Hungary: Red Sludge, Slimy Politics

Government politicking adds insult to injury

More than three weeks after a deluge of red sludge swept through the village of Kolontar in south-west Hungary, killing nine and injuring over a hundred and fifty, anger and frustration still linger in the air along with the contaminating dust. While the media focus has been on the village directly affected as well as the neighbouring town of Devecser, other villages in the area have been left out of the spotlight. Residents in these areas have complained of shortages of protective masks and that they have not been given enough information about what is going on, among other things.

Meanwhile, as the situation appears to be normalising in Kolontar (the settlement most badly affected by the disaster), confusion and a lack of reliable information are still evident. After being forced to leave their homes for a week and a half while initial clean-up operations were conducted as well as a new barrier to protect against another spill was erected, people are still unsure of what exactly they have returned home to.

When the catastrophe first struck many felt that it would have been perhaps best to declare Kolontar a dead settlement. While many have since returned, most nevertheless would prefer to move as far away as possible from the area. However, most have no other alternative. Furthermore, government plans to rebuild homes destroyed by the spill have a catch: these homes can't be sold for a number of years. The rationale for this is to prevent property speculation. Thus, many are locked into an uncertain and potentially unhealthy situation. About 350 houses were flooded by the alkaline red sludge in Kolontar alone.

As with all major industrial accidents, companies responsible try to downplay the extent of the damage and their accountability. The oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is the best most recent example. On the other hand, it's far too easy to simply point an incriminating finger at the company responsible. Unfortunately, in order to encourage local industry the authorities often ignore or downplay possible risks.

Hence, in the same way that in the US the Obama administration had turned a blind eye to the inherent risks of deep-sea drilling so as to issue licenses and promote US oil production, so too had Hungary ignored the dangers inherent in the storage of chemical waste. Likewise, the EU had classified the red sludge (a by-product from the production of aluminium) which devastated the town of Kolontar as not dangerous, thereby forcing member states such as Hungary to adopt similar guidelines. Prior to joining the EU this type of chemical waste was regarded as dangerous by the Hungarian government.

Sadly, as if this industrial disaster wasn't bad enough, the way the authorities have been conducting themselves in wake of the tragedy merely adds insult to injury. Happening a mere day after the ruling party scored a landslide victory in municipal elections, it appears the government hasn't realised that the election is over and is more concerned with scoring political points than constructively dealing with the situation.

As with its cold war against the IMF, the government of Viktor Orban has adopted a tough, unyielding stance against the reckless company involved. In order to portray an image of hard-hitting leadership, the owner of the company had been arrested and the company put under state supervision. Orban vowed that those responsible for the disaster will pay, and that liability for the spill will include personal assets as well.

Feeding the public frenzy

In a country where many are saddled with crippling personal debt and many more have borne the brunt of recent austerity measures, such tough talk and tough action represents a settling of scores of sorts. Indeed, the hysteria which had been whipped up by the local mass media in support of the ruling party has been such that many are baying for blood. Thus, when the owner of the company responsible for the disaster was arrested, people approved of the police action although it was not clear at first exactly why he was in custody. Only later did the police reveal that he had been arrested for not having prepared an emergency plan in the event of a disaster.

By most standards, the charge upon which the CEO had been arrested was quite flimsy, and most were hoping for something more serious and concrete. Judges at both the municipal and county levels subsequently found no suitable ground for the detention and ordered him released. In spite of this, the police action was nevertheless a success in terms of its propaganda value, for it vividly demonstrated that the government is willing to resort to using the long of the arm if necessary.

At this point it's not clear why the sludge reservoir ruptured. Still, the Prime Minister felt confident enough to claim in parliament that it wasn't due to a natural calamity since there wasn't an earthquake, a hurricane, or any other such extreme event. As a result, many feel it was most probably because the reservoir was too full and that the way its cells were connected was not up to code. Greenpeace initially pointed out that a Google Maps photo from a few days prior to the accident showed cracks in the area of the reservoir where the rupture took place, proving that the company was aware that it was about to burst. The environmental group later retracted its claim noting they had made a mistake. Not only did the photo not contain the telltale cracks, but the area where they were supposed to be was the opposing side of where the breach had actually occurred.

Despite this, some media outlets continued to make use of this information in order to feed the public frenzy which had gained such momentum that some even claimed that the opposition Socialists engineered the whole disaster as a way of getting back at the government for their landslide victory in municipal elections the day before. Meanwhile, as claims and counter-claims followed each other in rapid succession, there is still no definite cause to date as to why the spill occurred.

Even so, the Prime Minister and most Hungarians felt (and still feel) that the head of the company deserved to be in jail anyway, especially on account of his remark shortly after the disaster that the situation was not that bad and that the chemical sludge was not dangerous. While there is no doubt that heads of major companies are in desperate need of appropriate communication skills in times of crisis, the comments made by the Hungarian CEO of the company responsible for the chemical spill at Kolontar was, in effect, factually correct.

