Sada Shree
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My article on the #BhopalGasTragedy do check out and subscribe for more such posts.
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#BhopalGasTragedy was the worst industrial disaster ever in India. The scarier part is no lessons have been learnt after the tragedy, and it is waiting to happen in every city in India.
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There is a lot more to be said,but the sight of Warren Anderson, the Union Carbide chairman being escorted out of the country, with the help of the Government then, was rankling. In any law abiding country, Warren Anderson, would have been made to face the full force of law and prosecution. Here he got a special flight out of the country with support from the Central Govt.
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By December 3 early morning thousands were dead in Bhopal, the worst affected were children, owing to their height, as MIC due to it's density tends to be on ground more. Over 16,000 were claimed to be dead, and around 550,000 permanently affected with some form of illness or other.
The tragedy was terrible, but what was even worse was that it could have been prevented.
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Pathetic communication from Union Carbide ensured, that neither the authorities nor the public had any knowledge of the deadly gas leak. The city's Hamidia Hospital was first told the gas was ammonia, then phosgene.
The residents of Bhopal came to know of the deadly MIC only after they were exposed to it. No instructions to evacuate, or shelter. It was a complete criminal failure by Union Carbide.
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Within 30-40 minutes in the wee hours of December 3, 1984, about 30 tonnes of MIC escaped into the air. Within 2 hours this would be 40 tonnes, and winds blew the gas in a southeastern direction.
What followed was even worse, while the plant siren was sounded and the workers evacuated, the public was not informed, even worse Union Carbide officials gave assurances that everything was fine.
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The flare tower,whose purpose was to burn the MIC gas as it escaped, had a connecting pipe removed for maintenance, and it's size was not enough to handle the leak from E610.
A vent gas scrubber, which had been deactivated at the time and was in 'standby' mode. It had insufficient caustic soda and power to stop a leak of this magnitude.
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This could have been averted or at least mitigated by 3 safety devices all of which were malfunctioning at the same time. Or not even in proper use.
A refrigeration system meant to cool tanks containing liquid MIC, shut down in January 1982, the high temperature alarm set to sound at 11 °C (52 °F) had long since been disconnected.