Bhopal-25000 Deaths Later


  • Photographer
    Samar Jodha
  • Prize
    Honorable Mention
  • Company/Studios
    Spectra Maxima
  • Date of Photograph
    Dec 2009

Bhopal-A Silent Picture The Bhopal gas tragedy was the World’s biggest industrial disaster that took place a quarter of a century back at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal/India. These series of images are shot at the Union Carbide (sealed) plant and speak about the emptiness and the eerie silence that permeates this space. Some of the areas are comparable to the feeling of walking through the Auschwitz cells during Nazi Era.

Story

The Bhopal gas tragedy was the World’s biggest industrial disaster that took place a quarter of a century back at a Union Carbide pesticide plant in the city of Bhopal/India. On the night of 3rd December 1984, the plant released 42 tons of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas, exposing more than 500,000 people to toxic gases. The first official immediate death toll was 2,259. A more generally accepted figure is that 8,000 - 10,000 people died within 72 hours, and it is estimated that over 25,000 have died since from gas-related diseases.
Today it is believed that 10 to 30 people still die every month due to complications and the plant still has many open pits and poisoned ground water, which affects thousands in surrounding neighborhoods.
In 2001 Union Carbide was acquired by Dow Chemicals (with no major liability tag attached) and the saga continues with no legal framework for the suffering population, proper compensation, site clean up or for that matter taking any kind of responsibility.
It is said, “In Bhopal, some of the world’s poorest people are being mistreated by one of the world’s richest corporation”
This documentary project is a Silent Picture of a population caught in between, local laws; corrupt systems, non-committed politicians, and the lip service of a large corporate.
This is the best example of how a large corporate can walk away from a crime against humanity, and a true reflection of greed and international corporate irresponsibility. Till date no one has been prosecuted.

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