http://www.drie.org/driecron.htm

(Note: I've edited out entirely natural disasters and terrorism)

February, March, April 1996 February 29 Toronto Technical problems at clearing exchanges force fallback to manual procedures. February 29 USA "Macro" virus, transmitted through e-mail, presents hazards to computers. March 3 USA Train derailment evacuates 1,600 residents of the town of Weyauwega, Wisconsin. March 19 Toronto Power failure at Pearson Airport disables radar and causes major disruptions. April 18 Toronto Heavy water spill at Ontario Hydros Pickering Nuclear station. April 23 Ukraine Fire near Chernobyl, over radioactive land, sparks fears of a new nuclear disaster. April 25 Ukraine Minor radiation leak from reactor at Chernobyl. April 28 USA Fire near nuclear storage site a Los Alamos, New Mexico (birthplace of atom bomb).

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May 1 to August 12, 1996 May 5 Paris Credit Lyonnais Bank fire; major damage and disruption May 10 Toronto Power failure causes 7-day closure of OISE offices May 14 Delaware Power failure throughout most of state; 300,000 affected May 20 Ukraine Steam leak from nuclear plant; reactor shut down May 21 New York 500,000 suffer power outage from a transformer fire May 28 Toronto Gas leak on Esplanade; odour penetrates all bank towers June 4 Tulsa Propane gas leak, explosion blows windows out of offices June 6 Mississauga GO Train service disrupted by train derailment June 9 Foleyet Ont Train derailment causes 5 hour evacuation; no leak June 11 Sao Paolo Gas leak, explosion in mall kills 44, injures 100+ June 11 New Jersey Oil tank fire burns out of control; causes evacuation June 26 Wash. D.C. Treasury fire; closure for investigation costs $millions July 2 US/Canada Massive power blackouts in Western states and provinces July 6 Brooklyn Gas explosion causes fires and injures 12 July 14 Texas Natural gas well explosion kills 2 in town of Dime Box July 16 Japan Massive outbreak of food poisoning; thousands affected July 17 New York TWA 800 explodes; reason unknown; all 230 aboard killed July 31 Toronto Water main break evacuates Scotiabank's 44 King building August 7 U.S.A America On-Line (AOL) off 19 hrs. 6.3m users affected August 10 US West Major power failure through 9 states; 4m people affected August 10 Kerwood Sulphuric acid leak from train derailment; 250 evacuated

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November 11, 1996 to February 4, 1997 November 14 London Power failure paralyses underground trains for 3 hours November 18 Europe Fire in Chunnel; 34 passengers rescued; disaster avoided November 18 Pacific Russian space probe carrying Plutonium crashes into ocean November 21 Puerto Rico Gas explosion kills 29, injures more in San Juan November 21 Hong Kong High-rise fire, Hong Kong's worst, kills 39, injures 80 November 23 Comoro Isl. Ethiopian plane runs out of fuel, crashes, killing 123 November 23 New Jersey Amtrak train derailment injures 35 people November 27 China Gas explosion in coal mine kills at least 91 November 30 Wales Meningitis outbreak at University of Wales December 5 New York Explosion and fire in Rockefeller Centre injures 8 December 14 New Orleans Freighter slams into shopping complex, injuring 116 December 15 Sudbury Ont No injuries in an explosion in Police Headquarters December 22 Houston Explosion in metal-working factory kills 8 January 8 Pakistan Ammonia leak from tanker truck kills 18, injures 700+ January 14 Egypt Bus plummets off bridge in Cairo, killing at least 38 January 15 Toronto Chemical spill in Downsview forces thousands to evacuate January 21 California Explosion and fire at oil refinery north of San Francisco January 24 Toronto Loss of fibre cable affects some downtown businesses January 30 Houston Several killed, many injured by wall collapsing at mall February 3 Egypt Collision of freight and passenger trains kills 15 February 4 Israel 2 army helicopters collide in mid-air killing 70+

