06/2009, -0/+12What's natural about a molasses tsunami?
  • busterbros, on 10/05/2009, -0/+12I've read about Centralia before a few times, but never knew that the fire was lit intentionally.
  • NervousEnergy, on 10/05/2009, -0/+11My grandmother volunteered for an emergency response unit back in the 60s, and she was one of the first on the scene during the Abervan Disaster. She helped pull out the bodies of quite a few of the children; and was working through the night trying to rescue any survivors. They had very little equipment to work with; they had to use the local church hall as a temporary morgue.
    Afterwards she wouldn't talk about it; but each anniversary she would go down to the memorial site and place flowers on the graves of the 116 children, many of which she had herself dug out and tended to.
    It's appalling the company was barely held responsible for their incompetence.
  • IphtashuFitz, on 10/05/2009, -2/+12What's natural about it? It was a man-made disaster all the way.
  • IphtashuFitz, on 10/05/2009, -0/+10Same here. I thought it might have been some sort of mine accident, not a bunch of people stuffing tons of garbage into the mine and then lighting it on fire on purpose. It boggles my mind that nobody considered the potential result of starting a huge fire in an abandoned COAL mine...
  • JYoungest1, on 10/06/2009, -0/+9But humans came from nature....
  • FongoBongo, on 10/05/2009, -0/+8Stupidity does not discriminate nor does it have any bounds. This story is a testament to that.
  • anonymousmedic, on 10/05/2009, -0/+7Fail troll is fail, Sir. DIGGers demand a more subtle, intellectual troll.
  • alf86, on 10/06/2009, -0/+7And Floridian leaders would probably have the sense to allow federal assistance when it is obviously needed instead of sitting on their hands while their citizens die.
  • inactive, on 10/06/2009, -0/+7That was the most dramatic, non-treasure finding directions I have ever read.
  • travcm, on 10/06/2009, -0/+6Global warming is a "Real Thing". Whether it's man-made or not is the only debatable thing.

    As for Chernobyl - if they're categorizing a syrup spill as natural, it belongs on the list.
  • bringitontimx, on 10/06/2009, -0/+6dust bowl?
  • mikemehak, on 10/06/2009, -3/+8telling people in florida anything is like talking to a brick wall
  • majormajor42, on 10/06/2009, -0/+4I hear banjos.
  • nepidae, on 10/05/2009, -0/+4Does any other country have more livable land set aside for national parks?
  • Mirakith, on 10/06/2009, -0/+4Click link then save as bookmark/favourite:

    http://digg.com/comedy/6_Natural_Disasters_That_We ...
    http://digg.com/comedy/6_Natural_Disasters_That_We ...
  • EddiePotato, on 10/05/2009, -0/+4There was a time when people believed all kinds of natural disasters were caused by the bad behavior of humans.

    I'd like to say that's ancient history, but some people still believe "deviant" behavior brings on the hurricanes.
  • c3rb85, on 10/05/2009, -0/+3Same, as @IphtashuFitz mentioned I always though it was something to do with mining. I actually grew up actually about an hour southeast from there. I think when I go back to my parents some time I may take a drive up there.
  • NiftyG, on 10/05/2009, -2/+5If man contributes to the disaster, then doesn't it cease to be a 'natural' disaster?
  • anonymousmedic, on 10/06/2009, -1/+4Never underestimate the destructive powers of stupid people.
  • ftc08, on 10/06/2009, -0/+3GET.
    THE.
    *****.
    OUT.
  • MrSlumberjack, on 10/06/2009, -0/+3The title should be "environmental disasters"

    From wiki:

    "An environmental disaster is a disaster that is due to human activity and should not be confused with natural disasters"
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_disaste ...
  • benroy, on 10/06/2009, -0/+3Or a dam breaking?
  • Joliman, on 10/06/2009, -0/+2Best creepy tourism ever! We loved our visit a few years back.
  • edwartica, on 10/06/2009, -1/+3Sonofabitch, you divided by zero!
  • harrydabassist, on 10/05/2009, -0/+2Dugg for naked ghost of Ernest Hemingway
  • vibr8, on 10/05/2009, -1/+3what about Beaverton?
  • diggcensors, on 10/05/2009, -0/+2The sichuan earthquake?

    http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/summary/323/ ...
  • nicolysis, on 10/07/2009, -0/+2A bit of a stretch calling them "natural disasters" if they were "caused by human[s]." Interesting article nonetheless. Cracked makes history a little more bearable to read about.
  • freakFlag, on 10/06/2009, -0/+1shhhhh ... the ***** laws are in affect ...
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