The Bhopal Gas Tragedy - a Perspective

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The Bhopal Gas Tragedy - A Perspective

By

*Dr. R.K.BISARYA

SHRI SWARAJ PURI

INTRODUCTION

As mankind has progressed and civilizations have advanced, growth in science and technology has improved our quality of life. In many countries including India, development has been tedious and painstaking. The gains of development are often lost when a disaster strikes, causing loss of lives, property and livelihood, leading to economic and social stresses.

India, due to its geographic and geological disposition is one of the most disaster-prone countries in the world. The unique geo-physical characteristics make different regions of our country vulnerable to disasters. Nearly 55% of the land mass is vulnerable to earthquakes and 70% cultivable land is prone to drought. Floods and cyclones are not too uncommon along the seashores and riverbeds. The poor socio-economic levels of our population and the lack of the necessary wherewithal to prepare for such contingencies increase their vulnerability, and negate their ability to respond to and recover from disasters.

Disasters, whether natural or man-made, can strike at any time and at any place. Terrorist acts and hazardous accidents have become today’s reality. We know that disasters can keep happening all the time, but the Bhopal Gas Tragedy remains, a catastrophe with no parallel. It is, till date, the largest and the worst Industrial Disaster in the history of mankind.

Contingency planning can dramatically improve the chances of reducing damage when a disaster strikes especially in the aftermath of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. We may have formulated policies, procedures and estimated costs along with emergency operating procedures. The final drafts of such plans may have been approved. On paper we have done everything to be confident of dealing with any emergency. Unfortunately, the contingency plans are rarely rehearsed, updated or discussed to be eventually forgotten – forgotten until the disaster strikes again.

The authors of this paper were actively involved in the management of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy in consonance with their responsibilities of the day. Dr Bisarya was the Mayor of Bhopal and Shri Swaraj Puri is the Chief of Bhopal Police. The authors had to take many leadership decisions and related actions, at the spur of the moment, putting their own lives to grave danger. This they did without caring for the safety of their families living in the badly affected area.

Mr. Puri was the Police Chief of Bhopal in December 1984 and has actually borne the brunt of the Poisonous Gas leak right from the initial stages to long-term relief. Dr. Bisarya in his capacity of the Mayor of the city of Bhopal not only headed the municipal administration but through his agency organized immediate relief and also the necessary rehabilitation. With his ______

*Dr. R.K.Bisarya was the Mayor of Bhopal City in December 1984 and he manages his Nursing Home in Bhopal, Shri Swaraj Puri was the Chief of Bhopal Police and is presently Additional Director General of Police (Telecommunication) and Nodal Officer Police-Community Relations of the Madhya Pradesh Government.

personal experience in perspective, the authors look at this disaster broadly under the following heads: -

(i) What happened.

(ii)Personal Experiences

(iii)Lessons learned.

(iv)The future

(v)The conclusion

WHAT HAPPENED

What really happened that fate full night is an enigma and is a matter of many a debate. But the accepted fact is that in the early hours of December 3, 1984, an estimated 43 tones of deadly Methyl-Iso-cynate (MIC) Gas leaked out of tank No. 610C of the carbide plant and escaped into the atmosphere. The immediate cause was the building up of pressure in tank 610-C, containing the deadly MIC, due to an exothermic reaction caused by water in the tank. This pressure caused the safety valve to rupture and the gas to escape. Such leakage of gas into the atmosphere was a contingency for which the plant should have been prepared. This catastrophe happened because the attendant and essential safety systems either failed or were in operable and the safety procedures were not strictly complied with. Some causes that have been identified are: -

(a) MIC as a gas has to be stored in a liquid form. The refrigeration unit designed to cool the liquid was known to have been shut down as an economy measure.

(b) Water leaked into tank 610C causing a build- up of pressure and temperature. To prevent the tank from exploding the safety valves opened.

(c) The possibility of release of gas into the air was a contingency known to the factory management. Safety systems that had been planned became ineffective as follows:-

1. A caustic soda scrub could neutralize the gas. However the scrubber was not designed for the release of such a large amount of gas and got overwhelmed
2. The gas can also be neutralized by incineration and therefore there was a flare system, however the pilot flare flame was inoperable and efforts to ignite the gas failed.
3. The plant had water curtains to knock down toxic vapors but again the water cannon could not reach the height of 33 meters from where the gas was escaping.
4. The management then probably panicked and abandoned all efforts to contain the leakage.
5. Methyl Iso-Cyanate in gaseous from is heavier than air and has a tendency to settle down. It is thus subject to wind dispersal. The geographical characteristics and wind velocity in the area controlled the rate of dispersal and spread of MIC. Between 12 AM and 03.30 AM a gentle wind moved this deadly cloud over densely populated areas of Bhopal causing an unimagined loss of life.
6. The incident took place on a cold winter night when most of the people where indoors, they woke up with a burning sensation in their eyes, they rushed outdoors only to breathe greater concentrations of the gas, in panic they ran, breathing even greater volumes of the gas ultimately choking themselves to death.