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August 12 to November 4, 1997 August 12 Arkansas Meat packer recalls 80,000 burgers after outbreak of 16 e-coli illnesses in Colorado August 18 Space Computer malfunction (one of many) on MIR almost causes abandonment September 3 New Mexico Los Alamos nuclear facility shut down due to safety concerns September 3 Vietnam Cambodian airliner crashes, killing 65 September 8 Haiti Ferry La Fierte Gonavienne tips over off shore and sinks; 400+ killed September 10 Columbus, Ohio Chemical-related explosion in paper plant injures 12 workers September 11 Japan Gas explosion in Nagoya supermarket basement injures 37 people September 11 Phoenix, Az. Explosion in apartment complex injures 11, destroys 4 buildings, damages 8 September 14 India Explosion in oil refinery kills 28+, injures 100+; panic from black rainfall September 14 Baltimore Stealth jet crashes into suburban neighbourhood during air show; 4 injured September 16 India Dozens of people trapped in collapsed office tower in Bombay September 16 Egypt Truck carrying child labourers overturns into canal, killing 29, injuring 50+ September 18 Norway Coal mine explosion on Arctic island of Spitzbergen kills 26 miners September 19 England Passenger train collides with freight train at Southall, killing 7, injuring 150+ September 21 Philippines Crash of overloaded commuter train kills 7 and injures 300+ September 22 California Small plane crashes into medical office building in Torrance, killing all 4 aboard October 2 France Bus topples off highway overpass in Marseille, killing at least 12 October 5 India INSAT2D satellite abandoned after power failure; telecom cuts up to 10 days October 13 Quebec Bus crashes into ravine killing 43 senior citizens October 16 New York Construction dust forces air traffic controllers to evacuate, disrupting many flights October 23 San Francisco Failed transformers black out 5-mile area of the city affecting 126,000 customers October 31 Milan Explosion and fire in hospital high-pressure treatment chamber kills 11 November 2 Wisconsin Train derailment of gasoline cars causes thousands to evacuate

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November 13, 1997 - January 29, 1998

19-Nov-97 Toronto GO train collision in Union Station causes 100+ injuries, rush-hour chaos 26-Nov-97 Canada 220,000 lines hit in 6 hour software-caused crash of 800/888 telephone system 02-Dec-97 Siberia Massive methane gas explosion in coal mine kills at least 59 06-Dec-97 Irkutsk, Russia Military plane crashes into apartments, killing 46 aboard, 100+ on ground 07-Dec-97 New York City A ton of bricks falls to the street from a construction project in Midtown 07-Dec-97 Quebec Midair collision of 2 planes near Montreal kills 4; due to bad communications 08-Dec-97 Indonesia Fire atop central bank office tower in Jakarta kills 15; 4 rescued by helicopter 09-Dec-97 Germany 3 diesel fuel cars explode in freight and passenger train collision, injuring 90 12-Dec-97 London Grease fire in Heathrow Airport Burger King causes major shutdown, chaos 15-Dec-97 U. A. E. Airliner from Tajikistan, preparing to land, explodes and crashes, killing 85 16-Dec-97 Japan At least 618 children suffer convulsions, seizures watching flashy TV show 17-Dec-97 Greece Ukrainian jet crashes near Mount Olympus, killing all 70 aboard 19-Dec-97 Sumatra Indonesian airliner crashes; all 104 aboard believed killed 22-Dec-97 Bangladesh Airliner crashes, but all 89 aboard miraculously survive 25-Dec-97 Pakistan Rohi Express passenger train crashes at top speed; kills 35, injures 100+ 07-Jan-98 Nevada Two blasts at an explosives plant destroy the building and injure 10 near Reno 12-Jan-98 Utah Medical helicopter transporting injured skier crashes, killing all 4 aboard 14-Jan-98 Pakistan Afghan transport plane crashes in mountains, killing all 51 aboard 16-Jan-98 Newfoundland Shipwreck in north Atlantic near St.-Pierre-Miquelon kills 21; 4 rescued 18-Jan-98 Russia Methane explosion in arctic coal mine kills at least 4, injures 5, traps 24 24-Jan-98 China Coal mine gas explosion kills 77, injures 8; news not released for 6 days 26-Jan-98 N. Russia Gas explosion in nuclear submarine kills 1, injures 5; no radiation leakage

-- John H Krempasky (johnk@dmv.com), January 06, 2000

Answers

Interesting... added up the number of incidents through the November 11, 1996 to February 4, 1997 reports (until my eyes got sore from the formatting) - came up with 48 incidents in 291 days. That works out to an incident every 6.06 days. We currently seem to be way off the charts comparatively.

-- Jim (jfm56885@aol.com), January 06, 2000.

this is not even remotely related to Y2K. plus the web site is hopelessly out of date and selects random "disasters". OT

-- tt (cuddluppy@nowhere.com), January 06, 2000.

Seems like it to me. 3-4 Chemical plant explosions reported already today, and now another nuclear shutdown. Two 3-hour shutdowns of the FAA ATC system in the NE corridor in the space of 4 days. Krempasky sure has a lot of time on his hands. Hope he catches on while he's here.

-- (squirrel@huntr.com), January 06, 2000.

Our buddy John posted this to prove that we see these things all the time, and they are not unusual. But I guess he didn't think to look at the frequency of events. Better think it through a little more next time John.

-- Jim (jfm56885@aol.com)), January 06, 2000.

John:

Perhaps you could give us a more complete list so we could compare incident rates. I must admit that going by what you submitted here, the rate seems far far higher recently.

-- tim phronesia (phronesia@webtv.net), January 06, 2000.

