State Of Emergency In Hungary Until 31st Dec.
- 20 Oct 2010 9:55 AM
The Hungarian government reportedly turned to the national Parliament on Monday, 18 Oct 2010, requesting that it prolong the current national state of emergency (declared in the beginning of October effecting three western Hungarian counties following a toxic red-sludge spill directly contaminating at least three reportedly evacuated villages – namely Devecser, Somlovasarhely Kolontar – just north of Lake Balaton (earlier it was mistakenly reported along the Danube, but nevertheless it does effect Hungary’s water tables) till Dec 31, 2010.
This was confirmed by Government Commissioner Gyorgy Bakondi (pictured), who is the care-taker of the controversial alumina plant that was responsible for the spilled of nearly 1-mil cu m of toxic sludge, causing both soil and air pollution.
The latest reports claim that at least nine people have died and at least 40 were hospitalized, due to the contamination, while the region is reg-flagged as an “ecological disaster zone.” Generally a state of emergency may only be announced for a fortnight, by Hungarian legislation, but due to the dire situation the government wants to extend it till the end of the year.
World Health Organization (WHO) and European Commissioners are being sent to Hungary to assess the damages, according to Bakondi. He added that the alumina plant must continue production under stringent surveillance, as soon as possible.
The government has yet to decide what is to become of the population who decline to return to the contaminated region.
By Tamas S. Kiss, published on XpatLoop.com with the permission of BudapestReport.com
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