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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 6:05 pm
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As of yesterday. I would have liked to talk about this on the anniversary, but studying for my exam forbade it. (As fate would have it, I was studying for an exam on industrial safety and loss management...)
I currently live in Halifax and researched the Halifax Explosion a fair bit while living here, but for those of you who are unaware of what the Halifax Explosion was and what it's effects were, it is considered to be the largest accidental human caused explosion to have occurred in the world. At 9:04 Dec. 6, 1917 a ship carrying wartime explosives detonated due to an accidental collision with another ship in the harbour. 2,000 people were killed, and 9,000 people were injured, including a very large number of them killed or blinded due to shattered glass as they watched from the windows up to 16 km away. (This killed more Nova Scotians than WW1 did directly.) The explosion was felt or heard even 360 km away. And... as luck would have it, Halifax reportedly witnessed it's most severe blizzard of the century that very night of the incident, just after the majority of the city was left homeless or without adequate housing. That is some bad luck.
Fortunately, a lot of aid was offered to Halifax during this time, most notably from the Boston Red Cross. Each year as a thank-you, the city of Halifax donates the biggest, most beautiful tree it can find to Boston to be used as it's official tree in the Boston Common. A Christmas tradition that actually means something.
I frequently think about what Halifax might be like if this never occurred. For one, the entire North End would have a different structure and function, as it was obliterated and rebuilt entirely. And undoubtably, those 2,000 people and their children would have had a different effect on the world if they had lived. But, this explosion also lead to increased medical knowledge in treating eye injuries, as there was a high demand for it. So there was a small bit of good in an otherwise gloomy aftermath after all.
I would like to start a discussion here now about... well, disastrous events in the recent or distant path and how they may have affected your lives... in a very general, whatever you think is appropriate way. Also, traditions, and which ones have meaningful history to you. Also, just comments.
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 6:27 pm
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 6:32 pm
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Bongardo Ogyshi And... as luck would have it, Halifax reportedly witnessed it's most severe blizzard of the century that very night of the incident, just after the majority of the city was left homeless or without adequate housing. That is some bad luck. Seriously?? I was unaware of that... wow. That is terrible luck... ?!?! I did not know you were in this guild. Hello. And yes, yes it is terrible.
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 6:49 pm
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The explosion... sad
I'm from Nova Scotia, and I've lived in Halifax (although I'm not native to that area of the province). I'm not really sure what to say about it, though. We studied it in school, of course, in great detail. In 2005 I got a chance to see a wonderful play called Shatter, which was set right before, during, and after the explosion. Needless to say, it was extremely moving.
It's depressing to think about how badly the city was devastated. Halifax is the biggest city in the province, but it can have a small-town feel, especially for people who've lived there a long time. I think the disaster still sort of lingers in the collective memories of Nova Scotians, even though there probably aren't very many people still alive who actually experienced it.
My mother has been doing genealogical research for our family, and unfortunately, she's run into one of the effects of the explosion: thousands and thousands of legal documents were destroyed. In her case, she'll never know where her father came from. It goes without saying that this is trivial compared to the lives lost and the people who were injured, though.
Anyway, I'm glad that the Christmas tree is still being sent to Boston every year. :3 The city deserves it.
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Posted: Tue Dec 07, 2010 7:03 pm
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 8:30 am
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Posted: Wed Dec 08, 2010 9:18 pm
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Posted: Thu Dec 09, 2010 2:59 am
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