Toxic Sludge in Hungary

Monday a toxic sludge burst out of its containment pond and poured through three villages, killing three people and injuring 120.  The sludge is a waste product in aluminum production and is toxic if ingested.  It also causes severe burns.  So far, 35.3 million cubic feet of sludge has leaked from the pond affecting an area of 15.4 square miles. 

The definition of a crisis is an untimely but predictable event that has actual or potential consequences for stakeholders' interest as well as the organization's reputation.  What I want to focus on is the word predictable.  Most crises, with the exception of natural disasters, can be predicted and prevented.  This is no exception.  Since 2003 local environmentalists have been calling the government's attention to the risk of the sludge.  If the government had taken the environmentalists seriously and tried to do something to reduce the amount of sludge in the containment pond, Hungary wouldn't be in a state of emergency now.  Even if the government couldn't reduce the amount of toxic waste the aluminum company was producing,  they could have made them take the waste to another location where there weren't so many villages around.  I think that the government and the aluminum company is going to have to work very hard to gain the trust of the people back.

I think that one thing the government can do to start getting trust back is to set up a fund to provide the people whose homes and jobs were destroyed with housing and money equal to their income.  They should also pay for the hospital bills of those who were injured and for the funeral arrangements of those who were killed.