The Elements of Risk in the Great Smog of

London 1952
Introduction

 In the winter 1952 of London England, it experienced a disaster that severely
impacted the city due to a dense combination of fog and smoke, otherwise known as
smog, where it reduced the visibility to virtually zero as the people of London were
only able to see less than 10 meters (Laskin, 2006). The smog lasted for 4 days
between the fifth and the ninth of December in 1952 where the initial death toll of
the disaster was at least 4,000 people and more than 150,000 people were
hospitalized from health issues due to the polluted air of the smog (Ellington-Brown,
2009; Deamer, 2016). However, ten weeks after the disaster had occurred, an
additional 8,000 had died caused by the level of pollution the smog had carried
(Black, 2003). In the analysis of the disaster that is now known as “The Great Smog of
London”, the unique combination of natural hazards and human error had
contributed to the creation of the dense smog as the cold winter led to the mass
amount of coal to be burnt, thus creating the dense smoke (Davis, Bell, & Fletcher,
2002).  During the main discussion of the literature review, it will focus on the risk
elements of “The Great Smog of London” and how the disaster affected the city and
the aftermath that came from the smog disaster.

Hazard

 During the winter of 1952, the citizens of London, England experienced foggy and
cold weather within the month of December, in which, led to people burning mass
quantities of coal to produce heat for households, businesses, and other
infrastructures (Laskin, 2006). The burning of coal and other products of combustion
from factories and industries release toxic fumes into the air that include sulfur
dioxide, carbon monoxide, Carbon Dioxide, sulfuric acid mist and tar (Wilkins, 1954).
Although many people expected the smoke from the burning cold to dissipate into
the air, the combination of the previously existing fog and the smoke produced by
the coal was enclosed in an anticyclone that trapped the polluted air and settled
within the city of London (Donaldson, 2003). An anticyclone appears in high-pressure
areas where it causes the winds to circulate in a clockwise direction in the Northern
Hemisphere and vise versa within the Southern Hemisphere; usually forming when air
masses cool the area quickly making the air denser, thus adding weight to the
atmosphere above the area and increases the air pressure (“What is an anticyclone?”,
2011). Because of the increased air pressure and cooling, it results in the anticyclone
to form “through the loss of infrared radiation over land” in seasons where sunlight is
scarce to warm the air masses (“What is an anticyclone?”, 2011). With the
combination of weather complications from the anticyclone and the extensive smoke
created from burning coal, the air visibility was reduced to the point where citizens of
London were unable to use any transport vehicles and flights at Heathrow Airport
cancelled due to the visibility issue (Laskin, 2006). Surprisingly, the issue of London’s
fog has become frequent where it has been noted famously by Charles Dickens to
Claude Monet, where the appearance of fog has averaged of 63 foggy days per year
(Leser, 2015). However, during the time period of 1941 to 1946, the foggy weather
tended to frequently appear in London in the months of December, January, and
November where the fog visibility that was less than 550 yards occurred 23% on
occasions and dense fog with the visibility of less than 30 yards occurred 0.8%
(Wilkins, 1954).     

Vulnerability

 Although the tragic events from the disaster led to the deaths and many to have
long-term health issues due to the inhalation of the toxic fumes of the smog, it could
have been prevented in the analysis of human vulnerability. A major issue that has to
be noted was that the London residents had adapted to the foggy weather.
Throughout the 19th and 20th century, London was well-known for the foggy weather,
thus making the frequent appearance of the smog was not an unusual sight for
London citizens where the British journal of The Medical Officer noted that, “It was
simply the occurrence of a well-known meteorological phenomena in an area where
the toxic products of combustion are vomited in excess into the air” (Laskin, 2006).
With the average of 63 appearances of the smog per year (Leser, 2015), the citizens
adaption to the foggy weather is inevitable but the long-term affects of breathing
the toxic fumes of the smog is lethal. Contents of the smog included sulphuric
dioxide and other gases that are emitted into the air by the burning of coal, oil, and
other combustion products from industrial plants (Wilkins, 1954). Although the
pollutants within the smog had lethal affects, citizens of London were casual when
the foggy weather fell upon them as they saw no harm being done to them until the
disaster occurred in December of 1952.    

Intervening Conditions

 An interference that may have led to the causation of the built up smog was the
economic distress of the country. In the aftermath of World War II, Britain still was
suffering financials as the war effectively bankrupt the national treasury (Laskin,
2006). As a result of the country in financial distress, it had led to the increase of
production from industrial plants and to 8,000 diesel buses, that replaced the city
trams, being ran to transport citizens to their desired location (Laskin, 2006). In
combination of the increased production system to recover Britain’s economy and
smoke from burning coal to combat the frigid weather, this led to “1,000 tons of
smoke particles, 2,000 tons of carbon dioxide, and 370 tons of sulfur dioxide” to be
released into the air within a 24 hour period (Laskin, 2006, p. 44). Although the
affects from burning and producing coal released many toxins into the air, it
provided Britain some source of income and circulate it back into the country’s
economy that was still recovering from the cost damages from the war. In addition to
improving Britain’s economy from the war, businesses were still functioning while in
midst of the smog. As it was previously stated, transportation vehicles such as diesel
buses continue to operate during the disaster to commute to their place of business,
but transportation seized immediately when the fog visibility determined that it was
unsafe for vehicles to be on the road and many were abandoned in the street (Laskin,
2006; Ellington-Brown, 2009).