Natural disasters, such as tornados, hurricanes, earthquakes, fires, floods and volcanic eruptions, have caused devastating effects. However, human-caused disasters can have equally devastating impacts on the lives of countless people.
Here are five of the biggest human-caused disasters to occur in modern history.
1. Chernobyl Disaster
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In 1986, an explosion at the Number 4 nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl Nuclear Power Plant released massive amounts of radioactive material into the surrounding area. Some of these materials were 400 times more radioactive than the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima. The explosion resulted from a safety experiment meant to test the steam turbines and emergency feedwater pumps in the case of power failure that went wrong.
