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In Bhopal, two women spark hope for disaster's disabled children
By Nita Bhalla Tue Dec 2, 2014 3:45am EST
BHOPAL, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Along the corridor of a rudimentary rehabilitation center, women in saris and burkhas sit cross-legged on a red and white tiled floor, rocking children with twisted limbs and clawed fingers in their laps.
The children - ranging from 2 to 12 years old and dressed in grey, white and red checked uniforms - look up wide-eyed, moaning and grunting, unable to speak or move due to illnesses such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Down's syndrome.
"I've been coming here for the last six months. I want my son to be cured and to be able to walk and run like other boys," said Lakshmi, 40, cradling her 7-year-old son, Vikas, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and speech impairments.
Vikas and hundreds of children like him are part of a legacy left by one of the world's worst industrial disasters, activists say, neglected by the state but given hope by a charity set up by two women survivors of the manmade calamity.
In the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, a pesticide factory owned by U.S. multinational Union Carbide Corp accidentally leaked toxic cyanide gas in the central Indian city of Bhopal, killing thousands and leaving many more with serious illnesses.
As survivors of the disaster gather to hold candlelight vigils and protests in a bid to galvanize support for victims on the disaster's 30th anniversary, the city's second and third generations of disabled children stand out in their demands.
"The government and Union Carbide have done little to recognize these children as part of the disaster, so we felt we had to do something," said Rashida Bee, one of the women who founded the Chingari Rehabilitation Center.
................
U.S. company Dow Chemical, which now owns Union Carbide, has long denied liability, saying it bought the company a decade after Union Carbide had settled its liabilities to the Indian government in 1989 by paying $470 million.
The government of Madhya Pradesh state, where Bhopal is located, denies these children are linked to the disaster, adding that the Supreme Court decides who are the real beneficiaries for compensation and free health care.
"Whatever can be done is being done, but we don't decide, it is the Supreme Court," said Pravir Krishn, the state's principal secretary at the department in charge of relief and rehabilitation for Bhopal's victims.
"As government, we want the sky for the victims, but then there is the law of the land which decides what is the limit of the sky."
He said some families seeking compensation and health care for their disabled children were not from contaminated locations.
The state has provided 40 billion rupees ($650 million) to more than 500,000 people identified by the Supreme Court as being affected by the disaster, built state-of-the art hospitals and provided houses for many survivors.
But Bee and Shukla say this is insufficient.
"The government knew that the methyl isocyananate gas could affect two or three generations but gave little support the women exposed to the gas," said Bee.
"It looks like it will also affect a fourth generation as we see lot of young children coming here with birth defects 30 years on, so we will continue to fight on behalf of all these children who desperately need our love and attention."
(Reporting by Nita Bhalla, editing by Alisa Tang.)
Full article here - In Bhopal, two women spark hope for disaster's disabled children| Reuters
What a tragic story.
If the toxin is still so harmful even after 30 years, wouldn't it be better to just quarantine the area and relocate the residents right after the disaster??? Even can do it now.
Prevention is always better than cure. Nobody from that place would suffer and the government don't have to spend money on medical care too.
By Nita Bhalla Tue Dec 2, 2014 3:45am EST
BHOPAL, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - Along the corridor of a rudimentary rehabilitation center, women in saris and burkhas sit cross-legged on a red and white tiled floor, rocking children with twisted limbs and clawed fingers in their laps.
The children - ranging from 2 to 12 years old and dressed in grey, white and red checked uniforms - look up wide-eyed, moaning and grunting, unable to speak or move due to illnesses such as cerebral palsy, muscular dystrophy and Down's syndrome.
"I've been coming here for the last six months. I want my son to be cured and to be able to walk and run like other boys," said Lakshmi, 40, cradling her 7-year-old son, Vikas, who suffers from muscular dystrophy and speech impairments.
Vikas and hundreds of children like him are part of a legacy left by one of the world's worst industrial disasters, activists say, neglected by the state but given hope by a charity set up by two women survivors of the manmade calamity.
In the early hours of Dec. 3, 1984, a pesticide factory owned by U.S. multinational Union Carbide Corp accidentally leaked toxic cyanide gas in the central Indian city of Bhopal, killing thousands and leaving many more with serious illnesses.
As survivors of the disaster gather to hold candlelight vigils and protests in a bid to galvanize support for victims on the disaster's 30th anniversary, the city's second and third generations of disabled children stand out in their demands.
"The government and Union Carbide have done little to recognize these children as part of the disaster, so we felt we had to do something," said Rashida Bee, one of the women who founded the Chingari Rehabilitation Center.
................
U.S. company Dow Chemical, which now owns Union Carbide, has long denied liability, saying it bought the company a decade after Union Carbide had settled its liabilities to the Indian government in 1989 by paying $470 million.
The government of Madhya Pradesh state, where Bhopal is located, denies these children are linked to the disaster, adding that the Supreme Court decides who are the real beneficiaries for compensation and free health care.
"Whatever can be done is being done, but we don't decide, it is the Supreme Court," said Pravir Krishn, the state's principal secretary at the department in charge of relief and rehabilitation for Bhopal's victims.
"As government, we want the sky for the victims, but then there is the law of the land which decides what is the limit of the sky."
He said some families seeking compensation and health care for their disabled children were not from contaminated locations.
The state has provided 40 billion rupees ($650 million) to more than 500,000 people identified by the Supreme Court as being affected by the disaster, built state-of-the art hospitals and provided houses for many survivors.
But Bee and Shukla say this is insufficient.
"The government knew that the methyl isocyananate gas could affect two or three generations but gave little support the women exposed to the gas," said Bee.
"It looks like it will also affect a fourth generation as we see lot of young children coming here with birth defects 30 years on, so we will continue to fight on behalf of all these children who desperately need our love and attention."
(Reporting by Nita Bhalla, editing by Alisa Tang.)
Full article here - In Bhopal, two women spark hope for disaster's disabled children| Reuters
What a tragic story.
If the toxin is still so harmful even after 30 years, wouldn't it be better to just quarantine the area and relocate the residents right after the disaster??? Even can do it now.
Prevention is always better than cure. Nobody from that place would suffer and the government don't have to spend money on medical care too.