During the cyanide spill ten years earlier in Romania, which passed through Hungary via the Tisza River, people could do little but watch as the poison passed through the country killing everything in its path. In the case of the red sludge, on the other hand, the authorities were able to take quick action by attempting to neutralise the alkaline material before it reached the Danube River. This they were able to do, although wildlife in the tributaries leading to the Danube was decimated.

Moreover, while pictures and video footage from the scene showed a red wasteland where the spill had occurred, most of the deaths and the destruction caused by the accident weren't on account of the red sludge itself but the sheer force of the flood which came crashing down on Kolontar. In other words, if the breached reservoir contained simply water the extent to which homes were destroyed and the number of deaths would have been almost the same. As for those who had died in hospital, it was a combination of the injuries suffered as well as the age of the victim which contributed to their deaths.

All this isn't to belittle the damage and physical injuries caused by the red sludge. Indeed, the true negative effects of the chemical are only now making themselves felt. Ironically, it's these effects which are now being downplayed or ignored altogether.

Hence, although the Hungarian mass media whipped up an atmosphere of hysteria following the disaster over the remarks that the sludge wasn't dangerous, with some commentators adding to the blood lust by noting that the owners of the company should be made to drink the sludge, this anger was misplaced and conveniently used by the authorities in order to further its ignominious agenda. Incongruously, after the initial shock following the disaster had subsided and the government was intent on having as many people return to the area as soon as possible, the authorities have been at pains to assure residents that it's safe to return noting that the remaining sludge "is not dangerous".

As a result, whereas immediately following the spill most experts lamented that things will never be the same around Kolontar, now members of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences and others are saying that everything will be more or less back in order quickly and that people will be surprised at how fast the area will recover. Greenpeace and other environmentalists aren't so optimistic, however. They note that the level of heavy metals is much higher than what is being officially reported, and although the authorities maintain that the air quality is within normal levels, most people are complaining of breathing problems.

"El Dorado" for the industry

Consequently, there is now increasing concern that people are being unnecessarily exposed to a long-term health risks and that the government is covering this up in order to forego the expense and difficulty in having residents from Kolontar and the surrounding area relocated elsewhere. To this extent the state of emergency in the area has been extended in the region until the end of the year and only the authorities can take samples from the area. Meanwhile those with conflicting views to the official line have come under criticism. For instance, state media recently branded Greenpeace a "radical" environmental movement as opposed to referring to it as an environmentalist organization as it used to.

At this point the question naturally arises as to why the Hungarian government had taken the tough unyielding stance that it had. The chemical spill was, evidently, a very serious and tragic event. Still, it's quite apparent that the extent to which the Prime Minister himself reacted to the situation was perhaps a little overkill. Taking place a mere day after a huge election victory, the government was obviously still in high gear; therefore, it's somewhat understandable that it was a little difficult to adjust to the red sludge from the slimy world of politics. Yet there appears to be a more practical reason for all this: the government's tough position is merely to cover for the weakness in its environmental policy. In other words, the best defence is a good offense.

It's ironic that immediately following the chemical spill at Kolontar the government adopted a strong stance against companies in relation to environmental protection. On the surface, this position would appear to have merit. On the other hand, as with the "crisis tax" recently levied against various industrial sectors, it reeks of a double standard. No mention has been made of Hungary's automobile industry, for instance, which has seen a revival of sorts, to the extent that some pundits have claimed that the country is now a new "El Dorado" for the industry. Indeed, the present Hungarian government has no qualms about sacrificing the environment in order to please companies that it's in favour of. A case in point is with the carmaker Audi. A Natura 2000 site has been removed from the network in order to allow for the expansion of the auto giant's facilities.

At issue is not only the weakness of the government in terms of environmental protection in general, but that the authorities were most probably culpable in the disaster as well. For one, the reservoir was badly planned from the start. According to one geologist who surveyed the area before the facility was built, the site was not entirely stable. It was built on an elevated clay area with a spongy soil at its base. What this meant was that the base was most likely to shift which, in turn, would exert stress and lead to cracks on the clay layer above. In addition to this, the site was on a hill directly overlooking the town. Thus, when the reservoir was breached a wall of sludge some two meters in height came crashing down with extraordinary force. Had the reservoir not been built so close to the town and at such an elevation then the extent of the damage caused by the leak would have been much less.

The imprudence of where and how the site was built isn't only limited to Kolontar, but is a problem throughout the country. In fact, the site at Kolontar wasn't considered to be the worst such facility. A similar chemical waste site lies directly on the banks of the Danube. If a breach were ever to occur there then an even greater ecological disaster would ensue for the sludge would immediately pour into the Danube, giving officials little time to react.

Admittedly, such problems were inherited from the past. Even so, this doesn't absolve the authorities of responsibility as environmental groups had over the years tried to raise awareness of potential problems with Hungary's chemical storage sites. Furthermore, the fact that the reservoir at Kolontar was inspected by the authorities a mere ten days before the accident attests to the weakened state of government inspections of such facilities.