The Union Carbide plant was set up in 1968. It started the manufacture of 'Carbaryl', a pesticide in 1979. Methyl-Iso-cynate was an intermediate compound required for the manufacture of Carbaryl. However the plant had no long-term permission for the storage of MIC. The safety record of the unit had suffered due to:-

1. December 1981- a worker killed while handling phosgene
2. February 1982- 25 workers hospitalized following leaks in pipes carrying chlorine, MIC and Hydrochloric acid.
3. December 1982- a massive leak of Chlorine affecting 16 workers. Neighboring shanties of Jaiprakash Nagar affected.

The issue of danger to Bhopal from this pesticide plant was raised in the Legislative Assembly of the State. An accident investigation committee examined the issue and concluded that the plant was safe and opined that, there was no danger to Bhopal nor will there ever be?

Mr. J. Mukund, Union Carbide's works manager exhibited a rather chilling overconfidence. He is believed to have expressed that the gas could not have leaked from his plant as the plant shuts down automatically. Once the leak was confirmed the Medical Officer opined that the gas was not fatal but was just a minor irritant. And yet people choked to death on the streets of Bhopal.

It will not be out of place to describe, briefly, the sequence of events of that fateful night. This could be the likely course the events: -

December 02/3, 1984

• 10.30 pm-the late night shift at the plant starts
• 12.00 am (midnight) the operator checks MIC tank 610C and finds that the rupture disc has burst; the gas is leaking into the atmosphere.
• 12.06 am MIC vapors starts to leak into the atmosphere.

December 03, 1984 (12.06 am - 12.15 am)

• Safety systems fail and efforts to ignite the gas unsuccessful as the pilot flare system is inoperable
• Water cannon too are unable to contain the escaping gas.
• Workers panic.
• Police Inspector on routine patrol duty gets affected.

December 03, 1984 (12.15 am- 01 30 am)

• Police Inspector immediately notified city Police Control Room. Police Control Room informed me.
• Union Carbide Plant activated public siren for a few minutes.
• I arrived at the City Police Control Room after visiting the UC facility and its neighborhood.
• I called the UC to enquire what had gone wrong.

December 03, 1984 (03 30 am onwards)

• U.C. informed the police, medical and civil officials that the leak was plugged.
• Press starts calling about the accident.

PERSONAL EXPERIENCES

The personal experiences of Mr. Swaraj Puri and Dr. Bisarya are enumerated below:

Shri Swaraj Puri

I was posted as Superintendent of Police i.e., the Police Chief of District of Bhopal at the time of the Bhopal Gas Tragedy. December 2, 1984 for me started as a usual day for the Police Chief of a District, which is the Capital of State of Madhya Pradesh – visitors, telephone calls, and routine problems. There was nothing unusual till very late in the evening. I returned home around mid-night, on December 2/3, 1984. I was preparing to retire for the day. It was around 12.15 a.m. that I received the message from the Police Control Room that there is a leakage of some gas from the Union Carbide plant. Leaving my family asleep, I came out from my official residence to see what was actually happening. I was totally unaware of the magnitude of the disaster. I assumed that it was some leakage similar to what had happened earlier from this plant. I drove towards the Union Carbide. As I passed through adjoining areas like Kaichi Chola and Jay Prakash Nagar I realized that the situation was much worse then I expected. There was a choking sensation in my throat and burning in my eyes. My driver became very nervous. I could see people running around in panic. I returned to the Police Control Room to monitor the situation. From the Police Control Room, I put on alert, the doctors, hospitals, and senior Government functionaries, the Fire Brigade and the Home Minister. The Wireless operator, by then, started showing signs of being very ill. I asked him to take rest. I started answering and responding to telephone calls and the wireless sets along with Sub-Inspector, Chauhan. My physical condition started deteriorating but at the same time my reason and conscience was telling me not to panic. I steeled myself and decided that I will fight to the best of my capability to save human lives and minimize the risk of this catastrophe. By now it was amply clear that a toxic gas in large quantities was continuously leaking out from the Union Carbide factory.

Around 1.30 a.m I started vomiting. I could see the green-yellow-greyish cloud of the gas like a column from the ground towards the sky. I was moving around cautioning people alerting all and at the same time mobilizing my resources in terms of man and machine. I was making an all out effort to sharpen their responses by personal examples. It was my effort to give a calibrated response in a panic ridden state.

