Meet the Women Survivors of the World’s Worst Industrial Disaster
On the 3rd of December, 1984, a toxic methyl isocyanate gas leak at Union Carbide’s pesticide plant in Bhopal, India, caused the world’s deadliest industrial disaster. Over 10,000 people died within three days, and long-term deaths and illnesses have continued for decades. Survivors, especially women, have experienced intergenerational health issues, such as miscarriages, cancers, and disabilities, alongside contaminated water supplies. Now in her 70s, Bano Bee, who fled the gas cloud with her five children, is still one of the movement’s strongest voices. Alongside women such as Ramkali, Krishna Bai, and others, she has helped to transform the suffering of survivors into India's most significant female-led environmental justice movement. Together, they organize sit-ins, hunger strikes, marches, and symbolic protests, demanding compensation, clean water, and corporate accountability. Groups such as the International Campaign for Justice in Bhopal (ICJB), which unites survivor organizations, continue to put pressure on Dow Chemical (the company that acquired Union Carbide) and the Indian government. Despite violent crackdowns, arrests, and poverty, these women persist, leading demonstrations, negotiating with officials, and maintaining international attention on corporate crime. At the 40th anniversary in 2024, Bano Bee stood with other women, torch in hand, declaring survivors’ resilience. Their fight shows that, four decades later, the women of Bhopal refuse to be silenced in their struggle for justice.
