History Focus |
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A short focus on a person or event associated with this day in History.
| Village Devastated- (October 21, 1966) Welsh village devastated by coal slide. |
The tiny Welsh coalmining town of Aberfan was hit by a huge disaster on October 21, 1966. A 500 foot coal dump slipped, crushing Pantglas Junior School, a row of cottages, and a farmhouse. The death toll following the disaster was 144. The disaster was made all the more worse due to the death of 116 children aged between age seven and eleven. A eyewitness described the river of coal sludge that buried the village as "a black flood with a noise like thunder." The cause of the disaster was investigated by a special tribunal. The safety procedures of the National Coal Board, which ran the Merthyr Vale colliery, came under close scrutiny. Today the cause of this disaster is known. It serves as a geological example of man's irresponsibility in his stewardship. Human activity can speed up the natural process. The earth is a delicate ecosystem. It was created to self-regulate under normal circumstances. Man can tip the balance and accelerate natural phenomena. The disaster at Aberfan was just such an incidence. Piles of excavated debris from the coal mine were piled on a hillside above the coal seam. The piles had been there for more than 20 years, on top of a highly porous Sandstone rock layer. The sandstone had many springs coming out of it, and several of the coal piles were placed above these springs. This activity led to destabilization of the piles in 1944 and 1963, with non-damaging slides. The disregard for the geological conditions continued. The warnings of previous smaller slides was ignored. The debris from the coal mines continued to be piled above the spring fed sandstone. In 1966 the disregard for nature reached its maximum. The balance could no longer correct itself. A disaster occurred. The 1966 slide was devastating in the loss of human life. This disaster was preventable.
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