Pukkelpop drama 2011: critical questions

As a Flemish person, I want to say something to the other countries surrounding us about the way this terrible disaster is handled in Belgium.

I know this is a very delicate case and please I hope so much that no-one will judge me as some-one that wants to take advantage of the disaster by writing about it on her blog, hoping that it will attract people and that the blog visitors amount will grow. I have seen many people getting and been giving this judgement to other people e.g. starting up facebook groups about the event to support all damaged, hurted families, victims, etc...

Picture of when they were building Pukkelpop 2011, last week

before the festival would take off, taken from HBVL.be

This persons were blamed as taking profit from another one's death's or misery to gain attention themselves, but on the other hand: people that started up groups to thank Chokri and the organisation for their great work were also set up. No-one was there to judge these people for doing that ... while if you start to consider everything that way, we can better all stop to express ourselves cause maybe we just do it to get attention.
While I in contrary think that it is very important that people, after a disaster like this in which many families, colleagues, friends, people you know, ... (Limburg is not a big community and after all it's a small world, 60 000 people were there, meaning more or less 120 000 parents, maybe 240 000 grand parents, causins, uncles, aunts, colleagues, class mates, ... so everyone knew somebody that had been on pukkelpop or could imagine what terrible feelings must go to another one having his beloved child, sister, brother, or partner there ... can express what they think about it. Is it live to each other, to facebook, or to another channel ... We should talk and ventilate our thoughts and feelings about it. In this way we can mourn and process the events. And after all, after so much powerlessness we all felt the first moments and hours (and maybe even days), it was the damn only thing we could do ...

So, this is the disclaimer, now what I think and feel about this disaster and especially some remarks and questions about how it is being handled by the media (all media including newspapers and social media like facebook):

Even though I wasn't there. I live within a small half an hour (driving, direct distance is shorter) of the fields were Pukkelpop has been organised since '85 by Chokri Mahassine.

For more then half a decade, i have been visiting the festival myself with my friends and I really had great times there. On that moment I have gone trough a great rise of the ticket price and the amount of people being permitted on the fields were at that time 120 000, spread over 3 days. So like 40 000 visitors in a day. Nowadays 60 000 persons were on the field. I don't know if the site has made bigger. I suppose it is and all this is according standards to guarantuee this crowd safetiness. Though, we all know such big crowds contain certain risks ... one of them is stampede which even can come without a cause as we have seen regretfully at the Love Parade in Duisburg.

For me seeing the storm that day left a deep impact on me. When hearing the news to look how much the storm had devastated, we realised Pukkelpop was in it's first day. 60 000, especially young people, on an open field, with only some tents to protect themselves... in this storm. When we realised what could have happened we started to panic. For none of us it was difficult to imagine what disaster might have passed there and how terrible all parents having their children their, must have feelt in this moments. My sister wasn't home at the moment when the storm came up and it was clear to me that it wasn't a normal storm. So I immediately contacted her to say her: where-ever you are: stay inside. Don't go outside. Too dangerous. We were paniced because of her and she wasn't even on Pukkelpop so you can imagine ... On 18.07h (or 6.07pm) plus minus we tried to sent her a message, but by that time already there was no connection possible. You could only call emergency numbers...

For me terrible hours were going to come cause I had lots of friends and people I know being on the festival. All people I know seemed to be okay but needless to say all of them have been horrified because they feart death and some might have been traumatised for whole their lives. What would have been one of the climaxes of the holiday for most young people, ended up in the worst disaster movie they could imagine and they were live on the scene... and saw things children/young adults aren't supposed to see (even adults aren't supposed to see them), felt things this young people aren't supposed to feel ... and so on. Many people also blog about this (in dutch, on blogs, fora, ...).
Also needless to say I watched the media close in the hours from the disaster and the hours to come.

I want to say to the people from other countries, what has happened after this disaster in Belgium minds and in Belgium media, is for me very disappointing and even gives me great doubs about justice and logical thinking in our country.

Chokri has been worshipped as a hero by youngsters and all generations that could take benefits of the fact that he organised this great festivals (after Pukkelpop, he also organised Rimpelrock: a festival for elderly, the meaning of rimpel is "wrinkle", so quiet similar with his first festival "pukkel", wich is the flemish name to point to the acne spots young people in puberty have oftenly on their faces).

Hours after the disaster, Chokri Mahassine gathered the press to give an official statement (in dutch). He was very quick to say "we couldn't have foreseen this" "this is a terrible disaster", "no-one knew this was coming on" "I have been in many many countries, seen tropical storms but this was nothing like this. This I have never ever seen in my live". "We didn't know it was going to happen".

The press was very quickly to took over this statement and very sudden after that facebook groups appeared thanking Chokri and supporting him for his great loss and the tragedy ... stating "no one is guilty and no one could have foreseen this disaster".

But the question is: is it true what he said? Did the organisation of the festival (the factory, officially a non-profit organisation) indeed nothing about what was going to come or to happen there?

Chokri was asked by a suspicous and critical journalist of the VRT (the only Flemish public channel) if they even kept the weather into account organising this kind of big events in open air, with 10 000s of people and no where to go or hide except a tent ... "Yes of course, we check this, by way of saying, every half an hour" ... This answer of Chokri was rather painful. But no information about how they checked it, did they have a responsible person for this, was the forecast giver making a big mistake? Or where they just hoping the storm wouldn't pass them?

