Human consequences
More than 500,000 people exposed; respiratory and eye diseases and birth defects for decades.
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IndustrialBhopal disaster
3,787Deaths
Not quantifiedDisplaced / homeless
$470MEstimated cost
- Immediate official toll; other estimates exceed 15,000 deaths in total.
- Amount of the 1989 compensation settlement with Union Carbide.
About 40 tonnes of methyl isocyanate escape from Union Carbide’s pesticide plant and spread over sleeping poor neighbourhoods. It is the worst industrial disaster in history.
Consequences
Environmental consequences
The site has never been fully cleaned up; the groundwater remains contaminated.
Economic consequences
Compensation that victims consider derisory.
Political consequences
A symbol of multinational corporate liability. CEO Warren Anderson was never tried in India.
Further reading
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In the rankings : The worst industrial and nuclear disasters No. 2
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