Catastrophic Calamities

Details of the tragic Hartford Circus Fire, 1944.

An exploration of the tragic wreck of the Iolaire, a wealthy man’s yacht turned into a transport ship that went aground on the rocks of the Outer Hebrides, killing at least 201 sailors as they approached their home port.

Tragedy in Kenner: The Crash of Pan Am Flight 759  On the afternoon of July 9th, 1982, Pam Am Flight 759 suddenly fell from the sky into a residential subdivision in Kenner, LA, killing all 145 people on board and eight people on the ground. Special guest New Orleans historian and documentary filmmaker Royd Anderson, writer and producer of the documentary, Pan Am Flight 759 helps me tell the story of that tragic day, the people affected—and one tiny miracle. Additional links: Interesting article on the history and science of windshear, Capitol Weather Gang, Washinton Post AROUND THE NATION; Pan Am and U.S. Accept Responsibility for Crash The suspicion that wind shear contributed   This episode is dedicated to Dr. Robert Barsley, who sadly passed away on September 28th, 2019 while this episode was in preproduction. 

The Accident at Three Mile Island, March 28, 1979:  The worst nuclear power accident in US history never should have happened. It took systemic problems, design flaws and good old-fashioned human error to turn a minor mechanical function into an accident that could have wiped out the entire eastern seaboard of the United States. Although there is still an on-going debate about whether anyone died as a result of the accident, there was one confirmed fatality—The growth of the nuclear energy industry in the United States The Report of the President's Commission on the Accident at Three Mile Island NRC Fact sheet on the Accident at Three Mile Island Three Mile Island’s recent closure shows what people don’t realize about nuclear power Meltdown at Three Mile Island--40 Years Later (video) What the Public Will Never Know About Three Mile Island (anti-nuke perspective)

The 6.7 Northridge Earthquake, followed by a 6.0 aftershock, less than a minute later, wasn't the biggest earthquake to hit Southern California, but it was one of the worst, because the epicenter was directly under a populated area. It did over $20 billion in damage and, more importantly, at least 60 people lost their lives—16 of them in one building. The official death toll stands at 61, with one study, by USC and the USGS, reaching 72. But Nobody really knows for sure. What we do know is that there were over 8,700 people injured, 1,600 of them hospitalized.  More would have died in the aftershocks and fires caused by broken gas mains, if not for neighbors helping neighbors, and the incredible work done by police fire and rescue workers. NBCLA First Reports Retrospective Full Show NBCLA Northridge Earthquake Day Two Full Show Northridge Earthquake Raw Footage, USGS No sound but some things you just have to see to believe LAist 25th Anniversary Article Has pictures you can’t find anywhere else Learning From Earthquakes Daniel Pendrick’s full article, on the Savage earth blog. Includes links to more information. Seismology: The Northridge Earthquake and its Aftershocks Excellent article from the Southern California Earthquake Center, by Erik Hauksson and Lucy Jones

Catastrophic Calamities is a twice-monthly 60-minute podcast telling the stories of famous and forgotten tragedies of the 19th and 20th centuries, with the occasional forays reaching further back in history. Host Susan Ferman, a witness to the tragic 1994 Northridge earthquake (Episode 1), focuses on the communities and people whose lives were changed forever by tragic circumstances beyond their control. Some episodes will cover natural disasters, some that were caused by people, some just an unlucky confluence of both. All of them, deserve to be remembered. Catastrophic Calamities...