UNION CARBIDE CORP.: HANDLING THE DISASTER IN BHOPAL

Union Carbide Corp.: Handling the Disaster in Bhopal

Union Carbide Corp.: Handling the Disaster in Bhopal

In 1984, as if in a very bad illusion, a cloud of venom gas reached out and snuffed the lives of thousands of dozing persons in the town of Bhopal, India. The inhabitants awoke to a terrible catastrophe, a chemical explosion whose recollection could very well not ever be forgotten. At the center of the tragedy was the Union Carbide pesticide plant, and surrounding the accident were doubts and allegations of disregard and unethical practices.

The Union Carbide Disaster

On December 3, 1984, one of the world's worst chemical catastrophes came about at the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. 40 tons of vaporous methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas blew up, releasing a toxic blend of MIC, hydrogen cyanide, monomethyl amine, carbon monoxide, and at smallest 20 other lethal chemicals into the air. As many as 3,000 persons past away, and approximates of injuries extended from 20,000 to 300,000 persons (Hedges 2000).

The persons of Bhopal mentioned to it as "The Devils' Night." In the aftermath, there were 70 burial pyres 25 bodies high, all flaming together. Mass graves overflowed, and babies past away in clinics that reported a death occurring every minute. Animal carcasses littered the rural areas as well as soars and vultures. Leaves on trees shriveled; crops were seared, milk was ruined and water ways had a filmy level on the surface. The noise of wailing, grieving relations, the moans of those that endured and where in agony, in addition to famished children crying was everywhere."(Lang, 1984) This catastrophe was a calamity of proportions after measure.

The Bhopal catastrophe was the outcome of a combination of legal, technological, organizational, and human errors. The direct origin of the chemical reaction was the seepage of water (500 liters)into the MIC storage tank. The results of this answer were exacerbated by the failure of containment and security assesses and by a entire absence of community data and crisis procedures. The long period consequences were made poorer by the absence of systems to care for and reimburse the victims.

Furthermore, security standards and maintenance methods at the vegetation had been worsening and disregarded for months. A records of the defects of the MIC unit runs as follows:

Gauges measuring temperature and force in the various pcreative pursuits of the unit, including the vital MIC storage tanks, were so notoriously unreliable that employees disregarded early signs of problem (Weir, pp.41-42).

The refrigeration unit for holding MIC at low temperatures (and thus less expected to undergo overheating and expansion should a contaminant go in the container) had been closed off for some time (Weir, pp.41-42). -The gas scrubber, designed to neutralize any getting away MIC, had been fasten off for maintenance. Even had it been operative, post-disaster inquiries disclosed, the maximum pressure it could handle was only one-quarter that which was actually come to in the accident (Weir, ...