DISASTER MANGEMENT

1. BHOPAL GAS
DISASTER
2ND-3RD DECEMBER 1984
THE NIGHT OF DEATH
BY-DHIRAJ BHALERAO

2. CONTEXT
1. Overview
2. Disaster Dhiraj
3. The Leakage
4. Heath Issues Pranav
5. Immediate Aftermath
6. Factor For Gas Leak Nilesh
7. Legal Issues Prathmesh
8. Ethical Aspects Aakash

3. OVERVIEW
An industrial
disaster of an
incomparable
magnitude of all
the time

4.  In the 1970s, the Indian government initiated policies to encourage foreign companies to
invest in local industry.
 Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) was asked to build a plant for the manufacture of Sevin, a
pesticide commonly used throughout Asia.
 The government itself had a 22% stake in the company Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) .
 The company built the plant in Bhopal because of its central location and access to
transport infrastructure.
 The plant was initially approved only for formulation of pesticides from component
chemicals, such as MIC(methyl iso cyanide).

5.  The main role of UCC was to supply Pesticides to
farmers of India.
 In 1984 the company was processing just one
quarter of its total production because of the crop
failure in 1980.
 Hence the production of the company decreased .
 Local managers were directed to close the plant
and prepare it for sale in July 1984 due to
decreased profitability.
 When no ready buyer was found, UCC made plans
to dismantle key production units of the facility for
shipment to another developing country.

6. DISASTER

7.  Bhopal gas tragedy was a gas
leak incident in India- the world's
worst industrial disaster.
 Occurred on the night of 2–3
December 1984 at the Union
Carbide India
Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant
in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
 Over 50,000 people were exposed
to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas
and other chemicals.
 The toxic substance made its way
in and around the towns located
near the plant.

8. The Leakage
 In November 1984, most of the
safety systems were not functioning.
 Valves and lines were in poor
condition, vent gas scrubbers had
been out of service as well as the
steam boiler, intended to clean the
pipes.
 During the night of 2–3 December
1984, water entered a side pipe of
Tank 610 which contained 42 tons of
MIC.

9.  A reaction started, which was accelerated by contaminants, high
temperatures and other factors.
 Also presence of iron from corroding non-stainless steel pipelines.
 This caused exothermic reaction which increased the temperature
inside the tank to over 200 °C and raised the pressure.
 This released a large volume of toxic gases; about 30 metric tons of
methyl isocyanate (MIC) escaped from the tank into the atmosphere in
45 to 60 minutes.

10. CONSEQUENCES

11. Health Issues
 The initial effects- coughing, severe eye irritation,
suffocation, burning in the respiratory tract,
breathlessness, stomach pain and vomiting.
 The immediate death toll was 2,259;
the government confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths
related to the gas release.
 The leak caused 558,125 injuries including 38,478
temporary partial injuries and approximately
3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.
 Others estimates 8,000 died within two weeks and
another 8,000 or more have since died from gas-
related diseases.

12. Studied and reported long term health effects are:
 Eyes: Chronic conjunctivitis, scars on cornea, corneal
opacities, early cataracts.
 Respiratory tracts: Obstructive and/or restrictive disease,
pulmonary fibrosis, aggravation of TB and chronic
bronchitis.
 Neurological system: Impairment of memory, finer motor
skills, numbness etc.
 Psychological problems: Post traumatic stress disorder
(PTSD)

13.  Children’s health: Perinatal and neonatal
death rates increased, failure to grow,
intellectual impairment etc.
 Missing or insufficient fields for research
are reproduction, chromosomal
aberrations, cancer, immune deficiency,
neurological problems, post traumatic
stress disorder (PTSD) and children born
after the disaster.
 Late cases that might never be highlighted
are respiratory insufficiency, cardiac
insufficiency, cancer and tuberculosis.

14. Immediate Aftermath
 The plant was closed to outsiders by
the Indian government.
 Lack of information by government caused
confusion.
 The health care system became overloaded
having 70% under qualified doctors.
 Medical staff unprepared for the thousands
of casualties.

15.  Doctors and hospitals unaware of proper treatment methods for MIC
gas inhalation.
 Mass funerals and cremations.
 Trees in the vicinity became barren.
 Bloated animal carcasses had to be disposed of.

