Transportation Disasters

From: Keim M. Emergency Health: Practical application of public health principles. American Public Health Association Press, May 2023 pp. 94-95

Definition of a Transportation Disaster

Transportation disasters have been defined as disasters associated with mechanized modes of transport: road, rail, marine, and air. These four subsets involve (1) motor vehicles on roads, tracks, and cables; (2) trains; (3) boats, fishing vessels, ferries, submarines, passenger ships, crafts carrying migrants, and tankers; and (4) airplanes, helicopters, airships, and balloons.

?Causes

Transportation disasters may be associated with a range of kinetic, thermal, and/or toxic hazards and can occur as the result of a collisions, engineering flaws, mechanical failure, weather, fires, explosions, and/or human behavior. The 1912 sinking of the Titanic is an example of a widely recognized transportation disaster. However, a more recent 1987 ferry disaster involved two ships and killed nearly twice as many people as the Titanic disaster.

Speed of Onset and Duration

The onset of a transportation disaster can occur within seconds (e.g., an exploding aircraft) to hours (e.g., a sinking ship). And while most emergency response activities typically last for days (e.g., train derailment), some response efforts (e.g., marine search and rescue) may continue for weeks.

Consequences

Transportation disasters can result in secondary explosions, toxic exposures, environmental contamination, fires, or structural collapse. Large events often attract global attention and are known to create long-term economic and geopolitical impacts (e.g., the 2001 World Trade Center bombing).

Transportation disasters can also involve critical infrastructures such as communications, transportation, energy, commerce, and health care facilities. Transportation disasters can also disrupt transportation or render major transportation routes (e.g., roads, rail, subways, ports) impassable.

?Scale

During 1961–2020 there were 5,707 transportation disasters reported worldwide with an average of 40 ± 2 (95%CI) deaths per event, and a very high range of 1 to 4,000 deaths per event, as compared with other technological disasters. The largest transportation disaster reported during that time occurred in the Philippines in 1987 and involved the sinking of a passenger ferry after it collided with an oil tanker. Out of over 4,000 passengers and crew, only 24 (0.5%) survived.