Because ... in contrary to what Chokri says, this storm HAS BEEN PREDICTED. Already days beforehand we knew in Flanders locally heavy storms might arise. The national weather institute (KMI, that gave a special detailled information about what happened there at these particular evening) gave a warning code orange (second highest) for a big part of Belgium. In this part on the very same evening there would be 60 000 mainly young people being gathered together, with only tents to hide, in an open field, with lots of trees and other stuff much lighter then trees that could easily being catched by the wind (equipment for light, music, electricity, sanitary services (showers, toilets), fences, ...

What does code orange actually mean? From the website of the national Belgian weather institute (see above) (the reference point most people look at if they want information about the weather) copied ...

Hevige en verspreide onweders worden verwacht in één of meer regio’s. Dit weersverschijnsel kan gepaard gaan met intense buien, hagelbuien en/of hevige rukwinden. Dit weersverschijnsel kan gepaard gaan met grote schade aan gebouwen, ontwortelde bomen, blikseminslagen en plaatselijke wateroverlast. Zulke situaties kunnen ook levensbedreigend zijn bij het nemen van al te grote risico’s. Wees op uw hoede.
(sorry in dutch)

And translated:

"Very heavy and spreaded thunderstorms are being expected in one or more regions. This weather phenomenon can carry heavy rainfalls, hail and very fast moving air currents (winds). This weather phenomenon can cause large damage on buildings, derooted trees, lightning crashes and local flooding. This situation can also be life threatening if you take big risks so please be careful."

Damage on buildings, derooted trees, ... possible...

Fallen tree at Pukkelpop 2011

Damage on buildings and trees being rupted out of the ground says enough I think. On Pukkelpop indeed trees collapsed, to hit people and tents, that collapsed too, by the trees, by the wind or by the rain. Obviously tents are much less strong then buildings. So if you know even a building can get harmed, you know what is going to happen with tents...

Suppose the organisation knew about this weather prediction but was doubting if this was a right prediction, and a possible scenario for his festival. Then there were many alternative possibilities: he could have checked many other weather sites to (dis)confirm the prediction:

Estofex e.g., the site you can check if you are doubting if a storm will come or not. Estofex predictions for that day were very clear:

a storm would hurt the festival, maybe very badly, given the damage it already had caused on the places where it was passed.

Even on Estofex, they predicted already days beforehand a big storm for exactly those parts of Belgian where it has arrived with the possible formation of some supercells. They said even tornadoes where possible...

This is exactly what they said (see Estofex, archive):

A level 2 was issued for parts of N France, W Germany, and the SE Benelux countries, primarily for large hail and severe wind gusts, and to a lesser extent for tornadoes.

(...)

Concluding, it appears that a few supercells will move eastward across the level 2 area with a large hail threat and locally severe winds. An isolated tornado cannot be ruled out, most likely near or just north of the front,

(...)

The storms will probably cluster over time, and we expect them to evelolve into bowing structures moving eastward across SE Benelux into adjacent Germany.

If that even let Chokri or the organisation doubt about the possible storm, then he could also check: Buienradar.be, on this website you can see radar images about clouds and storms gathering above Belgium. It was clear to see something was coming up. More then one hour before the disaster happened at the Pukkelpop scene in Kiewit (Hasselt), Brussels and Flemish Brabant got a very big storm as predicted by the KMI. There was damage everywhere. This was already being told on diverse news websites. And you could see the gigantic storm (one of the biggest ever seen in Belgium) passing further over our country, right to the direction of Limburg, where the festival was organised ... On that moment it was 1 hour ago and there was very few doubt a very strong and severe strom would pass over Limburg, where Hasselt en Pukkelpop were going on...

Also, some people that visited the festival stated they have been told by cooperators of the festival that a great storm was going to come up ...

In Limburg (the province where Hasselt is the capital of) that something was coming up and that it could be very strong, we in fact already knew it days beforehand.

Even before this happening in Brussels, farmers harvested their hay already because they knew it would be lost ... Since the morning in Flanders indeed, people that saw the weather forecast were already warning each other to be inside in the evening, park their cars inside or cover them, ... because something big was predicted (code orange) to come up by the KMI.

As an argument to defend Chokri or who knows who people were even saying: this was unpredictabled and no-one could have helped this. Even buildings were ruined.
Yes ... but is that not just an argument that should be used by the other camp, being the persons asking critical questions about the organisation. Indeed, if a storm is predicted to be so harsh that even buildings will be damaged, what do you think will happen with a tent or trees? And do you think it is smart to gather 60 000 people unter and around then then?

I have my doubts ... In the meantime everywhere on the media (from official media to faceook to twitter to fora and blogs everyone is admiring the organisation of Pukkelpop, Chokri in particular as if they are the one with the biggest los ... But I think about it differently and I am quiet shocked no-one seems to ask the question about who is responsible. Or some people do, but they answer very quickly: the weather is responsible. So the debate is closed and eh... the storm is over (by coïncidence to say that a very heavy debate is closed).

Still I think there might have been a chance that this drama didn't have so many people involved, knowing what I know.

Or did the organisation really not know anything about the weather? Then maybe they should ask theirselves questions about the meteorogical service they use, or they should start to use one (if they don't, what is not what Chokri stated officially).

Maybe they did expect a storm but didn't expect it was so heavy. Even then I ask myself many questions. But this post is already to long so, maybe to be continued.

