Task 5:
Not Stated (2004). Springhill Mining Disaster. In Wikipedia [Web]. Retrieved November 29, 2007, from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Springhill_Mining_Disaster
Mining disasters such as cave-ins are commonly known to have a devastating effect on the way that nearby economies operate.
Firstly, the obvious loss of miners is destructive to not only the mining company, but of course, the families of the miners themselves. Added to the loss of miners and need for hiring more people at the mining company, families would also take grief days off of work, in turn, causing some other lack of people working.
Moreover, mining cave-ins pose the overt problem of inaccessible mines. Such a dilemma would furthermore cause an inaccessibility of whatever materials that may lie in the recently caved-in mines. This would cause a famine of such materials in whichever towns may rely on this mine. The town would not only suffer losses of workers both permanently, and short-term, but also suffer the inability to fulfill other area’s trade regulations, therefore not having the ability to import from other areas in turn, causing a famine of many other products.
In short, mining disasters can have a calamitous effect on the area’s economy. With consequences in range from loss of workers due to death and grief, to loss of import and exporting abilities due to blockage of a mine, it is clear that steps must be taken to help prevent or predict such disasters.