The introductory essay looks at the very varied causes of disasters from the unforeseen through to deliberate acts that have had disastrous consequences. It also looks at responses and responsibility. In the end the author of the essay can come to no broad generalisations, because disasters, by their very nature are unexpected. By way of introduction, and under the heading “Warnings from the past” there is discussion of the fires at Rome ad 64, the Great Fire of London when only nine people died, La Compania church when around 2,500 people, the largest number in any single incident died, and the sinking of three ships, including Princess Alice which is still remembered East London.
Over 150 disasters occurring in the last 100 years are presented in this book. The short accounts describe the disaster and give brief accounts of the causes, and any lessons learnt. As with the introductory examples most of the distress described comes from the developed world especially North America and Europe. Buildings and mass transport systems are involved in most of the cases. The first is the burning of the Saale while safely berthed at Hoboken, New Jersey when it was engulfed in a quayside fire. The most recent is the crash of Concorde at the Charles de Gaulle airport in July 2000. The account of this tragedy leaves the cause unsolved, but the introductory essay mentions the piece of debris that caused the chain of failures.
The examples in between include some forest fires, about the only (semi) natural causes. There are fires on ships and in places of entertainment where escape is difficult. There are a few mine disasters; if this book were written in 1900 there would be many more. However, one of those described is Senegenydd which was the UK’s most fatal mine disaster. Some industrial accidents like Flixborough and the Enschede fireworks store explosion are included. And, there are many crashes of planes and trains. There are fires like Windsor, where no one died and Hampton Court where only one person died and there are accidents like the Harrow and Wealdstone rail crash where many were killed. This particular crash happened soon after I started primary school in 1952. We lived in what is now the London Borough of Harrow and I can remember people talking about it and seeing the picture in the newspaper. The accounts deal mainly with the incident itself, but there is some consideration of cause and blame, lessons learnt and changes made to procedures to prevent recurrence.
Extensive use of illustrations adds to the impact of the book. This is a good public and school library book. For a host of reasons, people are fascinated with disasters and accidents. Those involved in safety engineering and facility management may get some ideas from this book but the bibliography is very short. Many of the incidents mentioned have led to detailed reports, for example both Kings Cross and Piper Alpha were subject to major investigations which have been published. Both Windsor and Hampton Court have been written up in more popular books covering the fire and the restoration work. Maybe making a full bibliography would have added to the work, but the authors have got their facts from somewhere. I suppose its up to reference librarians to find the more detailed account.