What is resting me is to express my deepest condoleances and feeling of sorrow and sadness to all the people that have been directly or indirectly hurt badly by this tragedy. I'm thinking on the direct victims (five lives have been taken :-s, also still more then 10 people are laying in the hospital heavily injured), hundreds of injured people and the many many many people that have been hurt psychologically by this experience, what they have gone trough that evening and night, what they have seen, ...

Many thanks and respect on the other hand to all the people that were the official volunteers and cooperators of Pukkelpop, to the spontaneous people volunteering for help that had followed a medical education (student nurses or nurses, student doctors or doctors or just people without education that wanted to help) and knew they could use their help without any personal importance, and all other people, including neighbours, people living close to the festival or even people living in Limburg that spontaniously tried to do everything within their possibilities to help the affected and injured people as much as possible and even safed lifes! And not to forget of course the official "helpmen": firemen, policemen, ambulance people, first aid workers, doctors, nurses, surgeons, logistic people, ... many thanks to help all the ones we love so much!! You have created miracles and tried to create a piece of heaven, on a place where hell has just been.
Thank you very much!!
Big support with processing all the events for all who need it and please seek for help if you think it is necesarry, because it is not abnormal to have difficulties after a shaking event like this.

Health hazards in Mexican gulf due oil spill

Crude oil may not flow in the Gulf anymore right now, but a lot of chemicals escaped in the last three months from the Mexican Gulf and may still escape e.g. from travelling from water into the air. This chemicals may as wel origin from the crude oil itself as from gases escaping with the oil as well as from the dispersants.
A lot of these chemicals are able to affect the functioning of the body, at diverse levels. In doing so, dependent of the level of which an organism / human has been exposed to these chemicals, they may cause light, moderate or possibly severe health concerns.


For worrying locals looking for information, on this site from sciencecorps, an overview of health hazards have been given. The site is scientifically and has trustable sources that are published too at the bottom of each part to verify the given information.
So for more information, please see here: http://www.sciencecorps.org/crudeoilhazards.htm

Without meaning to elicit panic, I want to say to everyone who is living in areas that close to the borders of the Gulf Spill, please try to follow EPA reports of hazardous chemicals in the air, water or soil.
Even if you live far from the oil spill or didn't noticed anything, be aware that not all chemicals (or levels of chemicals) can be sensed by humans (by smelling or feeling it by causing physical symptoms) so not noticing anything doesn't mean that safety barriers aren't exceeded.

Gulf leak closed, temporarily!!

Finally, after almost 3 months of oil gushing into the Gulf of Mexico, it has now stopped leaking!

BP designed a custom-made 75 tons heavy cap to contain the oil from flowing in the open sea. I'm very excited about this and I don't want to destroy this moment what must be a moment of happines, especially for all directly and indirectly (we all) involved people. For me, it's a moment of joy too. But ... we must remember that the present closing of the leak is aimed to be temporarily and it is mainly a test (called the '(well) integrity test') to explore the strength of the well... and if you ask me, it will be a test of the strength of the casing too!

The pressure will be monitored closely. Each 6 hours, a decision of continuation or cancellation will be made based on the provided pressure data.
If pressure remains high for the upcoming 48 hours, meaning that the oil has no other way out and there are no other (yet invisible) leaks in the well or casing (or worse: ocean floor...), this will mean a condition for a permanent stopping of the oil leak due to the use of the two relieve wells has been established. This permanent solution will be tested on late August. In the meantime (and if the pressure on the present cap sustains,) there may be decided to keep this cap onto the oil leak, meaning it will be completely shutted down for the upcoming weeks, which is good news to (ocean) life.

The pressure dropping will be a bad sign meaning that solutions to permanently close the leak will need to be revised. In this case, the test will be stopped after 6 hours, removing the cap from the leak to prevent possibly further rupturing of a new leak (in the well, casing or ocean floor) which may be far more difficult to stop.

This tests certainly holds dangers, because some sources reported already visible ruptures in the ocean floor and in the casing (e.g. on YouTube, you can see a film of an ex Shell employee stating that there's no chance the case isn't ruptured after such a big explosion, of course, it is likely that Shell will not hurry to spread good news about its concurrent). This will mean that there's no known way to stop the oil from flowing, except maybe bombing it ... which will hold evident risks and an uncertain outcome.

Photos of the Gulf you don't want to see.

What BP is trying to hide from the world, and I understand why...

!!! Warning: shocking pictures!!!

In my quest for how things really were in the Gulf, reported by locals and uncensored by some 'big forces', I remember I came across a blog of someone crossing trough an affected areas... This person stated that he (or she) stopped by the seashore to take a look at the damage the oil leak and 'preventing' it's damage (by means of Corexit...) caused. Large groups of fishes swimming upside down very close to the waters surface and gasping for air were reported. Now there's more then this person's text...





This is not a way, but water as you can see... with tiny dead fishes in it ...


Here they are too, but washed ashore....


As you can see on their size, they must have been on nearly the bottom of our food chain. And they are millions ... I mean were. :-s














Most of these pictures date from May / begin June ..........................................................



Thanks too Washington's blog and Jonathan Elinoff for these and more pictures of the oil spill disaster that may not be seen.
For more pictures and other news, see: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2010/07/you-are-not-authorized-to-see-these.html

Hiding the extent of the disaster from the public

The BP way to hide the extent of the disaster:

1. Forbid the press to enter the affected areas and do the same to the public. Use the excuse that the affected places are now you're work area and the clean-up may be hindered or dangerous situations may be created for the clean-up workers...(?!) Threat curious journalists with imprisoning and large fines.

