The legacy of Bhopal

"He was finally diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia - a mental illness which affected many gas survivors..."

If these survivors could be helped and studied, maybe some light could be shed on the causes of schizophenia. Thus some good would come of that terrible event.

Union Carbide foots the bill.

Maybe it's time for a somewhat more sensitive yet equally publicised reminder of the disaster.

http://www.bhopal.org/
http://www.bhopal.net/

this is awful.

fucking Union Carbide.

terrible news. I've written about the memorial planned for the site, which will, apparently show grey mannequins working at the factory controls...
Details here:

http://portal.architexturez.org/site/groups/bhopal/winning_entries/1/

The real debate is whether 22 crore (nearly US$100 million) should be spent on this large memorial / park complex, or whether the money should be used for healthcare, education etc of those who suffered (and their families).
This is a question I think about mroe widely: are memorials really effective spaces for healing? Do we "need" them? Does 9/11 need a $550 million memorial?

I would think the long-suffering residents of Bhopal would prefer some healthcare/infrastructure investment/renumeration... but I don't know, I didn't had the nerve to go there on either of my India trips.