What Union Carbide's "compensation" is worth "Some of the world's poorest people, beggared by one the world's richest corporations" (Bhopal Medical Appeal, 1994) Most people injured by Carbide's gases got no more than $500 compensation. Many got nothing at all. The money was meant to last a lifetime, to provide for medical expenses and recompense them for lost earnings. This was the $500 of which Dow Chemical's Kathy Hunt infamously remarked "$500 is plenty good for an Indian". Stretched out over the twenty-one years that have passed since the gas disaster, Carbide's largesse is currently worth less than 7¢ a day - and dwindling. Well, here's what 7¢ buys in Bhopal.
One glass of Pappu's very nice Bhopali chai
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To find out exactly what 7¢ (UK 4 pence, in Euros, 5 cents) buys, we went to Bhopal’s Arif Nagar shopping area and got the latest prices of some medicines. If you gave up your cup of tea, you could buy:
1 gram = 0.035 ounces And finally, a totally unfair comparison
American sea-otters harmed in the Exxon Valdez oil spill on the coast of Alaska were helped to recovery by meals of fresh lobster, flown in at a cost of $500 a day, according to the Times of India.
Or to look at it another way…
The average cost of rehabilitating a seal after the Exxon Valdez oil was $80,000. At a special ceremony, two of the most expensively saved animals were released back into the wild amid cheers and applause from onlookers. A minute later, in full view, they were both eaten by a killer whale. (Ed: I forget where this nugget came from but it will be on the net.) |
If this strikes you as more than a little unjust, please help by making a donation to help those who are still suffering
You can either choose to support the work of the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB) which works to obtain justice, fair compensation, provision for proper medical care and economic rehabilitation for the Bhopal survivors.
or
You can help provide medical relief for people who are seriously ill. Your medical donation will go to the Sambhavna Trust Clinic in Bhopal, which gives free treatment and medicines to those still suffering the effects of the poison gases of "that night" 21 years ago, as well to the new generation poisoned by birth-defect- and cancer-causing chemicals leaking from Union Carbide's abandoned and derelict factory.
Sambhavna has won many international awards for its work, including the prestigious 2002 Margaret Mead Award, which is given "to small groups of people who make a big difference in the world".