Sadly, as private enterprise strives to extract more and more using less and less, public safety is invariably sacrificed. Governments are complicit in this drive to maximise profits as the main victims of budget cuts and austerity measures are not only public services but government "bureaucracy" aimed at the public interest. Hence, the current government's pledge to make Hungary the "most competitive country in the region" along with its determination to keep the country's budget deficit at a low level guarantees that underfunded aspects to government bureaucracy remain ineffective.

All this, coupled with the fact that environmental issues are not a high priority for the current government, explains why slimy politics made its way along with the sludge. In effect, if the government gave proper weight to the environment the disaster might have been averted. Moreover, the Prime Minister's conclusion that the accident was not caused by a natural event is perhaps a little premature. True, there wasn't a hurricane or an earthquake. However, it has been raining for most of the year and the soil has become waterlogged in many areas. A year's worth of rain had already fallen by June, and by the time the year is over in some places within the country the amount of rainfall will have equalled twice the annual average.

The seeming non-stop rain had already caused severe flooding in the northeast of the country early on in the summer. The fact that the Prime Minister was relatively late in visiting the region and the fact that aid and reconstruction work in the area has been painfully slow attests to not only how little attention has been paid to what has been happening, but also the financial constraints the government is under. Hence, it's quite understandable why the authorities wish to put as much blame as possible on the company responsible for the disaster at Kolontar.

It goes without saying that the flooding in the northeast of the country during the summer should have been a warning that the unusually large amount of rain could have an adverse impact elsewhere. All along the Danube, embankments and retaining walls have ruptured and slid as a result of the waterlogged soil. Major cracks even appeared on the walls of the Castle District in Budapest, prompting the authorities to take immediate action.

All this should have been reason enough for the authorities to be more vigilant when inspecting chemical waste sites. Unfortunately, as is custom in Hungary, a tragedy first has to occur before anything is done. Accordingly, in the weeks following the disaster at Kolontar the authorities began to take the problems caused by the extended rainfall more seriously. In the town of Dunaujvaros on the banks of the Danube, for example, residents were evacuated because of the threat posed by the sliding embankment. For most, what was surprising was that the authorities took so long to respond given that they were already well aware of the problem back in June.

The catastrophe at Kolontar may have simply been a warning of bigger things to come

While the government attempts to make up for lost time, their hard-headed response in the wake of the chemical spill may have done more harm than good. By immediately ruling out that an extreme weather event could have been responsible for the disaster at Kolontar (in conjunction with human negligence), the government had cut itself off from possible emergency funding from the EU that it desperately needs.

In addition to this, the image that the government has been portraying that it's firmly in control and that it will make sure that residents are quickly compensated for the damage may be its own undoing. By adopting such an approach it has raised expectations which will be difficult to fulfill. The wheels of justice in Hungary move painfully slowly. As cases have too often shown in the past, the courts can take years - even decades – before bringing a final verdict. Often, the perpetrators end up with a little more than a slap on the wrist. As a result, unless justice is meted out swiftly, people will become disenchanted and end up concluding that nothing has changed in the so-called ballot-box revolution of 2010.

The same goes for the effort at rebuilding the devastated area. As the summer flooding in the northeast of the country had already demonstrated, people are so far not satisfied with the way the government has handled such emergencies. The authorities were slow to act, compensation was even slower in coming and overly bureaucratic, and there were many complaints that people were not getting what they expected or had been promised. The houses which were being rebuilt, for instance, were much smaller than those which had been lost to the flooding.

Similar sentiments are now being echoed in the region affected by the red sludge. In addition to the problems of aid and reconstruction, many feel that the concern of residents over adverse health affects are being ignored. In conjunction with this is the question of people's livelihoods. Most are no longer able to make a living from the land. Both the EU and the Hungarian government have suggested alternatives such as using the contaminated soil from the area to make bricks or to plant energy crops as an alternative to agriculture.

Perhaps the most ignominious consequence of mixing political slime with the red sludge is not so much of what happened in the past or what is happening in the present, but what will happen in the future. While the month of October hasn't been too bad in terms of rainfall, the land throughout the country is saturated nonetheless. Consequently, some have sounded alarm bells of a looming disaster in the spring. Unless it's an exceptionally mild and dry winter Hungary can expect serious flooding throughout the country on a scale equivalent to or even worse than the flooding of ten years ago. Conversely, the opposite would also not be good news for farmers either because a lack of snow cover and cold temperatures would mean a sudden increase in the number of pests and diseases.

In many ways it's a no-win situation. The task for the authorities at this point is to minimize the damage as much as possible. The catastrophe at Kolontar may have simply been a warning of bigger things to come. It can only be hoped that the government will have stopped playing politics by that time and will have taken heed of this warning.