An Autopsy of the Smoke and Dust

Let me begin this post with Pranams to the 100+ victims of the Puttingal fireworks tragedy and prayers for those who got injured and are in hospitals for their speedy recovery.

 

As the people in the nation ( and in many parts of the world ) woke up hearing the tragic news of more than 100 people killed and more than 300 injured in the biggest fireworks mishap that Kerala has ever witnessed.. I too was shocked to hear about the mishap and astonished by the number causalities. Being a Sunday I spent a lot of time in front of the television watching the visuals and at times listening to the (clueless) reports from the spot by the Television news reporters. Facebook and WhatsApp groups were abuzz with discussions about the tragedy.

Before I write further, let me make it clear that I have never been to the Puttingal temple at Kollam. So I don't know much about this particular temple or the fireworks that takes place every year. This post is based on what I saw on Televison, what I heard from friends at Kollam and South Kerala and my experience at the Central Kerala temple festivals.

Because, South or Central Kerala.. the thumb rules for safety remains the same.

As usual, the media is just trying to fill their slots with some content. I felt most of them are not focusing on what caused the accident. Many reports are just focusing on the technicalities - Did the collector give permission or not? Or if the event was a competition or not? etc. The organizers should not have gone ahead if the permission was rejected by the District Collector (As I am writing this, fresh news is coming on TV that there was some other authorities granted permission and those are not confirmed reports). There are discussions going on whether Police should have stopped it or not etc. I am not going to comment on the bureaucratic side of it.

Many people came up with their usual knee jerk reactions and the most popular suggestions among them - BAN. Ban on fireworks is something we get to hear when everytime a fireworks mishaps happens or when Deepavali / Vishu is around and during various other occasions. I do not wish to go deeper into these calls for Ban and make this a lengthy post. Let me try to keep this one shorter. I'd say, Ban is not a solution for anything until the root cause of the problem is found. Unfortunately, no one seems to be interested in finding it either.

Thrissur Pooram is just one week away and Once again it has become a topic of discussion due to this tragedy. Many wanted the Pooram fireworks banned in the wake of this tragedy. The District administration issued a press note suggesting reduction of the sound and making the fireworks more colorful. I have been going to Thrissur Pooram from last 20+ years. The sound of the fireworks has been reduced drastically over the last decade or so. Personally, I do support reducing the sound further considering the fact that a rapidly growing city has come up in last few decades around the Thekkinkad Maithanam, the ground where Thrissur Pooram and the fireworks takes place. There could be few old structures in the city which can be impacted due to the sound. If something happens to one of those buildings, it will be catastrophic at a heavily crowded festival like Thrissur Pooram. 

Without deviating further, let me get back to the main topic. I saw that many people and news reports were focusing on the other aspect - മത്സര കമ്പം - 'Malsara Kambam' which you can roughly translate into "Fireworks competition". They sounded as if this competition is the sole reason for the disaster.

With my limited knowledge, let me try to throw some light into this Malsara Kambam. Unlike many sounded, this competition is not similar to what we have at LOC where India and Pak soldiers shoot at each other (I know, this is bad comparison.. but that's how our news reporters sounded). Malsara Kambam involves few rounds of fireworks display one after another by each Sides / Regions/ Desams / Karas participating in the festival. If Safety is ensured, there is nothing wrong with type of practises. I am finding this almost similar to the festivals of Central Kerala where 2 more Regions/ Desams participate in the Poorams / Velas and there will be fireworks by each of these sides one after other. The only difference I could find in Puttingal is, there is a trophy given to the side which is declared as the winner by showing more variety, color and sound and there no such practise in the festivals of the Thrissur - Palakkad regions. I feel that, the authorities cannot hide heads behind this reason and shut their eyes towards the actual reason that caused the disaster.

In my opinion, there are 3 major reasons that resulted in this unfortunate incident and such a high death toll.

1. Proximity of the Storage area to the Display area

From the videos available on different sources on internet, we can clearly see that the place where the fireworks were lit and the place where they were stored are very close to each other. This is a major violation and shows the lack of experience and careless attitude of the temple authorities and the fireworks contractors. The storage area should be away from the Display area at least by a distance which is more than what a firecracker can travel even if it loses its direction. Here at Puttingal what has triggered the mishap is the colorful firecracker ( which is usually called as "Para" in Central Kerala) which is lit inside large metal pipes ( with 3/4th of it below the ground level to prevent it from going sideways) and that goes very high in the sky and then bursting into beautiful floral designs. When this particular cracker doesn't gain the height it is supposed to, the burning Gulikas (the tiny burning particles) inside the cracker which create the floral designs come down till the ground. This is not unusual. I have seen it happen many times. When there is not much crowd at the area where the firecracker it is lit and if it comes down later, chances of someone suffering even minor burns is very less.

But the whole situation changes when you have a storage of firecrackers right beneath it and it is a perfect stage for a catastrophe.

A Typical "Para"

2. Concrete building for Storage area

Traditionally thatched roof makeshift structures are used to store fire crackers (tin sheets in many places recently). This is not just because the structure will be dismantled after the festival there is another important aspect to this. In case of an accidental fire and blast the structure will not add to the impact of the blast. The palm or coconut tree leaves covering the roof and sides of the storage structure will just burn. They will not act as a missile unlike what happened yesterday. When the blast ripped apart the storage building at Puttingal temple, the concrete beams and iron rods from the building flew even up to one and half kilometers and killed people. We read about the terrorist attacks with crude bombs filled with nails and sharp objects. Unfortunately, the temple authorities and fireworks contractors had unknowingly converted the entire building into a crude bomb by deciding to store the firecrackers inside the concrete structure.
 

3. Storage area was not secluded

By allowing people go nearby and stand around the storage building, the authorities have only helped to increase the number of causalities in this tragedy. Few would have got their lives back if they were not too close to the concrete building where the firecrackers were stored. Usually people are not even allowed to go anywhere near the area where the storage structure is situated. But somehow this was not followed yesterday and the rest is history. It is important that people are not allowed to go close to the storage and display areas. Posting a photograph from Uthralikkavu fireworks. See how vacant the whole area looks. This is one good example.

Fireworks at Uthralikkavu Pooram, Thrissur District

I saw the authorities on Television saying, permission was denied since it was a competition and such practises will not be allowed. But the fact is, a tragedy was always waiting to happen under situations like this even if there was no competition. Hope this incident will act as an eye opener for the authorities and proper law enforcements are done in future to avoid safety lapses and loss of lives.

If a Ban is enfored on fireworks, that would be just an easy way to run away from the actual problem than solving it.