Bhopal Gas Tragedy Kindly bear with the long post but the tragedy was something which changed the lives of the locals there, and are still going through the after-effects. DYK pays tribute to all the survivors.

Kindly bear with the long post but the tragedy was something which changed the lives of the locals there, and are still going through the after-effects. DYK pays tribute to all the survivors.

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy was an industrial catastrophe that occurred in 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.
->At the time, UCIL was the Indian subsidiary of the US company Union Carbide Corporation (UCC), itself now a subsidiary of Dow Chemical Company.
->Around midnight on the intervening night of December 2-3, 1984, the plant released methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and other toxins, resulting in the exposure of over 5,00,000 people. Estimates vary on the death toll.
->Other government agencies estimate 15,000 deaths. Others estimate that 8,000 died within the first weeks and that another 8,000 have since died from gas-related diseases. The official immediate death toll was 2,259 and the government of Madhya Pradesh has confirmed a total of 3,787 deaths related to the gas release.
->The gases flooded the city of Bhopal, causing great panic as people woke up with a burning sensation in their lungs.
->The leakage caused many short term health effects in the surrounding areas. Thousands died immediately from the effects of the gas and many were trampled in the panic.
->Thousands of people had succumbed by the morning hours. There were mass funerals and mass cremations as well as disposal of bodies in the Narmada river.
->After the accident, no one under the age of 18 was registered. The number of children exposed to the gases was at least 200,000. 1,70,000 people were treated at hospitals and temporary dispensaries. 2,000 buffalo, goats, and other animals were collected and buried.
->Effects of interim relief were more children sent to school, more money spent on treatment, more money spent on food, improvement of housing conditions.
->It is estimated that 50,000 persons need alternative jobs, and that less than 100 gas victims have found regular employment under the government's scheme. Doctors and hospitals were not informed of proper treatment methods for MIC gas inhalation. They were told to simply give cough medicine and eye drops to their patients.