Asbestos News

When Cyclone Yasi, reportedly the largest tropical storm to hit Australia in memory, battered portions of Queensland in early February, it was apparent that the storm would cause serious damage to some structures. However, even though the rain has stopped and the 186 mph winds have died down, the threats posed by the storm remains. It may not appear to be as an immediate of a threat as the cyclone itself, but the asbestos that was disturbed by the storm is a serious risk to the health of those living in the wake of the Yasi's destruction.

The Queensland government is acutely aware of the illnesses that can be caused by asbestos exposure, which include malignant mesothelioma and asbestosis, often closing schools down whenever there is the threat of anyone coming into contact with the naturally occurring mineral. This prudent abundance of caution has led them to deploy asbestos experts to far north Queensland to help with the clean-up work that needs to be done.

Cassowary Coast Mayor Bill Shannon told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) that the asbestos experts were brought in to help clear potentially asbestos-containing debris that was blown into a nearby forest.

The mayor said that he has been told by government officials that the work needed to be handled by the experts.

"Queensland Health people have said it's too dangerous, we should not be there," told the news source. "The Army [does] have some capability to work with asbestos but when they confronted the problem, they declined."

Shannon said that it made sense to have people who are specifically trained to handle asbestos deal with the substance rather than put untrained personnel in harm's way.

"Rather than put the lives of soldiers and volunteers and [State Emergency Services] workers and council workers at risk, the army and everybody has agreed that that work should be done by asbestos specialists," he told the news source.

Asbestos was used since the times of the ancient Greeks and Romans because of its utility as an insulator and its resistance to fire. The hazardous substance was used continuously throughout the centuries and in the past 100 years it was widely used in the construction industries. However, by the mid-1960s it became known that exposure to asbestos could cause asbestosis, lung cancer and malignant mesothelioma, a rare cancer that attacks the thin membrane that lines the chest, abdomen and many of the body's internal organs.

Because of these life-threatening risks, it is essential that asbestos clean-up is handled by trained experts who are used to dealing with the material and have the proper equipment for such work. While this has caused delays in Queensland's cleanup effort, the Cassowary Coast Regional Council's environmental services manager, Geoff Wilson, said that safety was more important than speed.

"It could take the rest of the week to finish the clean-up but it's important we do this properly to minimize the risk to the community and workers," he told the Australian Associated Press.

While the experts are busy cleaning up the asbestos, other government officials are scrambling to find accommodations for the hundreds of people displaced by damage from Cyclone Yasi; approximately 500 homes have been deemed un-salvageable, reports the ABC.

District disaster coordinator Inspector David Tucker said that finding housing for these people would likely prove difficult.

"Part of the community recovery committee process is to actually look at long-term [solutions] for those people," he told the ABC. "It's not going to happen overnight and there'll be some announcements coming out about that over the next few days."