Most Americans are still recovering from last week's tragedies, both of which transfixed the nation. Just two days after the Boston Marathon bombing on Monday, a fertilizer plant in West, Texas, exploded. Fourteen people died in the industrial accident, 50 homes were completely destroyed, and buildings within a four-block radius were damaged. It was the worst industrial accident in about a decade.

But only one of those two incidents thoroughly dominated news coverage. It isn’t really surprising that the Boston Marathon bombing and the ensuing pursuit of the suspects was splashed across every front page and news channel and flooded social media networks. Yet what stands out is the degree to which it dwarfed coverage of the plant explosion. Compared to the 1.07 billion hits that “Boston bombing” got on Google News, “Texas explosion” got a paltry 150,000 hits.

Check out this comparison of the two tragedies, in terms of actual impact and media coverage:

Boston Bombing Vs. Texas Explosion
Boston Bombing Vs. Texas Explosion: A comparison of actual impact and media attention IBTimes/Lisa Mahapatra
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