By now, everyone has heard about the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. To compensate for the ecological and economic impact of the disaster, $20 billion dollars has been set up in a fund by BP. Such a ruling has angered some in India, who are calling for equal justice for the victims of the Bhopal Union Carbide plant disaster of 1984, considered the world's largest industrial accident. This gas explosion killed 3,500 people immediately, with around 15,000 eventually succumbing. after the accident, people (including second generations) continue to suffer long-term health affects. For example, two brothers born to parents exposed to the gas cannot speak or walk and also suffer from cognitive impairment. Ground water continues to be contaminated. After this disaster, the Union Carbide company abandoned the plant, claimed there would be no long-term effects, and left, wiping their hands clean of the issue. Seventeen years later, a meagre sum of $470 million was obtained as a settlement - a far cry from the ruling for the BP disaster.
Was such unequal compensation due to the location of the disaster? Would the outcry have been greater had the gas explosion occurred in a developed country? Considering the demonstrated, lingering impact of the gas explosion on Indians, the victims and residents of the area deserve more.
Read more about the Bhopal disaster at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster.
1 comment:
Thanks for posting this. I often think of that disaster and how little was done in the way of compensation.
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