22 years passed and is there any change? Change in our thinking? Change in our support for those people, who died like flies in the streets of Bhopal falling victims in the hands of the deadly gas, Methyl Isocynate.

You may call it Destiny or You may call it a accident :-- BUT THE REAL TRUTH LIES IN THE FACT THAT MANY OF OUR BROTHERS AND SISTERS DIED ON THE STREETS OF BHOPAL HELPLESSLY. It's true that we can not bring back those days and change history, but what we can do is light a candle in our house for all those departed souls and pray to the Almighty that such things do never happen in the history of humankind.

I should have written this post, much earlier, but couldnt.. and for that I am extremely sorry. Lets take a look as to exactly what hapened during that time of Bhopal gas targedy. I would recommend you to visit our webpage on this page, the link of which is given below. That have an detail about the entire incident of Bhopal gas Tragedy. Bhopal is in Madhya Pradesh, India.

Remembering Bhopal Gas Tragedy

Bhopal gas Tragedy, which happened almost 22 years back. Around 1 a.m. on Monday, the 3rd of December, 1984, in a densely populated region in the city of Bhopal, Central India, a poisonous vapor burst from the tall stacks of the Union Carbide pesticide plant. This vapor was a highly toxic cloud of methyl isocyanate. Of the 800,000 people living in Bhopal at the time, 2,000 died immediately, and as many as 300,000 were injured. In addition, about 7,000 animals were injured, of which about  1000 were killed. A series of studies did show that till today, there are children being born with genetic defects.

There are many causes to it and there are many analysis to the problem too, but it created a history as one of the most disasterous chemical accidents which led to the death of thousands. The post-accident analysis of the process showed that the accident started when a tank containing methyl isocyanate (MIC) leaked. MIC is an extremely reactive chemical and is used in production of the insecticide carbaryl. It is presumed that the scientific reason for the accident at Bhopal is that water entered the tank where about 40 cubic meters of MIC was stored. When water and MIC mixed, an exothermic chemical reaction started, producing a lot of heat. As a result, the safety valve of the tank burst because of the increase in pressure. This burst was so violent that the coating of concrete around the tank also broke. It is presumed that between 20 and 30 tonnes of MIC were released during the hour that the leak took place. The gas leaked from a 30 m high chimney and this height was not enough to reduce the effects of the discharge. The reason was that the high moisture content (aerosol) in the discharge when evaporating, gave rise to a heavy gas which rapidly sank to the ground. The weather egged on this process. The conditions on the fateful day were typical for a clear night in the region, with a weak wind which frequently changed direction, which in turn helped the gas to cover more area in a shorter period of time (about one hour). The weak wind and the weak vertical turbulence caused a slow dilution of gas and thus allowed the poisonous gas to spread over considerable distances. (Chemical Accidents...)

The most important thing is; no one knows exactly about the treatments or antidotes that have to be given in the case of methy isocyanate poisoning. Doctors even didnt knew exactly what to do. And when experts debated, people died like flies. Well., thats history but let us do remember those victims and pray that such things do never happen again in the history of human kind.

Details about Bhopal Gas Tragedy is given in our web page of Disaster Management. Please click on the link and the Page for Bhopal Gas Tragedy will open for you.

http://www.geocities.com/mainaksworld/Bhopalgastragedy1.html

----- Mainak Mazumder
     Founder of MAINAKSWORLD