UPDATE: 12 Oct 10
Hungary Sludge Flood PHOTOS: First Satellite Images
There have been plenty of photos from ground level, but NASA today released the first satellite images of the Hungary toxic sludge flood.
NASA describes the photos as follows:
On October 9, 2010, the Advanced Land Imager (ALI) on NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite captured this natural-color image of the area. The top image shows a close-up of the alumina plant and closest villages. The bottom image shows the wider region.
The incident has been called “an ecological disaster” and it has forced Hungary to declare a state of emergency.
UPDATE 10 Oct 10:
Toxic Sludge Could Spill Again, Hungary Government Warns
Engineers feared a second wave could be even more toxic than the first because the sludge remaining in the reservoir was more concentrated.
UPDATE 7 Oct 10:
Danube Hit By Hungary Sludge: Red Toxic Mud Reaches Famous River
UPDATE 6 Oct 10:
Hungarians battle to hold back toxic sludge spill from Danube
Greenpeace describes incident as ‘one of the top three environmental disasters in Europe in the last 20 or 30 years'
UPDATE 6 Oct 10:
Photos from TIME Magazine
Hungary toxic sludge spill an ‘ecological catastrophe' says government
Hungary declares a state of emergency as 1m cubic metres of sludge leaks from an alumina factory killing four and injuring 120
Local environmentalists said the plant, which had been privatised several years ago, should have been modernised but that the company put profits first.
Robert Fidrich, of Friends of the Earth in Hungary, said: “Now we, the public, will have to pay the real bill. You can forget about cleaning up those villages … nobody will be able to live there for 10 years or more. It has affected the lives of hundreds of people.”
