BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY
BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY
By URJIT ZAVERI 14BLS119
On the night of December 2, 1984 forty one metric tons of methyl isocyanate also known as MIC was released from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. After one year of this incident almost 1800 people dies in this disaster and 320,000 people had been affected by it. By 1991,around 4000 people dies because of the gas in their body.
Union carbide was a U.S company that started manufacturing pesticides in Bhopal, India. The valve malfunctioned on the 2nd December 1984 because of which a lot of water got inside the storage tanks where MIC was stored. MIC is very harmful when it comes in contact with water. It starts heating and it turns into a gas which can be very fatal if inhaled. Within 2 hours the storage tank was empty and all the gas was out there in the city. The wind carried the cloud of gas to a vast area of 40 sq km. The next morning, several thousands were discovered lying dead on the streets of Bhopal, filled with fluid and in some cases holes appeared in the lungs due to the reaction with MIC.
To date, they claim 20,000 have died and 150,000 are chronically ill and clean-up efforts are not up to date. Communities around Bhopal drinking water are still contaminated. Women are having gynaecological problems and are giving birth to babies that have birth defects. Thousands of seriously affected survivors have suffered such extensive lung damage, that they no longer can apply themselves physically. Their vision often gets blurred, spells of dizziness overtake them and walking briskly even for a few minutes sends them gasping to their knees, their chests aching.
Now the major question that arises in my mind is, was it an accident or not. I am asking this question because this catastrophe could be avoided if the four safety measures were working and if the company had told the people what to do in case of such an incident.
1 the refrigeration system was switched off which could have kept the MIC cool and not turn it
By URJIT ZAVERI 14BLS119
On the night of December 2, 1984 forty one metric tons of methyl isocyanate also known as MIC was released from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal. After one year of this incident almost 1800 people dies in this disaster and 320,000 people had been affected by it. By 1991,around 4000 people dies because of the gas in their body.
Union carbide was a U.S company that started manufacturing pesticides in Bhopal, India. The valve malfunctioned on the 2nd December 1984 because of which a lot of water got inside the storage tanks where MIC was stored. MIC is very harmful when it comes in contact with water. It starts heating and it turns into a gas which can be very fatal if inhaled. Within 2 hours the storage tank was empty and all the gas was out there in the city. The wind carried the cloud of gas to a vast area of 40 sq km. The next morning, several thousands were discovered lying dead on the streets of Bhopal, filled with fluid and in some cases holes appeared in the lungs due to the reaction with MIC.
To date, they claim 20,000 have died and 150,000 are chronically ill and clean-up efforts are not up to date. Communities around Bhopal drinking water are still contaminated. Women are having gynaecological problems and are giving birth to babies that have birth defects. Thousands of seriously affected survivors have suffered such extensive lung damage, that they no longer can apply themselves physically. Their vision often gets blurred, spells of dizziness overtake them and walking briskly even for a few minutes sends them gasping to their knees, their chests aching.
Now the major question that arises in my mind is, was it an accident or not. I am asking this question because this catastrophe could be avoided if the four safety measures were working and if the company had told the people what to do in case of such an incident.
1 the refrigeration system was switched off which could have kept the MIC cool and not turn it