On 21 October 1966 a colliery spoil tip above the Welsh village of Aberfan, near Merthyr Tydfil, collapsed after weeks of heavy rain. The tip had been built on ground where natural springs emerged, against the National Coal Board's own procedures, and the saturated waste slid downhill as a slurry. It engulfed Pantglas Junior School, where lessons had just started, and a row of houses, killing 116 children and 28 adults. An official inquiry led by Lord Justice Edmund Davies placed the blame on the National Coal Board and nine named employees. No one was prosecuted, and the organisation was not fined. Residents then fought a long campaign against cost-based resistance to remove the remaining tips.

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.