Emergency Response

• Author: Jamon L. Bollock and David O. Chang
• Pages: 137-149

CHAPTER 9

Emergency Response

JAMON L. BOLLOCK AND DAVID O. CHANG

Recent environmental disasters illustrate how local pollution events can take

on global importance by threatening to become disasters of international

scope. The radiation leak at the Fukishima Daichi nuclear reactor in Japan,

for example, created fears of radiation pollution in neighboring countries

and even as far away as the U.S. State of Hawaii. The BP Deepwater Horizon

oil spill in the U.S. Gulf of Mexico appeared to threaten international waters,

as uncertainty over the spread of oil from the spill led some to predict that

spilled oil would reach Cuba and the Atlantic Gulf Stream. In fact, oil spills

have frequently been international concerns, because sea currents transport

oil slicks to other nearby countries’ shores, and the vessels causing the spills

are usually owned by corporations that are not located in the country where

the spill has occurred and are usually flagged in a third country.1

A recent environmental disaster that actually became an international

problem was the accident at the Ajkai Timflödgyár alumina plant in Hun-

gary on October 4, 2010.2 When a portion of the dam holding toxic waste in

a reservoir ruptured,3 a wave of 35 million cubic feet of slightly radioactive

sludge flooded more than 15 square miles.4 The sludge eventually reached

the Danube River and forced the downriver countries of Slovakia, Croatia,

Serbia, Romania, Bulgaria, and Ukraine to develop emergency response

plans.5 The release killed 10 people, injured hundreds of residents, and con-

taminated waterways.6 Economically, the International Commission for the

Protection of the Danube River estimated that the costs for removal of the

sludge, decontamination, and compensation were between US$100 to US$200

million.7

The rapid industrialization of formerly undeveloped areas globally, along

with the inability or unwillingness of some local authorities to impose restric-

tions on the international corporations leading that development, increases the

likelihood that similar accidents will occur in the future.8 In response to inter-

national environmental disasters of the past, including the Torrey Canyon spill9

and Chernobyl nuclear accident, nations have worked together to develop

mechanisms for addressing environmental disasters. Much of this work has

focused on either prevention of pollution or liability and compensation after

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