In October 5th of 2010, Hungary declared emergency state in three different counties (Kolontár and Devecser) due to a huge chemical leak on the previous day. The chemical that leaked was the “red mud”, a residue from the aluminum industry mining, generated from the refining of bauxite for alumina production (Al2O3).
Under Hungarian law, the cabinet has the right to declare a state of emergency for a period of two weeks. The parliament is required to vote to expand the direction. And that’s exactly what happened on Monday, the 19th. Parliament voted to retain the state of emergency in the three counties until the end of the year.
This red mud is usually kept in ponds or lakes specially designed for that purpose and it contains substances like lead, iron, titanium, sodium hydroxide, silica and aluminum, therefore, it is very dangerous and toxic. Some of the health problems it can cause are chemical burns, dangerous because they are not immediately visible or felt and may be very deep and only seem superficial. The only way to prevent burns in case of contact with the substance is to rinse it thoroughly with water.
The spill was caused by a hole of over 25 meters in a tank factory. The deluge came from a 10-hectare storage pool.
This is the worst chemical accident in Hungary’s history, according to the state secretary for the environment ministry, Zoltan Illés. At least nine people died and 100 are injured and 50 are hospitalized.
The flood happened 102.53 miles (165Km) from the capital, Budapest. The flood is estimated at about one million cubic meters in a 40km² area (about 9884 ac) and it forced about 500 residents to evacuate.
The flood got 2 meters high in the city of Kolontár, the one that got more affected. Most of those people will not return home because the environmental hazard is too great and nobody could guarantee their safety.
The spills will affect not only the waterways, but also the agriculture. Part of the soil will have to be removed along with the plaster on the outside of resident’s homes unless the mud is thoroughly washed off. Residents have been advised to not eat from crops that came into contact with the mud.
Despite the efforts in spreading vinegar, calcium nitrates and magnesium nitrates through the Marcal River and others in an effort to neutralize the highly corrosive mud and keep it from reaching the Danube river, the chemicals reached it two days after the spills started. The Danube river is the biggest river in Europe. It cuts 6 other countries: Croatia, Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, Ukraine and Moldova. Also to neutralize the alkalinity of the contaminated areas, authorities poured gypsum over the land.
The emergency crews launched from airplanes plaster and acid in the Danube river and its tributaries to neutralize the effects of toxic alcaline sludge and avoid heavy metals and alkaline substances to travel downstream.
At least the mud’s PH dropped from 13 (which is very alcaline and dangerous) to 9.2. However, the normal no higher than 8.
On Saturday (Oct, 9th), a new crack of 47 cm wide ( aprox. 18 inches) was discovered in one of the walls. That was a threat of a new toxic spill. Illés declaired that a new spill was “inevitble” and a 600 metres barrier is being built to prevent a new runoff. Four thousand people and three hundred machines are working to prevent another tragedy. There are still 2.5 million tons of toxic waste remaining in the tank damaged.
The red mud is part of tailings group, resulted by mineral extraction industry through ores process and, therefore, composed of very thin particles that contained the mineral of interest or is the result from grinding of rocks.
The cause of the spill is still not known, however, there is a possibility that it might have been a human error because there’s no evidence that would suggest any natural cause.
The Company
The aluminum factory responsible for the spill is MAL Magyar Alumínium, and it’s located in the city of Ajka.
Initially, the company was private, and it’s managing director was Zoltan Bakonyi’s, whose father father, Arpad Baconyi owns 30 percent of MAL’s shares. Bakonyi son was the one to say that the mud was not toxic but that people “should not bathe in it,” while reassuring journalists about the negative impact it might have on MAL’s accounts.
Bakonyi was taken into custody for interrogation on the 11th and released on the 13th, when the judge ruled against charging him. The prosecutors couldn’t find elements enough to charge him formally.
He was charged with criminal negligence leading to a public catastrophe, suspicion of lack of warnings and rescue plans in case of accidents, death of people and environmental damage. The prosecution will appeal the court decision. If convicted, he could face a sentence of up to 10 years.
According to the Prime Minister Viktor Orban, the government took over Mal Zrt and the Hungarian Aluminum Production and Trade Company for the next two years. The hungarian parliament decided for the nacionalization with 366 against one and only 13 abstentions. MAL will now be directed by György Bakondi, head of the Hungarian civil protection and firefighter general and will report directly to the prime minister.
Zoltan Illés said the company might have a 73 million euro fine. However, with the nacionalization of the company it’s important to establish who will take over the costs, if the Estate, therefore, citizens, or the stakeholders. The Government said that since it wasn’t a “natural tragedy” but caused by “negligence”, it won’t be the ”taxpayers to bear the costs, but those responsible for the disaster.
