Register | Login


Jharia and the neighbouring village of Bokapahari, in the state of Jharkhand, lie within one of India’s largest coal reserves. Coke coal is important for India’s economy as more than 70% of the country’s power supply is derived from coal. But for the 90,000 people living around Jharia, there is no benefit. Coal fires rage below the surface and noxious gases spew from fissures in and around houses. The incessant mining and the underground fire that has been burning for almost a century has contaminated everything – the soil, the water and the air. Sulfur dioxide, carbon monoxide and hydrocarbons emitted by the burning coal have caused illnesses that range from stroke to chronic pulmonary disease. Nearly everybody in Jharia is ill. Occasionally the ground collapses, swallowing buildings and people into the chasm.

jharia-coal-fires

Read more »
© Amusing Planet, 2014.


Ganvie, the Village on a Lake
Ganvie, the Village on a Lake
Gara Medouar The Spectre Crater
Gara Medouar The Spectre Crater
Gas Works Park in Seattle
Gas Works Park in Seattle
Gasometer Oberhausen: An Exhibition Hall in a Former Gasometer
Gasometer Oberhausen: An Exhibition Hall in a Former Gasometer
Gateshead Millennium Bridge: World Only Tilting Bridge
Gateshead Millennium Bridge: World Only Tilting Bridge
Gbadolite The Versailles of The Jungle
Gbadolite The Versailles of The Jungle
Geamana, The Romanian Village Flooded by a Toxic Lake
Geamana, The Romanian Village Flooded by a Toxic Lake
Gee Bee Model R: A Cute But Dangerous Airplane
Gee Bee Model R: A Cute But Dangerous Airplane