2. If one area seems to be unaffected superficially (meaning: no visible tar balls nor crude oil on the beach because it is covered with a new fresh layer of sand obviously from somewhere else (see other unconfirmed blogs stating this here), nor affected water because Corexit broke the big oil layers into small droplets spreading everywhere in the water) invite the press so they can spread the news of the 'clean' beaches and water. If a politician or alike will visit the beaches, invite 100s of temporary workers to clean them at an unseen speed and send them home after the politician and cameras have left.

3. Buy popular terms on search engines to control the information availability of the public. Costs: only $50 000 000.

4. Make sure clean-up workers are being photographed cleaning the beaches, but let them do as less as possible as no outsider is around.

5. Prohibit clean-up workers to wear respiratory protection or any other necessary health protection gear because they are bad for your reputation even though the product's factsheet you are spraying in the air says you need to ware respiratory protection.

Where concentrations in air may exceed the limits given in this section, the use of a half face filter mask or air
supplied breathing apparatus is recommended.

as well as gloves, regular protection clothing and protecting goggles...

According to CNN, 128 clean-up workers got sick.


6. Forbid clean-up workers to spread anything by way of talking, writing, taking pictures or filming what they see on the disaster sites. Let them sign a contract.

7. Don't mind if the Corexit mixture is up to 4 times more poisonous for people and marine life then the crude oil itself (see for extra information about toxicity of Corexit here) and the mixture can never be retrieved while crude oil on the surface can be skimmed off easily: just use that Corexit in order to prevent that satelites may be able to make pictures of the full extent of the disaster from the skies. The use of Corexit will make the oil sink and as a consequence: invisible to the public as it will fall apart into small droplets beneath the surface (see picture left).
Don't mind that the ecosystem will need maybe more then half a century to recover (at least 3 decades, see Exxon Valdez where Corexit treated areas are still not recovered!) while other solutions such as bacteries can restore the ecosystem in 3 years!!

That this will damage crops and water supplies is just colateral damage. See here everything about Corexit inclusive the letter from EPA to BP where it asks to use more effective and less toxic dispersants: http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/dispersants.html

8. Threat everyone whose trying to break up the huge efforts being taken for censoring the full extent of the disaster you created.
Local photographer Lance Rosenfield says:

He said I could show him the pictures or he could handle this another way, including calling Homeland Security and taking me in. I agreed to show him the pictures on the back of my camera, while he took my driver's license. Meanwhile, the truck that had been following me showed up, driven by a security guard with a BP patch on his uniform.

Read more here: http://www.propublica.org/article/photographer-tells-of-being-followed-by-bp-security-and-then-detained

BP's economist admitted they would never have enough money to restore the environment completely. As we all know, e.g. thanks to Kindra Arnesen for this, BP does everything to minimise clean up costs. Astonishing less clean-up workers and equipment are used, and they aren't used effective... But BP seems to have money to pay these men in blue shirts (see right). Who they are? BP security guards. To prevent whistleblowers...


Is this the beloved American freedom?

Toxic air in Gulf Coast imminent? What symptoms and how could this be?

Gases such as Hydrogen Sulfide, Benzene, Methylene Chloride (or chloromethane), and other toxic gases pose a greater risk to human health than the presence of crude oil in the Gulf ara. The allowable levels of Hydrogen Sulfide and Benzene according to the EPA are 5-10 parts per billion and 0 respectively.The EPA reported the level detected in the Gulf at almost 1,200 PPB for hydrogen sulfide and 3400 PPB for Benzene during the month of May. The amounts pose a serious health risk to people and animals.

Methylene Chloride is known to cause birth defects and cancer in the lung, kidney and stomach of animals. It also causes kidney, liver and lung damage.

http://www.opednews.com/articles/BP-Gulf-oil-blowout-still-by-Chris-Landau-100706-671.html

Symptoms being caused by overexposion of Methylene Chloride

• Skin irritation
• Skin redness
• Dry skin
• Burning skin sensation
• Skin burns
• Eye irritation
• Eye redness
• Eye pain
• Eye burns
• Methemoglobinemia
• Abdominal pain
• Dizziness
• Drowsiness
• Headache
• Nausea
• Vomiting
• Tremor
• Breathing difficulty
• Encephalopathy
• Unconsciousness

See here for more information of Methylene Chloride here: http://www.wrongdiagnosis.com/c/chemical_poisoning_methylene_chloride/symptoms.htm
Hydrogen sulfide is a chemical asphyxiant, similar to carbon monoxide and cyanide gases. It causes "biochemical suffocation" by inhibiting cellular respiration and the uptake of oxygen.
Breathing high levels of hydrogren sulfide can cause the following symptoms:

Frostbite on contact with liquid

Eye irritation

Eye burns

Eye redness

Eye pain

Permanent vision impairment

Cough

Sore throat

Headache

Dizziness

Labored breathing

Nausea

Vomiting

Dementia

Breathing difficulty

Extrapyramidal symptoms

Increased blood pressure

Impaired sense of smell

Hypothermia

Tearing eyes

Myoglobinuria

Paresthesia

Rotten egg odor on breath

Seizures

more information...»

More information here.