MAL is being accused of violating safety rules. They might have overloaded the reservoir causing a rupture in one of the tanks.
Even though the exact cause of the accident hasn’t been determined yet, the production at the alumina plant started on Oct 15th, eleven days after it started because, according to Orban, it’s in the public interest and necessary to save the jobs of thousands of workers.
A third official of the company was questioned on the 19th. Identified as Mrs. Jozsef F. The National Bureau of Investigation, she was in charge of the facility’s laboratory and environmental issues and had failed to design defensive measures to protect the lives and property of residents in case of a disaster.
Mrs. Jozsef is a suspect under the charges of endangerment and causing environmental damage.
According to Bakondi, (the new director, not Bakonyi the former chairmen) there’s a need to reactivativate the power plant that fuels the plant because leaving it to cool would damage billion forints (Hungary’s official currency), and the government has a preliminary permission to do it. The power plant was reactivated on Friday, 15th, eleven days after the spills started.
People
Like I’ve said before, the residents were forced to evacuate and leave to family and friends houses in nearby places or improvised shelters in schools and stadiums.
In the village of Devecser, which has a population of 5,000, at least 220 families have been rendered homeless by the mud. The village has trains and buses prepared to evacuate the population.
The situation of Kolontar village is the very worse because it’s the closest to the tank. The village was reopened on Wednesday (Oct, 6th) to allow people to get in and look for their belongings, however, the threat of a new spill interrupted the proccess.
The saddest thing about all this is the fact that these people lost not only all their belongings but their money as well. Since hungarians don’t trust much the banking system, some might have kept all their savings at home.
For those overseas who wish to help the victims a fund (Magyar Alap Kármentő abroad) to help victims of environmental disaster was announced and people all over the world can send donations.
|
Help the victims of the toxic flood! |
| If you can help the people of the affected Devecser and Kolontár please don”t hesitate! Send your donation to official bank account of the Hungarian Red Cross.For targeted donation don’t forget fill subject field: “ISZAP“. IBAN: HU37 1040 5004 0002 6547 0000 0000 SWIFT: OKHBHUHB For detailed information please visit the official website of the Hungarian Red Cross! Unfortunatelly, this was the only website I found about the Fund… and it’s in Hungarian… |
Here you can find a previous post about water pollution where you will know a little bit about the possible consequences of the accident for people and the environment.
This video shows images of the flood and the flooded areas:
This video shows the rescue team trying to clean the houses and the streets and remove the cars:
Here you see a video of the flood and people trying to wash away the mud with high pressure water.
Rescue workers said many people had suffered burns and eye irritation from the corrosive elements in the mud.
Let’s just give it a thought..
Disasters like this one in Hungary gives us the oportunity to think a little bit of our life style. MAL’s responsible because it was their reservoir that spilled. We dont know yet the exact causes yet, it could have been human error, natural cause or a mix of things. That is still a little too early to say. However, it’s important to think of people and the environment first, to have those as focus instead of “finding who to blame”.
Once ANY disaster or problem happens, it doesn’t really matter what/who caused it. Yes, it IS crucial to understand what happened in order to prevent future accidents, but what I’m saying is just that it’s more important to find out a way to fix the problem, no matter what it takes or whom it hurts, than to point fingers and decide who’s responsible for them.
People and environment should come first even if it means that someone or some company should pay for something they dont think they should take fully responsibility for. Sometimes, accidents are caused by multiple factors and it’s impossible to know exactly who is responsible for what and put all that in numbers. Therefore, the biggest matter is to fix the problem and try to stop and prevent greater damage. I’m saying this based on the Brazilian Environmental Law.
So consequences apart, let’s think about the causes. Following the trace of thought above, yes, MAL is responsible for the accident. However, we, as consumers, also have our little part to blame. We all use aluminum on our everyday life. From the cars we drive to the sodas we drink, imitation jewelry, details on clothes shoes and clothing accessories among others. We’re all in contact with alluminum and never think of how it got to us, what kinds of processes it had to go through to get to our hands as we know it, as well as how much did it cost to the Earth and other people to get to us. No, that environmental and social aspect of the product is usually not taken into consideration when it’s price is estipulated.
Therefore, as consumers, it’s important that we aknowledge the social and environmental cost of the products we buy and take that in consideration when purchasing. Yes, recycling can diminish the natural recources extraction. However, recycling alone won’t solve the problem of waste and natural resources consumption if people keep buying just as much or even more than usual.
