The red mud catastrophe

• Photographer
  Simon Moricz, Hungary
• Studio
  Népszabadság
• Website
  http://simonmoricz.com
• Instagram
  https://www.instagram.com/simonmoricz/

On the 4th of October, 2010, hundreds of thousands cubic meters of toxic, virulent red mud poured out from the containment pond of the Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company Ltd. next to the city of Ajka in Hungary. Because of a dam break the spilling sludge of around 600-700 000 cubic meters (21-24 million cubic feet) inundated the lower sections of the villages of Kolontár, Devecser and Somlóvásárhely. Ten people were killed, and many hundreds injured because of the mud, which flooded the half of the village Kolontár and the two-third of Devecser, up to two meters high in some places. The heavily alkaline, virulent industrial waste was spread over around 40 square kilometres (15.5 square miles), causing inestimable ecological and economical damages.
For 120 years the industry has been unable to deal with the by-product of the alumina production, the red mud. The main problem is the highly alkaline pH: it is ten times as strong as raw bleach.

Simon Móricz-Sabján was born in Kiskunhalas, Hungary in 1980. He is an award-winning photojournalist and documentary photographer living in Budapest, Hungary. Since 2016 he is the official photographer of the Hungarian daily business newspaper Világgazdaság and the monthly business magazine Manager Magazin. Between 2003 and 2016 he worked for Népszabadság, the largest Hungarian independent daily political newspaper which was closed down in October 2016.

Awards Simon’s work has been recognized by many photography awards. He has won first prizes at the China International Press Photo Contest on two occasions, as well as multiple awards from Pictures of the Year International (POYi), NPPA Best of Photojournalism, Prix International de la Photographie, PDN, iPhone Photography Awards, Ringier Photo Award, Kolga Tbilisi Photo Award and FCBarcelona Photo Award. Among other acknowledgments, he won prizes at Hungarian Press Photo competitions on 32 occasions, including two Grand Prize of the Association of Hungarian Journalists; five Munkácsi Márton Awards for the best collections; three awards for photographers under 30; the best press photographer award; and two Escher Károly Prizes for the best news photo. Three times winner of József Pécsi scholarship (for talented young art photographers), three times winner of NKA scholarship; he won the Budapest Photography Scholarship in 2012, the Népszabadság Grand Prize in 2013, and the Hemző Károly Prize in 2015.