Hydrogen sulfide is considered a broad-spectrum poison, meaning that it can poison several different systems in the body at the same time. As mentioned previously, hydrogen sulfide is a chemical asphyxiant. It is similar to carbon monoxide and cyanide gases. It can be extremely deadly at high concentrations.

Source: http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/benzene-and-hydrogen-sulfide-the-real-dangers-from-the-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill

Breathing high levels of Benzene can cause the following symptoms:

• Ataxia
• Blistered skin
• Aspiration
• Cough
• Dizziness
• Lethargy
• Headache
• Blood in urine
• Hoarseness
• Dilated pupils
• Leukopenia
• Eye symptoms
• Paresthesia
• Ringing in ears
• Tremors
• Rapid heart rate
• Red skin
• Vomiting
• Dementia
• Seizures
• more information...»

More information here.

Long-term exposure to Benzene can do a ton of damage to the human body. Benzene actually enters cells and damages DNA material. In addition, benzene is known to cause harmful effects on bone marrow and it can cause a decrease in red blood cells, leading to anemia.

For women, long-term exposure to benzene can result in irregular menstrual periods and a decrease in the size of their ovaries.

In addition, as mentioned previously, benzene is a known cancer-causing agent. In fact, the Department of Health and Human Services tells us that exposure to benzene is known to cause leukemia.

http://endoftheamericandream.com/archives/benzene-and-hydrogen-sulfide-the-real-dangers-from-the-gulf-of-mexico-oil-spill

Ingredients in Corexit are known to cause cause the following symptoms: central nervous system depression, nausea, unconsciousness, on long term: liver, kidney and red blood cell damage (e.g. hemolysis). See safety data sheet of the product itself.


See here for a better physical explanation of these gases, how they are being formed in the Gulf and how they can get trapped in the air too): http://www.opednews.com/articles/BP-Gulf-oil-blowout-still-by-Chris-Landau-100706-671.html

Check the EPA data base daily to see how these chemicals might be building up in your area.
See full EPA reports here: http://www.epa.gov/bpspill/air.html

Although it is not unlikely that especially clean up workers will experience this symptoms: please note that some of these symptoms also occur when exposed to high levels of psychological or fysiological stress which the Gulf citizens and everyone who cares about the environment will experience on this moment for sure...

Knowing that the spreading of especially Corexit (which is heavily polluting and only serves to mask the massiveness of the oil spill to keep up BP's reputation - I wrote about it here) and oil will continu for at least 3 more months since measurements started and airborne pollutants can accumulate in the environment as well as spread further inland and to other continents, this seems like the ideal recipe for an apocalyptical scenario... If I didn't know better, I would say this was the biggest terroristic attack ever on the world's population...


See videos reporting on this issue here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGxGVGiD3yk and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjUIvaZK7no


Needless to say that fish and animals who are residents of this waters being filled with these oxygen depleting gases could have a more bright looking future...

I'm not a believer of conspiracy theories, nor can I believe this is really truth but ... taken the health information of this gases into account I can somewhere imagine that it is possible that people may being killed by this gases. Was it maybe then true that, as many conspiracy sites state, Obama said to his counterparts during the last G8 that millions would die this year due to the unfolding oil disaster?

Again I want to insist that please people of the U.S. especially and of all nations worldwide we need to take global action for this. It is already been very clear that money still has the highest priority and no sufficient action is being taken to prevent the damage this oil leak can have on all inhabitants of our actually tiny and vulnerable Earth ... If according to you it's not yet time to organise widely protests with millions of people, I don't know when it's going to be time to protest then... We need to protest in front of those buildings where decisions of the future of all life on Earth are being taken, not tomorrow, but now already...

! Please see this site from sciencecorps for a scientifically based overview of all possible health hazards and how to protect yourself.

What BP doesn't want you to see: unconfirmed local reports and other footage

These are non-official messages, pictures and other footage put on the internet by ordinary local people (or "small" people according to BP) which are covering what they see, hear, feel, experience, ... I gathered them from different social media sources: facebook, twitter, forum, blogs, diverse websites, ...

We all know how BP is in charge of the media (internet, newspapers, search engines, ... -> Apparently with money you can buy just everyting, from censorship till the ocean and the right on a clean future) so I am afraid they may give a far more accurate picture of what is really going on in the Gulf and other affected regios then the official mainstream news channels do.

Take a look with me on what they tell us about the spill:

!! WARNING: Content may be shocking!!

* Source: Nick, he covers the disaster in pieces called 'the Black Death", see his website: itsjustlight.com


Black Death, part I:

I noticed the first unusual smell. It wasn’t unpleasant and smelled sweet, almost like custard. According to most reports, the oil flowing from the leaking well is light sweet crude oil, which contains a very low sulfur content and small amounts of hydrogen sulfide and carbon dioxide.

Black death, part IV:

Picture shows a BP Clean-up worker with his equipment: a shovel for toddlers....

Black death, part V:




This piece is from Black Death (part VI)

The scent hit me before I could see it, a thick, invisible wave of nauseating petroleum vapors rising off the ocean and evaporating from the oil drenched sand. A small crew of workers scooped shovel-loads of oily sand into garbage bags in a losing David vs. Goliath battle that saw a nearly infinite tide of oil washing ashore for every drop that was scooped away. From my vantage point only a dozen feet above the workers, I could hear their mutterings as they cursed the obvious futility of their labor.

