There are many wonderful places in the world. Fabulous sun-kissed beaches with miles of golden sands，wonderful mountains with crystal steams cascading down into tropical paradises.
However, in our big world, there are also some horrendous cities populated by a subculture of pollution, poverty or gangsters. Here you will discover some of the most polluted and violent places.
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Cubatao is located in an area of wetlands (marsh and sand beaches) between the Atlantic Ocean and the Serra do Mar mountains (800 m high).
In the late 1970s, a series of newspaper articles in the Sao Paulo press described the region around the city of Cubatao, Brazil, as the "valley of death" and the "most polluted city in the world."
One of the largest petroleum refineries in the country is located in Cubatão, producing oil, asphalt, plastic, synthetic rubber, and propane and butane gas, in addition to petroleum fuels.
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Bassac apartments was one of the architectural jewels of Cambodia, the innovative apartment complex designed in the early 1960s by Lu Ban Hap.
Now it is a crumbling ruin inhabited by squatters. The prospects for this community have triggered more concerns.
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Kabwe is the capital of the Zambian Central Province with a population estimated at 210000.
It is one of the most polluted places in the world.
When rich deposits of lead were discovered near Kabwe in 1902, little concern was given for the impact that the toxic metal might have on native Zambians.
On average, lead concentrations in children are five to 10 times the permissible U.S. Environmental Protection Agency levels, and can even be high enough to kill.
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Kibera houses almost 1 million residents. It is the biggest slum in Africa and one of the biggest in the world.
10% of people are shack owners and many of these people own many other shacks and sub-let them. All the rest are tenants with no rights.
Cheap drugs and glue sniffing are an increasing problem. Initially taken to alleviate boredom but then people find themselves hooked.
At any one time about 50% of 16 to 25 yr old girls are pregnant. Most of these pregnancies are unwanted, resulting in many cases of abortion. This can be very dangerous, particularly in such a poor area as Kibera.
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The favelas or slums of Rio de Janeiro in Brazil are famous for their gangs, drug dealing and violence.
Rio de Janeiro's slums are better than other slums for its sanitary facilities, plumbing system and other city utilities.
Regular shoot-outs between traffickers and police and other criminals, as well as assorted illegal activities, has made here the most dangerous place.
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Asia's largest slum, Dharavi, lies on prime property right in the middle of India's financial capital, Mumbai.
A bright side of Dharavi is that it provides a cheap and affordable option to those who move to Mumbai to earn their living.
Rents here can be as low as 4 U.S. dollars per month.
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Mogadiscio, Somalia
It is a city with endless violence. Many residents had escaped from the turmoil.
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Dzerzhinsk is a significant center of Russian chemical manufacturing. The city was also home to a leaded gasoline factory that produced TEL, a potent toxin.
A quarter of the city's 300,000 residents are still employed in factories that produce toxic chemicals. The average life expectancy is reported to be 42 years for men and 47 for women.
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The Chernobyl Power Complex, lies about 130 km north of Kiev, Ukraine, and about 20 km south of the border with Belarus.
The Chernobyl accident happened in 1986. It is a total disaster.
The resulting steam explosion and fires released at least 5% of the radioactive reactor core into the atmosphere and downwind.
In 1989, the World Health Organization (WHO) first raised concerns that local medical scientists had incorrectly attributed various biological and health effects to radiation exposure.
Från: Ett av mina husorgan (jag har många) People's Daily Online (Kina)
