EVERYTHING WAS going well in life until that dark night arrived." For Bano Bi, a 72-year-old resident of Bhopal's JP Nagar, the night E of December 2, 1984 is where life and time froze. That night, 40 tonnes of toxic methyl isocyanate (MIC)-a gas 500 times more poisonous than hydrogen cyanide-leaked from the Union Carbide India Limited's (UCIL's) pesticide plant next to Bano's residence and spread to a 7 kmradius around the plant. More than half a million people were exposed to the leak. The disaster has resulted in up to 30,000 deaths in the region since then.
Bano mostly talks about the past-"I live a life linked to that gas leak," she says.
Bano, her husband and eight children woke up vigorously coughing that night.
"When we stepped outside, we saw people running everywhere. Cries and screams echoed all around," she says. Bano got separated from her children and husband while escaping the gas chamber the city had become. A day later, she found her family members in hospitals in conditions that defied descriptions.
Within a year, she lost her husband.
Over the next few months, four of her children died. "I was left behind to bear the burden of the gas tragedy and am still suffering," Bano says. She has what the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) terms as the "Bhopal Gas Disease". ICMR ran a decade-long research on the gas-affected population of Bhopal to define this new disease as "a condition of ill-health due to exposure to Bhopal's toxic gases". About half-a-million people in Bhopal suffer from this disease, which has some 40 symptoms, ranging from backache to breathing difficulties. And there is no treatment per se; all one can do is symptomatic medication.
Denne historien er fra December 16, 2024-utgaven av Down To Earth.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent ? Logg på
Denne historien er fra December 16, 2024-utgaven av Down To Earth.
Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.
Allerede abonnent? Logg på
In leading role again
MOVIES AND WEB SERIES ARE ONCE AGAIN BEING SET IN RUSTIC BACKGROUNDS, INDICATING A RECONNECT BETWEEN CINEMA AND THE COUNTRYSIDE
One Nation One Subscription comes at a huge cost
As top US universities scrap big deals with top scientific publishers, India’s ONOS scheme seems flawed and outdated
Return of Rambhog
Bid to revive and sell the aromatic indigenous paddy variety has led to substantial profits for farmers in Uttar Pradesh's Terai region
Scarred by mining
Natural springs of Kashmir drying up due to illegal riverbed mining
Human-to-human spread a mutation away
CANADA IN mid-November confirmed its first human case of avian influenza, with a teenager in the British Columbia being hospitalised after contracting the H5N1 virus that causes the disease. The patient developed a severe form of the disease, also called bird flu, and had respiratory issues. There was no known cause of transmission.
True rehabilitation
Residents of Madhya Pradesh's Kakdi village take relocation as an opportunity to undertake afforestation, develop sustainable practices
INESCAPABLE THREAT
Chemical pollution is the most underrated and underreported risk of the 21st century that threatens all species and regions
THAT NIGHT, 40 YEARS AGO
Bhopal gas disaster is a tragedy that people continue to face
A JOKE, INDEED
A CONFERENCE OF IRRESPONSIBLE PARTIES THAT CREATED AN OPTICAL ILLUSION TO THE REALITY OF A NEW CLIMATE
THINGS FALL APART
THE WORLD HAS MADE PROGRESS IN MITIGATING EMISSIONS AND ADAPTING TO CLIMATE IMPACTS. BUT THE PROGRESS REMAINS GROSSLY INADEQUATE
