The Bhopal gas tragedy, occurring on December 3, 1984, at the Union Carbide pesticide plant, is considered the world's worst industrial disaster, caused by the release of toxic methyl isocyanate. The incident resulted in thousands of immediate deaths and long-term health issues for survivors, along with significant economic impacts on the local community. In response, Union Carbide and the Indian government undertook relief efforts and established regulations to improve safety standards in industrial practices.

1. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 1
Bhopal Gas Tragedy
December-3, 1984
Prof. Samirsinh. P. Parmar
Assistant Professor
Dept. of Civil Engineering, DDU
Email ID: spp.cl@ddu.ac.in

2. CONTENT:-
• INCIDENT OVERVIEW
• CAUSES
• ACUTE EFFECT
• ECONOMICAL IMPACT
• RESCUE & RELIEF
• IMPROVEMENTS
• SAFETY

3. What is
Industrial
disaster??
• They are a form of industrial accident
where great damage, injury or loss of
life are caused.
• Other disasters can also be
considered industrial disasters, if their
causes are rooted in the products or
processes of industry.

4. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 4
BHOPAL GAS TRAGEDY

5. Incident Overview
• Chemical accident
• Occurred on 3 December,1984
• Occurred at the
Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL)
pesticide plant in Bhopal,
Madhya Pradesh, India.
• Considered the
world's worst industrial disaster.

6. Who is Responsible for this disaster??
• Were the workers at fault?
• Was it the company that owned this factory?
• Or was the government responsible for it ?

7. Cause of Bhopal gas tragedy
• In,1969 the company started a factory to produce sevin. To manufacture sevin,
a chemical was needed Methyl Isocyanate(MIC).
• MIC is very dangerous and deadly chemical.
• MIC was imported into India before 1980, but after 1980 the company the
Union Carbide suffered losses. So they have decided that they would start
manufacturing MIC in India rather than import it.
• This is the first red flag. Because manufacturing chemicals and mixing them
together is not safe at all.

8. • But at the same time the insecticide that the company producing Sevin, its
sales started falling in India. Union carbide had to cut down the cost of their
product sevin, had to reduce price.
• And to do so, they had to cut cost to many places.
1. Workforce reduction
2. Hire unqualified workers
3. Safety precautions ignored
4. Repair damage pipes rather than to Replace
Cause of Bhopal gas tragedy

9. Let’s try to understand what was
happening in the plant.
• MIC was stored in liquid form in 3
huge tanks underground.
• For safety, E610 and E611 filled with
MIC for 60% of the volume of Tank
and E619 remain empty for
emergency.
• Here red pipes were for extract the
dangerous gases and green pipes
were for the add to nitrogen to
increase pressure.
Sequence of the event….

10. • MIC + water has a very dangerous
reaction.
• If MIC gets into contact with water,
not even water, even if it gets into
contact with air, because air contains
some moisture. Their reaction release
poisonous gas METHYLAMINE.
Sequence of the event….

11. • None of them was supposed to be
filled up with MIC more then 60%,
But they were.
• The third tank was supposed to be
empty for emergencies, but the
third tank was also filled to save
money.
Sequence of the event….

12. • Secondly, the pressure of 2 out of the 3 tanks wasn’t right.
• Thirdly, the indicator showing the level of MIC, wasn’t working.
• When the temperature go high there is one Alarm but the Alarm
wasn’t working either.
• So there were so many problems, safety measures were being ignored.
Sequence of the event….

13. • Workers Started washing pipes attached to the MIC tanks, but noticed
something strange while pouring the water, the water wasn’t coming out
from the other side of the pipes.
• Normally, the pipes have something called the ‘slip blind’, but there were no
slip Blinds on these pipes so water goes into this tank.
• MIC and water have a deadly reaction, clouds of gases started forming and
pressure kept building up in the tank.
• Remember, this tank was underground. The concrete above started
breaking apart.
• The people present there had realised that the situation was out of the
control of any person.
• Post 1 AM, the city of Bhopal was in the grip of terror.
Sequence of the event….

14. The gas spread to most parts of the city.

15. Acute Effects
The initial effects of
exposure
• coughing,
• severe eye irritation
• a feeling of suffocation
• Burning in the
respiratory tract
• Breathlessness
• stomach pains
• And vomiting.

16. • The doctor weren’t aware of how the symptoms were supposed to be
treated or what the problem was. Because the doctors didn’t know
which gases were leaking there.
• Some doctors gave oxygen to the patients because they were having
trouble in breathing. but actually, a large amount of oxygen reacts
badly with this gas.
• Due to this many patient died in the hospital.
• By the next morning, thousands of people have died and dead bodies
of animals were all over the roads.
Consequences of the event….

17. • Thousands of people had died by this disaster. Primary causes of
deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse, and
pulmonary oedema.
• Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but
also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys,
fatty degeneration of the liver, and necrotising enteritis.
• The individuals who did not die suffered from cancer, blindness, loss of
livelihood, and financial strain.
Consequences of the event….

18. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 18
• Estimates vary on the death toll, with the official number of immediate
deaths being 2,259.
• In 2008, the Government of Madhya Pradesh paid compensation to the
family members of 3,787 victims killed in the gas release, and to
574,366 injured victims.
• A government affidavit in 2006 stated that the leak caused 558,125
injuries, including 38,478 temporary partial injuries and approximately
3,900 severely and permanently disabling injuries.
• Others estimate that 8,000 died within two weeks, and another 8,000
or more have since died from gas-related diseases
Consequences of the event….