Decaying redfish (Sciaenops ocellatus) dotted the sand, most of them appearing almost mummified by the blazing sun. Their bodies lay belly up, internal organs missing and scaly skin hardened like a medieval suit of armor. Their mouths were frozen open in wide, ghastly frowns, their eye sockets empty and dark.

Before long, my senses were overwhelmed by the unmistakable scent of death. I began to notice bones and bodies on and between the rocks, those of birds and fish. On a large rock, two young seagull chicks were baked into a pile of decaying skin and feathers. They were recent victims, perhaps only dead for a day. A few feet away, the large bones of a brown pelican and its oil stained feathers lay between rocks spotted with oil. Brown pelicans were just taken off the US federal endangered and threatened species list in November of last year. Just beyond the rocks, the beach began to open up, formed by sand that washes through the pass and collects along the rocks. This beach was completely drenched with crude oil and it looked as if a cleanup crew had never set foot there.

(...) As I neared the northern side of the island and Barataria Bay, more bones dotted the sand. Bigger ones. As I approached them, the stench grew worse and worse and soon I could see the carcasses of what were clearly more dolphins. (...)

When the photographer went back to his car, BP security contractors asked him:

Why are you coming from the staging area? You don’t have any business being in this area.”

For more information, see: http://itsjustlight.com/?p=1146

* Death baby whale that BP was inable to pick up or burn before it was photographed (source: Facebook group boycott BP)

"BP offers settlements to Gulf coastal residents of no more than $5,000 if they give up their right to sue." (J.M., Facebook)

What food will be left?

As BP continues with spraying the higly poisonous toxic Corexit in the Gulf zone. Russian scientists have already warned that this may destroy possibly the entire eastern half of North-America because the dispersant will phase transition into gas and come onto land as toxic rain, destroying crops, food-, water supplies and eventually killing animals and people...
After Louisiana, reports of crop damage in Missisipi pop up too.
Can BP and Obama please think about what food then will be left to eat? Of course, one must not be a clairvoyant to realise that fish and other seafood will be the first to decrease in the Gulf Region. Not only they will decrease, but a lot of them will be poisoned with crude oil, Corexit or it's mixture. Fears that they will eventually end up in our foodchain or in or dishes are not paranoid.

dispersion doesn't make the oil disappear: the droplets collect on the seabed, where they may be consumed by the microorganisms that form the basis of the ocean's food chain. These tiny animals are then eaten by shrimp, oysters and other seafood, many of which could later find their way to the dinner table. Unlike the current crop of tainted fish, which are covered in crude, these fish will carry oil -- and its attendant toxins and carcinogens -- in their flesh.

(...)

The future looks dark for Gulf fisheries: unless the FDA can train people to smell oil on the cellular level, chances are that much of the Gulf will be closed to fishing for decades to come.

See more: http://www.dailyfinance.com/story/company-news/for-food-business-bp-oil-spill-is-a-recipe-for-disaster/19508084/

Scientific research already pointed out the disturbing fact that crab larvae of the Gulf are cleary affected by oil botches.

about 40 percent of the area where the crab larvae were found has been affected by oil gushing from the broken deepwater well. The orange spots have been detected in crabs across the northern Gulf coast, from southwestern Louisiana to Pensacola, Fla.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/38068334/ns/technology_and_science-science/

So, at least the seafood of the Gulf will be contaminated for decades to come. But will the Corexit-Oil mixture limit itself to the Gulf? We already know that if these disaster and Corexit spreading will go on, they'll turn out to be in the Atlantic Ocean.

The huge oil slick that has spread across the Gulf of Mexico could soon extend its reach, traveling around the tip of Florida and entering Atlantic waters, a computer model suggests.

http://www.csmonitor.com/Science/2010/0603/BP-oil-spill-could-spread-to-Atlantic-Ocean


This means not only the inhabitants of the Gulf waters will be affected ...


A couple weeks ago, I found an article stating that food shortages might soon appear due the shortage of fish and seafood supplies, which form for some nations a giant part of their available food. This was stated by an american government organisation. I think I re-put it somewhere on the internet myself (on facebook or maybe even on this blog) but even though i googled it nearly a half hour, I don't seem able to find it anymore... Although I remember the article was from the very beginning of the oil leak. I think it was like the first half of May, at that time the proportion of the disaster was thought to be far less big ...

The fact that this article seems to be missing (it doesn't prompt up on the search engines like it did a couple weeks ago) is another prove of what we already knew: BP controls the news people get of the "oil spill". and the US government doesn't seem to have any problems with that ...


So, the fish and seafood in the world will drastically decline. As the crops will, which are directly food to humans but also to domesticated animals slaughtered by people to eat them ... So, what will be left then? Insects maybe? Because of their short life cycle they will nearly be affected by the BP oil spill and Corexit use? I think so ...

Please people, let this make clear that worldwide protests are needed urgently!!!


To be continued, I'm afraid...

Facebook group to get Gulf Coast citizens connected with non-Gulf citizens that want to offer a stay !

Because of the growing rumours that the oil-affected coastlines will become unhabitable in short time:
This facebookgroup is just been started:

CONNECTING PEOPLE WHO WANT TO LEAVE THE

GULF AREA WITH PEOPLE WHO CAN HELP

http://www.facebook.com/#!/group.php?gid=114661128579934&v=wall&ref=mf

People of the inland are reaching their hands to the one that live at the shores and try to offer their some place to stay.