A little later I came out of the control room towards the Budhwara Chowk. What I saw here has left an indelible mark on my memory and conscience; Under the newly installed vapor lights at this crossing I saw an infant baby slipping down from the arms of a very young mother who was making desperate efforts to cling to the baby. The panic ridden crowd was oblivious of this and was pushing itself away from the effected areas. I thought 'My God' – the child will get trampled to death and yet the mother can do nothing but abandon her baby. Suddenly in my mind flashed the thought of my two small children and my wife but there was absolutely no way to enquire about their well-being .The last memory I had of them was that I had left them sleeping in my house which was now in the badly affected area. To my utter dismay I found that the telephone at my residence was still dead and I could not contact my family. That is where my immediate efforts to search my family ended and I proceeded to deal with the more important job at my hand - the job of providing relief, comfort, care and solace to the effected citizens of Bhopal. At the same time I was busy trying to manage the impact of this disaster with the help of meager resources available. My own safety and failing health took the back seat.

As a Police Officer this has been the most challenging and difficult situation of my professional career. I really wish and pray that no other officer has to ever live through similar and horrendous circumstances. I could see how reason and logic crumble before panic and uncertainty.

For the whole night I was trying to organize resources and facilities, to raise the confidence of the people and to minimize the loss of life. I was physically exhausted, emotionally disturbed, medically in a bad condition but my sense of duty plodded me on so that my team does not get demoralized.

It was early in the morning of 3rd December the city of Bhopal seem to have converted into a “Poisoned City” with human beings and animals either lying dead or seeking medical relief. Seeing the state of the city and the sufferings we apprehended serious law and order problems in the City. We were preparing for this and other contingencies but grief seemed to have overtaken one and all. The entire city had been stunned into silence and despair. For us, in the administration, the major task seemed to be to organize medical relief, provide succor, and manage as quickly and amicably as possible the legal and other formalities. A colossal task under the circumstances when we were ourselves badly affected by the poison of MIC. The number of dead bodies seemed to be endless. By the evening they were in hundreds – this was the time we found that our own senses had been dulled and we found ourselves working like mechanical machines – Robots.

The fact that I live today is a miracle, probably – God's wish that I survived inspite of living through the affected areas the whole night. My mental determination kept me going and helped me in saving human lives. The crises continued. During this time, as a Police Officer, I had to arrest Warren Anderson, the Chief of Union Carbide.

Dr. R.K.Bisarya

As the Mayor of the City of Bhopal I had heard many of my acquaintances talk of the possibility of such a calamity. It was in the first week of December itself that we, as a political party, were preparing for the forthcoming elections to the Indian parliament. It was in this context that a meeting had been organized at my residence, when I heard of this tragedy. I immediately contacted my officers and put them on the task of providing help to the local administration. I moved out and contacted Dr. Loya, the head of medical department of Union Carbide.

The next day I visited the Hamedia Hospital along with the Minister of Health for the state govt. of Madhya Pradesh and visited the temporary morgue located there. I apprised the Chief Minister of the State about the extent of the tragedy.

The tragedy caused panic in the city and many of my staff fell ill. We had to arrange staff from neighboring district like Dewas, Ujjain, Indore to be able to handle the basic work of the corporation. As time passed by, the next day, the problem of disposal of the dead cattle especially cows and buffalo was looming large on our heads. The disposal of these carcasses was done by taking help from the neighboring irrigation project called the Tawa Project. This was a major task that was undertaken by my corporation.

As the process of the disposal of the bodies, their identification and photography was going on we had the “ambulance chasers” descending on Bhopal.

The environment of the city of Bhopal was so badly damaged that the trees in the vicinity of the Union Carbide plant and on the path of the Gas became totally leafless.

To the outside world the tragedy seemed to have occurred and was being looked at in terms of relief and aid to be provided. The local administration was more than aware that there was still residual MIC gas in the Union Carbide plant and that had to be neutralized. The people were jittery and in no mood to forgive, hence “Operation Faith” was launched.

OPERATION FAITH

December 16, 1984

This involved the disposing off of the left over MIC in the Union Carbide Plant. After consultation with Scientist and Experts of National and International repute it was decided that the safest course would be to convert this MIC into the Pesticide produced by the Carbide. This process was code named “Operation Faith” and was commenced on the morning of 16th December 1984. The most remarkable yet worrying factor during this operation was the fact that the Chief Political Executive of our state decided to and stayed within the carbide plant till the entire process involved in Operation Faith was completed. To some it was politics but to most of the citizens it was a confidence building efforts. To us it was a cause of concern for security of the personality.