19. ECONOMICAL IMPACT
• The gas leak has had many adverse effects on
income, transportation, and other necessities.
• When calculated in 2004, the Gross Domestic
Product per capital increased from $1,000 in 1984 to
$2,900. Economic growth continued at a rate of 8%
per year.
• Seventy-five percent of Bhopal people are unable to
work for more than a few hours at a time.
• Due to the people not being able to work, the
economy has suffered.
• The people cannot work, therefore they have
no money for luxuries, or even basic
necessities. Banks tend to give loans with
outrageous interest fees.

20. Rescue and Relief
What were the actions taken by
Government and the company Union
Carbide?
• Union Carbide sent their technical team to
Bharat and the team converts the remaining MIC
into a less dangerous gas.
• This operation was named “Operation Faith”.
• The Union Carbide company sent money as relief.
They gave millions to the government, the red
cross and other relief organisations.

21. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 21

22. Response Efforts
• In the wake of the release, Union Carbide Corporation (UCC) provided
immediate aid to the victims and attempted to set up a process to resolve their
claims.
• Immediately provided approximately $2mation in aid to the Prime Minister's
Relief Fund.
• Immediately and continuously provided medical equipment and supplies;
• Sent an international team of medical experts to Bhopal to provide expertise
and assistance.
• Openly shared all its information on methylisocyanate (MIC) with the
Government of India (GOI), including all published and unpublished toxicity
studies available at the time.

23. • Dispatched a team of technical MIC experts to Bhopal on the day after the tragedy,
which came MIC studies that were widely shared with medical and scientific
personnel in Bhopal:
• Funded the attendance by Indian medical experts at special meetings on research
and treatment for victims:
• Provided a $2.2 million grant to Arizona State University to establish a vocational
technical centre in Bhopal, which was constructed and opened, but was later
closed and levelled by the government;
• Offered an initial $10 million to build a hospital in Bhopal, the offer was declined;
• Provided an additional $5 million to the Indian Red Cross.
Response Efforts

24. • Established an independent charitable trust for a Bhopal hospital and provided
initial funding of approximately $20 million, and hospital.
• Upon the sale of its interest in Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL), and pursuant to
a court order provided approximately $90 million to the charitable trust.
• The government done operation involved evacuating the affected people, providing
medical care, distributing relief materials, and cleaning up the contaminated site.
• However, the rescue operation faced many challenges and limitations, such as lack
of information about the nature and extent of the gas leak, inadequate resources
and coordination, delayed and insufficient compensation, and legal disputes with
the UCC.
• The rescue operation is still ongoing, as many survivors and their children continue
to suffer from health problems and environmental damage caused by the gas leak.
Response Efforts

25. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 25
Improvement after
Disaster
• The first law to be brought in after
the accident, was the Environment
Protection Act.
• This Act ensure that the industries
take steps to protect the
environment.
• In the same year, a new clause was
inserted in the Factories Act
• To clearly state who shall be
deemed to be the occupier of the
factory.

26. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 26
• A Company or person to be responsible for the factory, It wasn’t
clearly defined before this.
• Over the next years, more such laws were introduced to support the
victim of industrial disasters.
• Some law made on the amount of hazardous material can be stored
in the factory
Improvement after Disaster

27. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 27
How can we prevent to be disaster like the
Bhopal gas tragedy??
To prevent such a disaster from happening again, we
need to take several measures, such as:
• Ensuring that the safety standards and regulations for
handling hazardous chemicals are strictly followed and
enforced by the authorities and the industries.
• Installing and maintaining proper safety equipment and
systems, such as refrigeration, vent gas scrubbers, flare
towers, alarms, and emergency response plans, to prevent
or minimize the risk of leaks and explosions.

28. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 28
• Educating and training the workers and the managers on the potential
hazards and the precautions to be taken while working with dangerous
substances.
• Conducting regular inspections and audits of the plants and the storage
facilities to check for any defects or malfunctions.
• Implementing effective waste management and disposal practices to avoid
environmental contamination and health problems for the nearby
communities.
• Promoting public awareness and participation in monitoring and reporting
any violations or incidents related to chemical industries.
How can we prevent to be disaster like the
Bhopal gas tragedy??

29. REFERENCE ;-
• International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal
• Bhopal Medical Appeal
• Bhopal Gas Tragedy Relief & Rehabilitation Department at the Government of Madhya Pradesh
• Bhopal Information Center, Union Carbide
• India Environmental Portal Updated news on Bhopal Gas Disaster
• Bhopal:Anatomy of a Crisis by Paul Shrivastava, Paul Chapman Publishing, 1987,
CREDIT: TIMES OF INDIA
https://www.researchgate.net/publication/329671545_Corpor
ate_and_governmental_responsibilities_for_preventing_chemi
cal_disasters_Lessons_from_Bhopal

30. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 30
COURSE:-DISASTER MANEGMENT
PRESENTED BY :-
• ANAND SAGAR
• PRADIP PARMAAR
• PRIYANK PATEL
• DHARMESH VADI
• RAHUL PATEL
BOOKs on Bhopal Gas tragedy

31. DM-Case Study, SPP-DoCL, DDU-Nadiad, Gujarat, India 31
BOOKs on Bhopal Gas tragedy

32. THANKS