Online Bhopal Memorial
As I said earlier, I missed the 20th anniversary of the Bhopal disaster. But I sent this note to colleagues at TCNJ as an online memorial.December 3 was the 20th anniversary of the worst industrial accident in the history of the world. It went largely unmarked on the TCNJ campus, but that was my fault. I wanted to do something but got caught up in grading and last-minute work. So I'm providing this little synopsis as a means of seeding a kind of online memorial.
As of December, 1984, there was in India a type of aphid (pictured) that destroys crops as completely as anything could:- it sucks out the sap;
- it poisons the plant with its saliva;
- it poops out honeydew to attract ants.
The Union Carbide Corporation, since merged into Dow Chemical, developed a pesticide called Sevin. This was thought to be a replacement for DDT, because
- its half-life in soil < two months;
- it's not water soluble; breaks down in water by chemical means, sunlight, and microorganisms;
- it's not very toxic to humans or animals;
- it's not much of an eye irritant;
- it offers little potential for genetic damage;
- and it kills darn near any kind of insect.
- it's formed when phosgene and methylamine gases react to produce methyl isocyanate (MIC);
- and MIC can only be stored at VERY LOW temperatures; it's HIGHLY toxic; it reacts VIOLENTLY with WATER, having a boiling point of 39C;
- and if you breathe it, it'll destroy your respiratory system; get it in your eyes and you'll go blind; it burns skin like mad...
- and it smells like boiled cabbage.
- It naturally draws people from the surrounding countryside because it has roads, services, railroads, electricity, and water.
- Families moving to Bhopal would find themselves living on three to four rupees per day, and living on a 27-ft^2 patch of ground
While this dangerous storage and production was going on, Union Carbide sales reps learned that
- India's 300 million peasant farmers speak 600 different languages and dialects;
- while Sevin directions were published in ENGLISH
- and many farmers were already satisfied with DDT
Union Carbide installed state-of-the-art safety measures:
- Decontamination towers
- Gas scrubbers
- Flare towers
- Water curtains
- Valves and diverters
- Sensors and gauges
- High-resistance welding
- Alarms
- Strong safety initiatives within the plant
Union Carbide was restricted by Indian law on how much money it could invest in the plant, as an outside company. So they handed management off to Union Carbide India Ltd. -- but also cut the budget for the plant, so that UCC could retain ownership
of 51% of the plant.
In the presence of these budget cuts,
- UCC did water testing but never released results;
- at least one water source was poisoned and locals weren't told.
- Workers didn't know what the plant produced!
- Neither did the on-site doctor!
- Safety manuals were written in English and/or Hindi. Some workers didn't speak either.
- A shanty town was already in existence when plant opened; but grew as local residents were employed at the plant -- people move where the jobs are!
- Analysis of weather patterns showed prevailing winds would blow any gases released by the plant right over the shanty town.
- A local tabloid predicted disaster! But would we listen in the USA if disaster were predicted by the Weekly World News?
- skilled retirees were replaced with unskilled newbies;
- maintenance and quality control schedules were reduced;
- so was the instrument replacement schedule;
- some instruments were broken and never replaced, including
- freon refrigeration
- decontamination towers
- flare towers
- temporary alarms
- wind socks (for crying out loud!)
- was FULL of MIC;
- though UCC regulations called for only a small amount to be stored in each tank and kept under pressure;
- outlet pipes from this tank (and others) were not properly flushed and serviced
- and it was impossible to transfer MIC from 610 to neighboring tanks when the accident came down.
MIC gases formed at an extraordinary rate. Workers tried to stop the gases, and were faced with a cascade of Murphy's Law the like of which had never been seen in history:
- accident takes place at 12:05 AM: residents asleep;
- smell of boiled cabbage: most control room employees on lunch break (not to mention most gauges in control room broken)
- plant refrigeration system to cool the reaction: flushed and never refilled;
- valve to route gases to adjacent tank: pressure gauge broken, reads adjacent tank full when it's actually empty;
- gases routed to scrubber: reaction already releasing gases at a pressure and volume flow rate much MUCH greater than the scrubber is designed to handle;
- flare tower to burn gases away: supply line broken and never replaced;
- spray water on gases to confine them near the ground: hoses only shoot water up to 40 feet, and gases are at 100 feet.
With the prevailing winds carrying the gases directly over the shanty town, 2500 people died that very night. 20000 were injured. Since 1984, some estimate that over 500000 have been injured to this day, including birth defects.
The Indian government closed the plant and seized its records, delaying a UCC failure investigation for a year. By this time, eyewitnesses were scattered. The government, acting as agent for the killed and injured, accepted a settlement of
US $470M from UCC -- chump change -- and most of it has never reached those most hurt. Then-UCC CEO Warren Anderson, now well in his 80s at least, has been a fugitive from Indian justice ever since, and is spending his "golden years" in hiding. And Dow Chemical, though "honoring" Bhopal on its Web site, does not accept any responsibility for the accident to this day.
References:
LaPierre & Moro, Five Past Midnight in Bhopal
Casey, Set Phasers on Stun
Mehta, "Bhopal Lives." Village Voice, 12.1996.
What you can do:
No chance for an on-campus vigil. But maybe you can hold up the folks of Bhopal in your thoughts and prayers. And remember the lessons this tragedy has taught us. There are certainly many. And there are dozens of Web sites out there with more
info about what others have done to memorialize Bhopal, if you want to learn more.
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posted by Ron @ 6:05 PM
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