The Bhopal disaster is one of the most shocking examples of the negative impact that large Trans National Corporations (TNCs) can have in Less Economically Developed Countries (LEDCs).

The incident concerns a poisonous gas leak at a chemical works run by US-based TNC Union Carbide in Bhopal, India, in the early hours of December the 3rd 1984. The initial event is thought to have killed around 10,000 people, with tens of thousands more suffering long term injuries. Serious birth defects are still common in the Bhopal area as a result. There is widespread feeling that Unioni Carbide was not running the plant as safely as it would have done in an MEDC and was slow to react. There is still widespread resentment at the perceived inaction of Unioin Carbide to admit responsibilty and pay for cleaning Bhopal up, including compensating the victims.

Bhopal arouses strong opinions on those on different sides of the divide over whose responsibility it was and this should be borne in mind when investigating resources and opinion pieces about the event and its aftermath.

The BBC has a relatively well-balanced Bhopal webpage with lots of information and eyewitness reports here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/bhopal/default.stm 

An overview of the details of the event can be found here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bhopal_disaster

There is a great little thinking exercise to help you understand what happened here:

http://www.geography.ndo.co.uk/bhopal.htm

There is a useful video explaining the disaster here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GgpJKSbEINQ

The Bhopal Medical Appeal website can be found here:

http://www.bhopal.org/

A strong earthquake (7.8 magnitude) has caused devastation and killed thousands in Sichuan Province, China.

You can find out more about the event here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2008/china_quake/default.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7396400.stm

The area affected can be seen in detail on this map:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7400614.stm

This video will tell you all about this event in 1999:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6Vr2Nh3oA8

You can find an outline of the Tiananmen Square protests of 1989 here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiananmen_Square_protests_of_1989

Here is one news report of the events:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yyj-3S_ulvI&feature=related

Here is some footage of the famous “Tank Man”, who single-handedly stopped a column of tanks:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9-nXT8lSnPQ

A volcano known as Chaiten has erupted in Chile, having been dormant for 9000 years. Local people have been evacuated, but will they be able to return?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/7386050.stm

The eruption is part of ongoing activity along the Andes of South America, there is more information about this volcanic event here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chait%C3%A9n_%28volcano%29

See NASA’s satellite photos of the event here:

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/NaturalHazards/natural_hazards_v2.php3?img_id=14815

You can see some footage of the eruption and how it has affected people here:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qqdKZuTKZMo

There are many examples of China’s growing economic influence around the world, including islands in the South Pacific:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/7380375.stm

Cyclone Nargis hit the closed state of Burma on Friday the 2nd of May 2008. Initial reports suggest that the dfamage has been severe:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7384858.stm

There is more detail on the growth of the storm here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Nargis

There is argument over whether the authorities could have given a better warning to it’s people:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7386695.stm

Given that Burma’s militarty government has closed itself off to the West and usually spends much of its effort oppressing its people, the ability of the government to help its people is under question:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7384552.stm

Will international aid agencies be able to work as effectively as possible under the Burmese regime?

What sort of aid was organised to provide relief?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7385148.stm

The loss of mangrove forests has again been highlighted as a factor increasing the vulnerability to flooding of coastal areas in tropical regions:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7385315.stm

 Here is an overview of the BBC coverage of Cyclone Nargis:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2008/burma_cyclone/default.stm

Many of us don’t realise how much water is required to produce the food and other goods that we take for granted. For example it takes 140 litres of water to make one cup of coffee and and 16,000 litres to make 1kg of beef. Find out more about your water footprint here:

http://www.waterfootprint.org/?page=files/home

Try your hand at spotting places around the world:

http://www.travelpod.com/traveler-iq

There are growing concerns that poorer people around the world may suffer as the price of foodstuffs continues to rise. As the world’s population continues to climb, the increasing number of mouths to feed is catching up with our ability to produce food. Some previously productive land has been over-farmed and is less productive or barren now. Poor harvests are more frequent due to the growing  unpredictability of the world’s weather, possibly made worse by man-made climate change. Demand to use land for producing non-food crops for fuel is also having an effect. Whilst some commentators think that increased efficiency and more productive farming techniques in the less economically developed world will solve the problem, others predict that the problem will only get worse until the global human population is reduced.

You can investigate the issues further here:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/world/2008/costoffood/default.stm

How can the food price crisis be solved?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/7365798.stm

The UN has set up a task force to deal with the problem:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/7372393.stm