The children at the Chingari Trust Rehabilitation Centre in old Bhopal are as polite as any you would find anywhere in the world. They approach without hesitation and hold out their arms for a hearty handshake. They look you right in the eye with a mix of curiosity and boldness.
Their mums sit on the floor along the corridor as they wait for the special education classes, physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy to finish. For Chingari is a school for some of the hundreds of children born with physical and mental problems such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy in this part of the city– the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, slap-bang in the middle of India.
The rate of disability is high due to the presence of the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide factory just down the road: 30 years ago, on the night of 2 December 1984, it exploded, spewing out up to 42 tons of methyl isocyanate. The poison cloud swallowed up the slums that lay across the road, crept through windows and doorways, and brought death, panic – and three decades of suffering.
Around 25,000 people have died as a result of the world's worst industrial accident, including, officially, 8,000 in the first week, of whom 2,259 perished on the first night (although that number is disputed, and the government has just agreed to look again at the figures with a view to revising them upwards). Full story...
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Their mums sit on the floor along the corridor as they wait for the special education classes, physiotherapy, speech therapy and occupational therapy to finish. For Chingari is a school for some of the hundreds of children born with physical and mental problems such as cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy in this part of the city– the capital of the state of Madhya Pradesh, slap-bang in the middle of India.
The rate of disability is high due to the presence of the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide factory just down the road: 30 years ago, on the night of 2 December 1984, it exploded, spewing out up to 42 tons of methyl isocyanate. The poison cloud swallowed up the slums that lay across the road, crept through windows and doorways, and brought death, panic – and three decades of suffering.
Around 25,000 people have died as a result of the world's worst industrial accident, including, officially, 8,000 in the first week, of whom 2,259 perished on the first night (although that number is disputed, and the government has just agreed to look again at the figures with a view to revising them upwards). Full story...
Related posts:
- India: 'major victory' for Bhopal survivors as government promises extra...
- Hollywood takes on corporate giants over Bhopal gas disaster...
- BHOPALI, the story of the Bhopal tradegy and Union Carbide...
- Bhopal disaster victims used as lab rats for Big Pharma! WTF!
- How India is selling out the victims of Bhopal to big corporation...
- The children of Bhopal...
- 26 years later, victims in Bhopal still seeking justice...
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