16.  170,000 people were treated at hospitals and temporary
dispensaries.
 Supplies including food, became scarce due to suppliers' safety
fears.
 Fishing prohibited causing supply shortages.
 The Government of India passed the "Bhopal Gas Leak Disaster Act"
giving the government rights to represent all victims.

18. Factors for Gas Leak
 Use of hazardous chemicals (MIC)
instead of less dangerous ones.
 Storing these chemicals in large tanks
instead of steel drums.
 Corrosion of pipelines.
 Poor maintenance after the plant
ceased production in the early 1980s.
 Failure of several safety systems.

19.  Safety systems shut down to save money
- including the MIC tank refrigeration
system.
 Plant design modifications did not abide
by government regulations and
economic pressures in order to reduce
expenses.
 The problem was made worse by the
plant's location near a densely populated
area, non-existent catastrophe plans and
shortcomings in health care ,etc.

20. LEGAL ISSUES

21.  Civil and criminal cases were filed in the district court of Bhopal
involving UCC and Warren Anderson, CEO at the time.
 Legal Issues: One of the main issues which the Bhopal Gas tragedy
raises is the issue of absolute liability.
 The Principle of Absolute Liability states that when an enterprise is
engaged in hazardous or inherently dangerous industry and if any
harm results in account of such activity then the enterprise is
absolutely liable to compensate for such harm and that it should be
no answer to the enterprise to say that it had taken all reasonable
care and that the harm occurred without any negligence on its
part.

22.  This is the principle of absolute liability and liability can be fixed even if
there is no negligence on part of the accused.
 Thus, even if the accident is some freak incident, liability would still be
fixed.
 In such a case, it would be no good defence to argue that the direct or
the proximate cause of the accident or the cause of the accident was
not the carrying of such hazardous activity, but it actually is an Act of
God or that it is due to some third party intervention.

23.  Even if the company had taken extreme precautions to ensure
that such events do not take place, responsibility would still be
fixed on them.
 This principle of absolute liability in India evolved primarily
because of the awakening that the Bhopal Gas Disaster case
gave.

24. The Bhopal Gas Tragedy is also in a way responsible for the
passing of the Public Liability Insurance Act, 1991 which
provides for compulsory insurance of any unit or factory
undertaking a hazardous activity.

25.  Apart from all of this, the tragedy has recently been much discussed in
the light of the Nuclear Liability Bill.
 This bill has a lot of controversial provisions which aim at capping the
total liability in case of a nuclear accident.
 The bill also prohibits the victims from suing the suppliers directly and
allows them to recover only from the operators.

26.  In the light of the events that followed Bhopal, it is clear that there
is a need for a proper mechanism of compensation.
 In June 2010, 7 ex-employees were convicted in Bhopal of causing
death by negligence and sentenced to 2 years imprisonment and
fine of Rs. 2000 each.
 Eventually, an out-of-court settlement reached in February
1989,UCC agreed to pay US$ 470 million for the damages caused in
Bhopal disaster

27. ETHICAL ASPECTS

28. What in your opinion, is the ethical
orientation of government ?
 Government protected themselves under the article 300 of Indian
Constitution. Also it did not take into account any damages to be paid
to the victims due to its ineffective controls required under the
factories effect.
 Also it didn’t take the responsibility in fallacy of letting slum dwellers
stay close to factory, apart from permitting it to operate within city
limits.

29. What should be the ground rules of
environmental ethics?
 The agenda should be “THINK GLOBALLY, ACT LOCALLY”.
 The Third World is highly different from the developed world and so will
be the conservation/utilitarian policies of the same.
 There is a need for development but it should not come at the cost of
risking future generations.

30. Warren Anderson & Union Carbide
Officials of USA:
 Profit was the utmost priority of UCC ,but Indian
Government refusing ownership was not a valid
reasons as the safety standards is the priority in
these kind of manufacturing companies.
Union Carbide Officials of India:
 As the safety mechanisms were already installed,
so its responsibility of Operating managers and
personnel inside the plant to manage it in
running condition.

31. Indian Government:
 Intention: Increase in crop production, providing job and
employment.
 At least few trained American officials should have been allowed to
operate permanently in the UCC factory of India.
 Limitation: Scare away International investors due to litigations.
Madhya Pradesh Government:
 Should have made arrangements so that factory was never setup
within the city premises
 Also local leaders should not get into the operations of the company.

33. ANY QUESTIONS