If you need a place to stay, I unfortunately live in Belgium nor have I extra beds but I wish you really good luck finding something!!! Though I hope you don't need it!

But before doing this, please protest as much as you can and index your finger at BP and the Gulf Coast. They are responsible for this and should help you all out in the first place! Or better: they have to prevent that you have to leave your area because of being poisoned by them!!

My heart is really with you guys!

Update: MASS EVACUATION DUE TO GULF OIL SPILL?

(Picture taken by NASA's earthobservatory centre at the 22nd of June 2010)




In the meantime there emerged more news about a possible mass evacuation of the BP Oil affected states at the Mexican Gulf Coast.
Surprisingly (or not??) much of this articles have already been deleted! So you need to look into the google cache to be able to read them. The sources spreading the news are starting to get more mainstream so it doesn't have the state of gossiping on forums, blogs and conspiracy sites anymore. (Themarketfinancial.com was one of the sources but has already removed the article).
The source of the news is said to be 'government insiders (FEMA)' who say to get ready for the dead zone.


As already was been feared and I stated out here and in other places of this blog: especially the Corexit forms a direct danger to the habitat. It is a heavily poison of which it's molecules can transist into gases and evaporate, form clouds and come onto land together with rain fall.
When fluid, this heavy posion is invisible, making it even more dangerous. You may not notice it is being around, while it is poisoning the ground, the water, ... and everything which is living on it.

"The oil dispersant used by BP, Corexit 9500, is seen by FEMA sources as mixing with evaporated water from the Gulf and absorbed by rain clouds producing toxic precipitation that threatens to continue killing marine and land animals, plant life, and humans within a 200-mile radius of the Deepwater Horizon disaster site ...in the Gulf.
Plans are being put in place for the mandatory evacuation of New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Mandeville, Hammond, Houma, Belle Chase, Chalmette, Slidell, Biloxi, Gulfport, Pensacola, Hattiesburg, Mobile, Bay Minette, Fort Walton Beach, Panama City, Crestview, and Pascagoula."

"The toxic rain from the Gulf is expected to poison fresh water reservoirs and lakes, streams, and rivers, which will also have a disastrous impact on agriculture and livestock, as well as drinking water, in the affected region."

"Adding to the worries of FEMA and the Corps of Engineers is the large amounts of methane that are escaping from the cavernous grotto of oil underneath the Macondo drilling area of Gulf of Mexico."

http://www.opednews.com/articles/Government-Insiders-Get-R-by-OilGuy-100624-488.html

http://oilprice.com/Environment/Oil-Spills/Government-Insiders-Get-Ready-for-the-Gulf-Dead-Zone.html (Here someone's speaks about the same article)

Reuters, A mainstream newssource confirms the problematic presence of methane gas:

"Texas A&M University oceanography pofessor John Kessler, just back from a 10-day research expedition near the BP Plc oil spill in the gulf, says methane gas levels in some areas are "astonishingly high."

Kessler's crew took measurements of both surface and deep water within a 5-mile (8 kilometer) radius of BP's broken wellhead.

"There is an incredible amount of methane in there," Kessler told reporters in a telephone briefing.

In some areas, the crew of 12 scientists found concentrations that were 100,000 times higher than normal."

The possibly developing of the first storm Alex in the Gulf is not good news either and an extra reason to suspect toxic rains getting into land.

But please don't panic! I'm not having any medical background but I can hardly imagine people drop dead directly after being exposed to this toxic rain and gasses as the articles state.
At the other hand health effects are almost certain after exposure to this highly poisoned mixture (see the clean up workers health risks).
Especially for some at risk groups (I can think of lung patiens, heart patients, kids and elderly) inhaling this stuff may harm them immediately so please, be careful!
I can only advise people living at these places to, if possible and you have family, relatives, friends,... somewhere else in the U.S. to go over there...

Please remember that the people living in unaffected areas and even more then 1000 miles away or on other continents are feeling very much for you and have compassion because no-one would have his landscape seen killed by this and I think anyone can imagine that we all can get the victim of heavily pollution sooner or later...



Because it is very clear that this is only the beginning!! If BP keeps spreading Corexit it will soon be the end ... cause it will then not only stay at the South-East Coast of North-America so we need to ORGANISE BIG PROTESTS WORLDWIDE that must be held at least EVERY DAY (each big city can have it's own protest one day so that it are everyday other people, mostly) IN THE BIG STREETS OF THE STATES, IN FRONT OF THE WHITE HOUSE, IN FRONT OF LOCAL AND FEDERAL GOVERNMENT OFFICES AND IN FRONT OF BP's OFFICES TO NOTE THEM THAT THE PUBLIC DOES CARE AND WANTS THIS SURREAL MADNESS TO STOP!!!!

How money still comes first.

For a disaster of this proportion, you expect ALL AVALAIBLE equipment, materials, experts, ingeniors, booms, oil vessels, sweep arms, skimmers, dredging systems,workmen ... are being used to try to prevent as much as environmental damage possible.

Unfortunately, that is not even resembling reality.
There are a lot of problems occuring:

One is the fact that BP is in charge of this whole operation itself. BP is the one too that will need to pay for this disaster as well so ... BP is too the one which determines who it wants too work for them and who may not! Obviously, BP is - like usual - not giving environmental impact of the oil a priority.

