Sofia Echo
A year after the red mud disaster in Hungary, the World Wildlife Fund has warned that little has been done to prevent further such catastrophes from occurring.
On October 4 2010 more than one million cubic meters of toxic red mud escaped from a broken reservoir at an aluminium plant at Ajka in western Hungary. The highly alkaline and toxic deluge flowed through the villages of Kolontar, Devecser and Somlovasarhely and via the Torna, Marcal and Raba streams and rivers into the Danube. Ten people died, and 150 people were injured by the disaster. The accident destroyed a number of villages and poisoned Danube tributaries. The earth, rivers and plants are still contaminated with heavy metals from the red mud.
“Hungary has let its presidency of the European Union pass without taking any action to defuse further ticking time bombs in Central and Eastern Europe,” said Gabory Figeczky, CEO of WWF Hungary.
WWF called on the European Commission to draw up an action plan to ensure the effective implementation of the EU Mining Waste Directive.
“The EU Directive, which was introduced in 2006, is in principle good, but must now be effectively implemented,” said Figeckzy. “All transition periods for implementation of the Directive will run out by the end of this year and East European countries have no more time to delay implementation.”
“EU tax payers should not be made to pay for mistakes of mining companies and relevant authorities when catastrophes like that at Ajka happen,” said Andreas Beckmann of the WWF Danube-Carpathian Programme.
On the occasion of the anniversary of the Ajka disaster, WWF has published photos and video footage of the disaster area taken from the air. The photos and video footage show that the extent of the disaster is still evident today.
The WWFR highlights the fact that there is still no mandatory insurance system for similar toxic mining waste sites, neither is there an adequate control system for similar dams and facilities in the former Soviet countries of Eastern Europe.
“One year after the catastrophe in Hungary and 10 years after the accidents at Baia Mare and Baia Borsa in Romanai, we still do not have a clear idea how many toxic time bombs are still ticking in Eastern Europe,” warned Beckmann.
