Disasters - True Stories: Recent Episodes
Studio Minuit
Every day we hear about events that happen in the world. They leave their mark on the minds of all of us, in different ways. There are also disasters, natural or human, that have had a strong impact on the whole world. And that remain in our memories, whether we like it or not. We are going to trace the greatest disasters that the world has known. Shattering events that took place all over the world and that are still talked about.
A rare genetic disease known since ancient times, hemophilia affects nearly 8000 French people today. In the 1950s, Dr. Emile Remigy, pushed back the limits of their life expectancy. He developed a treatment, a frozen cryoprecipitate which, once injected into the patient, made up for their lack of coagulant proteins. The industrialization of this product was made possible in France thanks to blood donations, a practice encouraged since 1949, when the National Blood Transfusion Center was created in Paris, which advocates volunteerism, anonymity and non-profit. But what if the State was capable of putting its population at risk for the sake of financial gain? Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 1959 ANAS, or "National Roads Company", organized a contest in Italy to connect two sections of the A10 freeway, nicknamed "the freeway of flowers", over the Polcevera river, to Genoa. The task is not obvious, even turns out to be quite a headache. Who would have thought, 50 years later, that it would lose its footing and collapse like a house of cards? No one did. And yet, there was no lack of warning signs of the disaster... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Located on the Pacific Ring of Fire, at the junction of the Eurasian, Pacific, Philippine and Okhotsk tectonic plates, Japan has always been exposed to high seismic activity. Every year, thousands of tremors, ranging from 4 to 7 on the Richter scale, are felt. Most of them are hardly noticeable, but the most violent ones bring with them devastating tsunamis. The tragedy at Fukushima Daiichi could also be called genpatsu-shinsai: an earthquake, the strongest ever recorded in Japan, rocked a nuclear power plant... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
At the end of the First World War, the Treaty of Versailles forced the German chemical group BASF to make public its know-how and manufacturing secrets. The victorious allies, and in particular France, seized it in the wake of the war, without suspecting for a second that it could be a poisoned gift. In 1924, Toulouse welcomed the ONIA, or Office National Industriel de l'Azote, which specialized in the production of agricultural fertilizer. At the same time, the natural expansion of the city was bringing the industrial area, which is only 5 km south of the center, dangerously close... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Is this the result of chance, a curse, or a sea tired of so much traffic? For decades, Brittany has had the sad habit of seeing ships run aground not far from its coasts. On December 8, 1999, it was the Erika's turn to take this route, a tanker flying the Maltese flag, a 25 year old veteran, 184 meters long, and carrying 31,000 tons of fuel oil in its 14 holds. It left Dunkirk, crossed the English Channel, passed the Ushantrail and reached the Atlantic in one piece. Headed south to Milazzo, Sicily, where the cargo must be delivered. There's no need to prolong the suspense any further: the Erika would never see the tip of the Vesuvio... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In the year 1985, if there was a soccer match not to be missed, it was the final of the Champions League, announced on May 29 and scheduled in Brussels, at the Heysel stadium. The match would oppose two of the most prestigious clubs of the continent. If some enthusiasts would be ready to do anything crazy to vibrate in the Heysel's enclosures, many of them still ignored that they would pay a high price... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In 64 AD, Rome was suffocating under the heat of a scorching summer, formerly known as "the period of the boilers", in front of which the citizens were not all equal. The aristocracy took refuge in the countryside, looking for coolness in the gardens of their homes and the plebs, trapped in their dilapidated apartments in the city center, had no choice but to suffer the heavy temperatures. The poorest contracted fevers, went mad or perished in the overcrowded metropolis, with a million people crammed into 1800 hectares. The situation degenerated during the night of July 18, when a fire broke out and threatened to reduce the entire city to rubble... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It is 9:40 AM, on March 24, 2015, at the "Centre en route de la navigation aérienne Sud-Est", in Aix-en-Provence. A controller sees on his radars an Airbus A320 suddenly disappear and his heart skips a beat. He had been trying in vain for almost 10 minutes to contact the crew of Germanwings, which had left Barcelona this morning for Düsseldorf. The plane had left its cruising altitude of 11,600 meters without authorization, descending inexorably on the one hand and gaining speed on the other... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
In the 20th century, the great American distilleries were experiencing a real emotional elevator. For a long time, the First World War kept their factories running at full speed, from the refining of sugar cane to the fermentation of molasses, necessary for the production of alcohol which, in the end, was mainly used in the manufacture of dynamite and other explosive black powder. But all good things must come to an end, and when the conflicts finally ended, the armistice of 1918 made the biggest oil companies in the country cringe. The stage was set to produce in astronomical quantities and to anticipate the sudden increase in demand, even if it means neglecting the safety of their infrastructures, as well as that of their consumers... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
The term "smog" originates from two mixed terms: "smoke" and " fog". We owe this neologism to Doctor Henry Antoine Des Vœux who used it in one of his articles supposed to alert the Public Health Congress in 1905. For if London, crossed by the Thames and surrounded by marshes, had been used to being enveloped by fog for a long time, the industrial revolution was certainly not going to help to clear up the horizon... Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
We are in the 1986,world is cut in two by a wall that finds its epicenter in Berlin. The Cold War opposes the United States led by the former comedian and ultra liberal Ronald Reagan and on the other side the communist bloc led by the USSR of Mikhail Gorbachev. Nuclear power has also entered the home with electricity provided via power plants that are gradually appearing in the countryside. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
It is 1912, the world is at the dawn of great upheavals, Europe begins its great tear that will end in bloodshed in trenches infested with rats. Our civilization is going to change but before this human catastrophe of the first world war, a crossing that was supposed to be the symbol of the luxury of modernity and progress is going to turn into a human drama that is going to mark our civilization forever.
This catastrophe is the symbol of the power of nature in the face of the audacity of Man. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
Every day we hear about events that happen in the world. They leave their mark on the minds of all of us, in different ways. There are also disasters, natural or human, that have had a strong impact on the whole world. And that remain in our memories, whether we like it or not. We are going to trace the greatest disasters that the world has known. Shattering events that took place all over the world and that are still talked about. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices