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E-book
Author Scanlon, Joseph, author.

Title Catastrophe : stories and lessons from the Halifax Explosion / T. Joseph Scanlon ; edited by Roger Sarty
Published Waterloo, Ontario, Canada : Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2020

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Description 1 online resource
Contents Front Matter -- Contents -- Preface -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction -- Samuel Henry Prince -- The Collision -- Response to the Collision -- The Explosion -- Helping the Victims -- The Panic that Wasn't -- Treating the Injured -- Organizing the Response -- THE MAGNIFICENT RAILWAYS -- The Deluge -- The American Invasion -- Emergency Hospitals -- Social Assistance -- The American Legend -- Dealing with the Dead -- Media Distortions -- Why it Happened -- Return to Normalcy -- Lessons from the Explosion -- Detailed Notes About Sources -- The Railway Telegraph -- Death Toll -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index
Summary "On December 6, 1917, the Canadian city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, was shattered when volatile cargo on the SS Mont-Blanc freighter exploded in the bustling wartime harbour. More than nineteen hundred people were killed and nine thousand injured. Across more than two square kilometres some 1200 homes, factories, schools and churches were obliterated or heavily damaged. Written from a scholarly perspective but in a journalistic style accessible to the general reader, this book explores how the explosion influenced later emergency planning and disaster theory. Rich in firsthand accounts gathered in decades of research in Canada, the US, the UK, France and Norway, the book examines the disaster from all angles. It delivers an inspiring message: the women and men at 'ground zero' responded speedily, courageously, and effectively, fighting fires, rescuing the injured, and sheltering the homeless. The book also shows that the generous assistance that later came from central Canada and the US also brought some unhelpful intrusions by outside authorities. Unable to imagine the horror of the initial crisis, they ignored or even vilified a number of the first responders. This book will be of particular interest to disaster researchers and emergency planners along with journalists, and scholars of history, Maritime studies, and Canadian studies."-- Provided by publisher
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references and index
Subject Halifax Explosion, Halifax, N.S., 1917.
Disaster relief -- Nova Scotia -- Halifax -- History -- 20th century
HISTORY / Canada / Post-Confederation (1867-).
Disaster relief
SUBJECT Halifax (N.S.) -- History -- 20th century
Subject Nova Scotia -- Halifax
Genre/Form History
Form Electronic book
Author Sarty, Roger, 1952- editor.
ISBN 9781771123730
1771123737
1771123729
9781771123723