Miscellaneous

Citation

(2000), "Miscellaneous", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 9 No. 5. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.2000.07309eac.005

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

29 December 1999 – Tokaimura, Japan

The company that ran the facility where Japan's worst nuclear accident happened, said it is paying $52.3 million in damages to businesses hurt by the disaster, a newspaper reported today. Under an agreement with the local government, JCO Co. will settle 2,679 of the more than 5,000 claims from the accident, the mass-circulation Yomiuri Shimbun reported, citing unidentified company officials. The company was closed for the New Year holiday, and officials were unavailable for comment. As JCO's liability insurance only covers $9.8 million in damages, most of the burden will be borne by JCO parent company, Sumit-omo Metal Mining Co., the newspaper said. The September 30 disaster in Tokaimura, 70 miles north-east of Tokyo, occurred when workers mixed too much uranium with nitric acid to make fuel, setting off an uncontrolled nuclear reaction. JCO attracted criticism when it initially said it would only redress claims from businesses within six miles from the Tokaimura plant, Kyodo News Agency said. The company later agreed with the Ibaraki prefectural government to pay half of the total damages by the end of the year, it said.

11 January 2000 – Province of Jiansu, China

Chinese rescue workers were racing against the clock today to save 33 men trapped deep underground in a flooded coal mine, officials said today. Officials said it was not known for sure how many of the men trapped in the mine in the eastern province of Jiangsu since Tuesday (January 11) were still alive, but noises were being heard through a narrow shaft rescuers had dug through the rubble. An official of the Xuzhou Coal Mine Group which operates the flooded mine said:

We are still digging and have accelerated our work.

The miners were trapped 320 metres underground after water raced into the mine on Tuesday and killed three people instantly, state media reported. Four died later, but 23 trapped miners had been pulled out alive by Wednesday afternoon, the China Youth Daily said.

16 January 2000 – A tunnel collapse forced Chinese emergency workers to postpone their furious six-day dig to rescue 29 trapped coal miners, state media said today. Rescuers came to within 10 metres of penetrating a cavern where the men have been trapped since their mine collapsed on Tuesday (January 11). But the soggy ceiling of the rescue tunnel gave way late last night, forcing a retreat, state television said.

17 January 2000 – Rescuers succeeded in penetrating a collapsed coal mine shaft and rescuing 18 of 29 men who had been trapped for six days, Xinhua reported yesterday. Three miners were found dead, and another eight were still missing in the mine, in the eastern province of Jiangsu. A torrent of water last Tuesday (January 11) collapsed the mine operated by the Xuzhou Coal Mine Group, killing 11 miners – 23 miners were pulled out the next day, but rescue workers had been unable to free the remaining 29. On Saturday night, workers came within 10 metres of the cavern where many of the men were trapped 320 metres below the surface, but the soggy ceiling of the rescue tunnel collapsed, forcing the emergency workers to flee. Auxiliary rescue teams carried on with the effort, finally breaking through last night, Xinhua said. Rescue teams had apparently kept miners alive by piping in oxygen, milk and water.

19 February 2000 – Foggia, Italy

Cheap materials and slipshod construction caused Italy's deadliest building collapse in decades, according to a preliminary investigative report. The report, released yesterday, said the fault stemmed from the way the building was constructed 30 years earlier. Workers appear to have used sand-laden, watery concrete prone to crumbling and support pillars and steel rods inadequate in both strength and placement, according to preliminary findings from two attorneys, Gabrielia Tavano and Giovanni Faicione, appointed to oversee the official investigation. Some of the paperwork that should have been filed at the time of construction is either missing or gives incorrect information, investigators said. The collapse of a column in a stairwell may have been what brought the building crashing down, investigators said.