Immediately following the gas release, Union Carbide Corporation began providing aid to the victims and established a process to resolve their claims. Among the many efforts Union Carbide took to address the situation were:
- Organizing a team of top medical experts to help identify the best treatment options and work with the local medical community;
- Providing substantial amounts of medical equipment, supplies and expertise to the victims;
- Openly sharing all its information on methylisocyanate (MIC) with the Government of India, including all published and unpublished toxicity studies available at the time;
- Dispatching a team of technical MIC experts to Bhopal on the day after the tragedy, which carried MIC studies that were widely shared with medical and scientific personnel in Bhopal;
- Establishing a $100 million charitable trust fund to build a hospital for victims, and
- Offering a $2.2 million grant to establish a vocational-technical center in Bhopal to provide local jobs.
In 1989, Union Carbide and UCIL entered into a $470 million legal settlement with the Indian Government that settled all claims arising from the incident. The Indian Supreme Court affirmed the settlement and described it as “just, equitable and reasonable.” Union Carbide and UCIL promptly paid the money to the Government of India. (Please see “The Incident, Response and Settlement” section of this website for additional information on UCC’s efforts and contributions.)
An India media report in September 2006 stated that the “registrar in the office of Welfare Commissioner… said all cases of initial compensation claims by victims of the 1984 Bhopal gas tragedy have been cleared… With the clearance of initial compensation claims and revision petitions, no case is pending…”
Browning, Jackson. “UNION CARBIDE: DISASTER AT BHOPAL.” Union Carbide. N.p., 1993. Web. 25 Apr. 2013.
<http://www.bhopal.com/~/media/Files/Bhopal/browning.pdf>
