Bhopal gas tragedy
Topic: Natural Hazards and Disaster Management in India · NCERT: Class 10, Ch 6 "Manufacturing Industries"; Class 11, Ch 6 "Natural Hazards and Disasters: Causes, Consequences and Management"
Meaning
The Bhopal gas tragedy was an industrial disaster on the night of 2-3 December 1984. A poisonous gas called methyl isocyanate leaked from the Union Carbide pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh. The gas spread over the sleeping city and killed thousands of people. It is the standard Indian example of a human-made disaster, because people caused it and nature played no part. The disaster led India to pass the Environment (Protection) Act 1986.
Example
The leak came from the Union Carbide factory in Bhopal, the capital of Madhya Pradesh. Most of the victims lived in crowded settlements close to the plant. Living so near a dangerous factory raised their vulnerability, which means how likely they were to be harmed.
Don't confuse with
- Chernobyl disaster: also a direct human-made disaster, but it was a nuclear accident in the former USSR. Bhopal was a chemical gas leak in India.
Related concepts
- Disaster
- Natural hazard
- Vulnerability
- Classification of natural disasters
- Human-made disasters
- Biological disasters