Boy, are people dense :-)

Of course it's well before Y2k. That's the point.

And note that stuff in general needs to be REALLY bad to make the above list.

And it safely can be assumed that much was missed. It seems rather dubious whether the above is comprehensive anyway..site is Canadian and seems to be a bit Canadocentric.

Easily 95%+ of the glitches/disasters posted on TB2000 since Y2K wouldn't even get clOSE to making a list with the same standards as the above. Go back and read them..........

The Norwegian train accident would have made it. The fire in Delhi MIGHT have made it. Even with 1 fatality I doubt the Ammonia leak would have made it.

The ATC outage in Washington clearly would not have made it. The Shell oil shutdown of part of Nigerian ops would not have made it.

It's an AMAZING example of the complete lack of critical thinking on this board that someone counts the incidents/day of the above list, compares it to the incidents cataloged on TB2000 the last 6 days, and proclaims that there actually are a lot more glitches now.

I actually considered whether that response was a sarcastic support of me, and decided it wasn't, I was so awestruck by its silliness :-)

-- John H Krempasky.. (johnk@dmv.com), January 06, 2000.

So tell me, pal, what was your point in posting this? Now you say much was pissed, it's not comprehensive blah blah blah. and none of the recent things would have made it? Then why is June 4 Tulsa Propane gas leak, explosion blows windows out of offices listed, but a leak that kills someone wouldn't have been? Better think through it ONE more time...sheesh

-- Jim (jfm56885@aol.com), January 06, 2000.

Make that "much was missed".... I'm sure it was pissed too, but that's for an entirely different thread...

-- Jim (jfm56885@aol.com), January 06, 2000.

The only reason he is posting this is to show you guys that accidents actually did happen before Jan. 1.

Hey Morons, wake up. You people act as if computer glitches are something new. The only reason it seems like a big deal is because all of a sudden every stinking one of them is being reported on this site. Why? Because a lot of you are feeling stupid right now for buying North's book and 800 lbs. of canned food.

Nobody ever said that there would be absolutely no computer problems after the rollover. We had them before and we will continue to have them.

A lot of you need to grow up, get a life, and get a grip on reality.

-- Joe Pig (Jamajama@hotmail.com), January 06, 2000.

John & Joe Pig...Reality is a hard place to visit.... Get your head out of the clouds (and the market), plus why don't you find your own forum. This one is for realist.

-- gomer (getalife@dot.com), January 06, 2000.

Well, I have to admit I'm a bit confused. Why exactly DID you post this John? We all know that these types of things have always happened, but it seems to me that the question everyone is trying to answer, is if they are happening more often now.

-- anon (none@none..com), January 06, 2000.

John:

I actually was taking both severity and timing into account. Perhaps you are not fully aware of the extent of reports in this page or others. They are almost all based on "mainstream" sources. I, myself, have been around a bit since the new year and I've seen a fair number of mild to moderate failures just in my neighborhood.

I honestly think that if we wish to do a critial analysis of 'incident' then you must submit a more reliable survey. To submit the above posting, then claim that it presents a flawed picture of the point that your making, does not serve your purpose.

If you have evidence that leads you to believe that the current 'incident' rate is near normal, will you please share it with all of us?

Thank you John. Truly, I think you are acting in goodwill, but either your 'proof' is representative or it is not-- you cannot have it both ways. But you can affect the fair and open minded by sharing whatever firm data that you actually do trust.

-- tim phronesia (phronesia@webtv.net), January 06, 2000.

John,

I am guessing you are new here. TB2000 is the doom & gloom capital of the world. If it exploded, leaked or shut down you read it here first. If anyone knows these things happen all the time we do.

If you are not offering a complete statistical analysis you are starting a fight and wasting everyone's time.

-- just me (infowars@yahoo.com), January 06, 2000.

Hey Joe Pig

I collect pigs, what you look like?

-- salene (salene814@hotmail.com), January 06, 2000.

Repeating myself here--

There won't be any NEW accidents or failures. Whatever happens will have happened before, somewhere. There will be few if any announcements that a particular incident is Y2K-related. Why should there be? It's in no one's interest to declare that.

The only way to find out is by an exhaustive world-wide statistical analysis of severe incident rates during (say) the last ten years, as compared to this year (when complete). And even then only a Statis tical Correlation can be derived (or not derived, as the case may be.) Intuition is not always unreliable, right?

And in fact it doesn't matter. Whatever breaks will have to be fixed. If it can't be fixed, or fixed soon enough, there will be consequences. Some trivial, some awkward, some unpleasant, some pretty grim. Nothing new here, right?

Since you can't run, and you can't (really) hide, there aren't many options left.

-- Tom Carey (tomcarey@mindspring.com), January 06, 2000.