On 10 November 1979 a 106-car Canadian Pacific freight train carrying chemicals derailed in Mississauga, Ontario. Cars carrying explosive and poisonous chemicals, including propane and chlorine, were involved, and a fire and explosions followed. Because of the risk of a toxic chlorine release, about 218,000 people, close to a quarter of a million, were evacuated from the area for days, which was among the largest peacetime evacuations in North American history. No one died. The response, including its planning, became a model for emergency management.

Hampi is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Karnataka, India, with more than 1,600 surviving remains spread over 4,100 hectares. It was the capital of the Vijayanagara Empire from 1336 to 1565. Travellers from Persia and Portugal described it as a prosperous, wealthy and grand city with temples, markets and farms along the Tungabhadra River. By 1500 it was estimated to be the world's second-largest city after Beijing, and probably India's richest at the time. In 1565 a coalition of Muslim sultanates defeated the Vijayanagara Empire, its capital was conquered and destroyed, and the city was left in ruins. Hampi remains a religious centre, with the active Virupaksha Temple at its heart.