Smog disaster in London in 1952

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Nelson Column in London ( 1952 )

The large smog catastrophe ( The Great Smog ) in London took place from 5 to 9 December 1952. Due to the extreme air pollution got tens of thousands of respiratory problems from which thousands died. There had been smog events in London before, but none of them were anywhere near the extent of the 1952.

Air pollution in London

From 1825 to 1925, London was the city with the largest population in the world. This led to major environmental problems early on . One of these was the emission of smoke containing sulfur dioxide from the widely used coal-fired heaters. Smog may have existed in London as early as the 13th century. This type of smog is known as winter smog (inversion weather with pollutants in the cold air area).

Even before the catastrophe of 1952, this repeatedly led to extreme smog events, for example on December 27, 1813, from December 7 to 13, 1873, in January 1880, in February 1882, in December 1891 and in November 1948. At in each of these events the number of deaths per day in London increased significantly. Up until the catastrophe of 1952, Londoners played down this smog as pea soup ( English , in German pea soup ).

Before the disaster

Traffic in London had increased sharply after the Second World War. Likewise, people could again afford coal for their chimneys and stoves. In addition, the previously electrically operated tram vehicles in public transport in London had recently been finally replaced by buses with internal combustion engines . Air pollution in London was also getting worse and worse from passenger traffic. In December 1952, the weather situation was inversion in a high pressure zone in the south of England . Cold air rushed towards London on the ground, while the air was warmer at higher altitudes. Because of the cold, the Londoners heated up vigorously and large amounts of coal smoke poured out of the chimneys. There were also emissions from factories and power plants. The pollutants could not escape due to the inversion weather.

On the morning of December 5, 1952, the air in London was still clear. The humid air gradually cooled down to the point of condensation and the first clouds of mist appeared.

Course of the disaster

On the evening of December 5, 1952, the fog suddenly thickened and visibility decreased to a few meters. During the night and in the days that followed, it was impossible even for pedestrians to find their way around. Many otherwise local people got lost. Driving was impossible even if someone was leading the car with a lamp. Many people just left their cars and tried to get by on foot. The smog became so thick that visibility almost went back to "zero". Eyewitnesses report that people who looked down at themselves could not see anything below their waist, and when they stretched their arms, the smog hid their hands.

Local visibility was barely a foot (30 cm). At times you could only find your way by feeling your way along the walls. The smog also penetrated the buildings, so that cinema and theater screenings had to be canceled because screens or stages could no longer be seen from the auditorium. On the other hand, the people would not have found their way there either.

More and more people with severe respiratory problems found themselves in the emergency rooms of the clinics, which were overloaded. It was reported that even in the emergency rooms, the smog was so thick that you couldn't see from one wall to the other. If you had only been outside for a short time, you were covered in soot and had to expect coughing fits. The buses either stopped running or got lost, even if the conductor tried to guide the bus on foot. The smog didn't lift again until December 9, 1952.

consequences

When the fog cleared, a balance was drawn. It turned out that during the days of extreme smog, the death toll in London nearly tripled. The death rate in the 55- to 65-year-old age group rose by 142 percent, and that of 65 to 75-year-olds rose by 235 percent. The maximum SO 2 concentration was 3.82 milligrams per cubic meter of air. According to various calculations, between 4,000 and 12,000 people died as a result of the smog. Babies, young children and the elderly were particularly affected, as well as people who had previously struggled with respiratory and heart diseases. As a result of the smog catastrophe, the Clean Air Act 1956 was passed, a set of measures to combat air pollution in London. Above all, the number of open chimneys has been drastically reduced. However, implementation was too slow, which is why there was another, but less dangerous case of heavy smog in 1962. As a result, further measures were decided from 1968.

literature

  • ET Wilkins: Air pollution aspects of the London smog of December 1952. In: Quarterly Journal of the Royal Meteorological Society, Volume 80, 1954, pp. 267-271.

Web links

References and comments

  1. ↑ Axel Bojanowski : 12,000 dead: Researchers clarify the cause of the London death fog In: Spiegel online from November 19, 2016.
  2. ↑ For comparison: The alert level in the EU was set at 0.5 mg / m³ in 1999, see DIRECTIVE 1999/30 / EC , appendix accessed on December 30, 2018.
  3. ↑ Sebastian Kirschner: The fog of death clears. In: G / Geschichte , No. 2/2017, p. 12.
  4. ↑ BBC ON THIS DAY | 6 | 1962: Choking fog spreads across Britain. In: news.bbc.co.uk. Retrieved November 19, 2016 .
  5. ^ Clean Air Act 1993 . The National Archives on behalf of HM Government. May 27, 1993. Retrieved December 30, 2018.