Made Worse By Man

Donetsk, Ukraine is not new to the media after its' capture by rebels and the following months of continued conflict that have plagued the city. Then this past Wednesday, “a methane gas explosion in a coal mine killed at least 24 workers and left nine missing” (USA Today).
The rescue efforts lasted very long, many arguing that it was much too long, with separatist authorities accusing the Ukrainian government of not trying hard enough to save the trapped men.
The death toll of the blast has become quite the controversy as the rebel government, the one that has control of the city, has been inefficient in disclosing information, while the Ukranian government quickly announced a death toll of 32, before later retracting the statement. Originally, the rebels argued that there was only one death, but the total has been sense raised to 24, with more people stated as missing.
The incident was made worse by the government, or lack there of that is in place in the city. Because of the conflicting stances of the two parties, the coal mine explosion has been difficult to control, and to this day there are still 32 unaccounted for workers. The Ukrainian Prime Minister even blamed the rebels of preventing a Ukrainian rescue team from entering the mines to help save the workers. This incident should be absolutely considered a disaster because of how vulnerable this area is due to the impending conflict and the state the government is in. Also, because mining is so hazardous to everyone involved, and the activity occurs so deep below ground this disaster is both difficult to manage and has a huge risk associated with it.
In terms of the government making a disaster worse, we can see this in America’s own

history. In 2005, Hurricane Katrina hit New Orleans and while this storm was named one of the five deadliest hurricanes to hit the United States, the government that was in place at the time only made the disaster worse. The response that was provided was delayed and many people who survived the actual hurricane, died because of lack of water, food, and shelter due to this slow response by the Government. 

While neither of these responses were manmade, the acting governments at the time helped to make the situations worse and further the disaster longer than it should have been. In terms of Ukraine, if the conflict there was not occurring the media would have been able to know exactly what was happening and the rescue crews would have been able to get in safely and effectively. In terms of Hurricane Katrina, the governments lack of preparedness caused many extra casualties and further perpetuated the already awful Hurricane. Both of these incidents should be classified as natural disasters perpetuated by man. 

Sources

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2015/03/04/mine-blast-ukraine/24359799/

http://web.mit.edu/12.000/www/m2010/finalwebsite/katrina/government/government-response.html