In many cases, this equipment is being provided by private companies -- at BP's expense. And like other elements of the joint response, decision-making has been complicated because federal officials must consult with the oil giant before signing off on any offer.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/14/politics/washingtonpost/main6581011.shtml



Second, the U.S. administration system is not prepared enough to deal with a disaster of this extent. While decisions need to be taken as quickly as possible and waiting can prove fatal to the world as a whole, the administration is holding up offers of companies and governments wanting to help cause they simply don't know how to decide or the files end up on someone's desk...

"We're clearly behind the curve because BP did not have the game plan to deal with this spill," said Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Md.), who visited Louisiana on Friday. "I don't know if the federal government has the capacity it needs at this point."

Anthony H. Cordesman, a national security and energy analyst at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, said the administration has been hampered because the spill is "a rare case"

(...)

when a Dutch official was seeking to broker an aid agreement last month, "it was for a long time unclear on where he should go to and who should take the decision."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/14/politics/washingtonpost/main6581011.shtml


Third, because of the US federal government, the state government ànd BP have to agree on what they want to accept and what not. The decision is being postponed to. And obviously priority is given to these companies offering help that are American or friends with BP or having contacts with BP or one of it's governments. Just like there's not enough work for everybody in this case. :-/ No, American companies wants to do it all of their own, because of the money!! No they are sure that they have work for like maybe a decade to come...

A plan by Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal (R) to create sand berms to keep oil from reaching the coastline originally came from the marine contractor Van Oord and the research institute Deltares, both in the Netherlands. BP pledged $360 million for the plan, but U.S. dredging companies -- which have less than one-fifth of the capacity of Dutch dredging firms -- have objected to foreign companies' participation.

Garret Graves, who chairs Louisiana's Coastal Protection and Restoration Authority, wrote in an e-mail that state officials "have made it clear to our contractors from the beginning that we want to use American dredges to complete this sand berm as quickly as possible . . . Ultimately, any effort to expedite these berms will be fully considered, but we remain committed to our American companies."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/06/14/politics/washingtonpost/main6581011.shtml

Note that the Belgian companies (Flemish actually so Dutch-speaking too) de Nul and DEME have the best equipment in the world to do this. Material of them is laying unused in Antwerp, Dunkerqe and other places while it can remove the current quantity of oil without using dispersants in 3 to 4months!! It also asked to help making a sand barrier to protect Louisiana's wetlands begin May!! They could do it cheaper then the American companies!! If their offer had not been rejected, Louisiana's wetland may have been saved from the oil disaster!!
De Nul and DEME are currently negotiating, please let them help to clean up and contain the leak!!!

The Belgian dredgers say that the entire operation could have been executed much more rapidly using the sophisticated vessels that they have. Jan De Nul and DEME proposed to BP that their fall pipe vessels be used, which are unique ships equipped with a two kilometre long fall pipe that are normally used to dump rock at great depths when laying pipelines on the seabed. ‘The diameter of the pipe on such a ship is much broader than the funnel BP is now using (my add: it is double in diameter) to suck up the oil,’ says Noel Pille of Jan De Nul. ‘That means we can collect more oil, which can be pumped underwater into an oil tanker. Moreover, at the bottom of the fall pipe there is a type of unmanned submarine, which can perform tasks at great depths. With our assistance the entire process could have been speeded up greatly.’

(...)
construct sand and stone barriers using their giant dredging vessels in order to protect the coastal wetlands from the encroaching oil. 'We could do that in half the time and at a lower price,' says Pille. Both Jan De Nul and DEME also own vessels that can suck up oil slicks at a depth of 500 feet, as well as vessels that can skim oil off the surface.

http://www.mediargus.be/flanderstoday.admin.en/rss/27675886.html?via=rss&language=en

So we have the technology to clean up much more rapidly, it only needs to be used to prevent more harm due to this this terrible disaster!!!




(Notice the boat upper left...)

Toxic rain containing Corexit oil mixture for years to come !

BP is still using Corexit widely. They pump it directly into the leak to hide the extent of the oil leak that is now forcely streaming into the Mexican Gulf for more then 2 months!

The main active ingredient of Corexit is 2-butoxyethanol of which you can read the health effects here.

Corexit helps to solute oil into water, making the oil - Corexit mixture sink into the water of the ocean instead of staying on the surface. In the water, it will be impossible to ever retrieve this highly deadly combination. Millions of animals and plants will not survive this, including phyotplankton which is the main source for Oxygen in the world. Read about "gassed in the gulf" here.

Corexit is also being sprayed on the surface oil "spots" to let them sink.

Unfortunately, the oil Corexit mixture can transit into gas molecules when temperatures are high enough - like in the Gulf of Mexico. These gases can go into the air, travelling miles to fall down somewhere as toxic rain and destructing everything which is on their way as Russian scientists already reported weeks ago!

The first reports of oil falling down in Louisiana are already days old... while this is just the start of the disaster.

NORTH AMERICA MAY BE DESTROYED by this deadly combination! Probably panic will only rise when these deadly rain is falling in the gardens of the White House and on the president and his family too! As the deadly mixture is being spread by natures main forces, other continents will face the same. Our water and food supplies will be poisoned. Our harvests will be killed. And eating fish or seafood will totally be out of question.

Reports of crop damage are already been made! http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VPgrKrLTnbE



Please people, we have to STAND UP AND PROTEST WORLDWIDE IMMEDIATELY!!!!