IIRC the similar 1947 Ammonium Nitrate explosion in Texas City was was slightly larger (~4kt to the Halifax incident's ~3kt). Both were extremely devastating (Halifax was worse, given the shape of teh harbour and surrounding areas and the higher population near the harbourfront).
-Adam frank theriault wrote: > > Not only was it the largest man-made explosion until the atomic bomb, > it remains the largest non-atomic man-made explosion ever. > > My family is from Halifax, and my late grandfather was a 12 year old > boy, on his way to his first day at work on December 6, 1917. He was > late, and was still walking down the street on the south side of > Halifax when the explosion happened. Had he been at work, inside, > it's quite likely that he would have been injured or killed as the > building collapsed. As it was, he was uninjured, but he refused to > talk about that day or the explosion until the day he died. > > As the story said, Halifax was hit with a blizzard that night, the > worst one in some 20 years. It's estimated that around 2,000 were > killed by the explosion. Many more succumbed to exposure that night, > as they lay injured or trapped in their damaged houses. Another > problem was fire, as the explosion either ruptured gas lines or > knocked over coal stoves and space heaters, causing fires. > > Even though it's been some 89 years, the event is still a remembered > in Halifax, even if it's not a well-known piece of Canadian history > (you'd be surprised how many otherwise intelligent and educated > Canadians I relate this story to, who have never heard of it!). > > After the explosion rail lines into Halifax were badly damaged, and > had to be repaired before relief supplies and medical assistance could > arrive from the rest of Canada. The first relief arrived by sea from > Boston. To this day, the Province of Nova Scotia send the biggest > Christmas tree they can find to Boston, in thanks and recognition of > their help all those years ago. That tree is the one that they light > in the Boston Common each year. > > cheers, > frank > > > > > > -- PDML Pentax-Discuss Mail List [email protected] http://pdml.net/mailman/listinfo/pdml_pdml.net
