A scene that looks as if it was taken out of a disaster movie: hundreds of soldiers in the streets, heavily armed policeman, firefighters all in HazMat suits and masks. This is the situation in this small Hungarian town of Kolontar and its surrounding villages.‪

‪ Saturday, five days after a Toxic red sludge flooded these towns, and a day after the government announced they have tamed the situation, authorities are now evacuating hundreds of citizens again as it seems that a weakened reservoir wall is about to collapse completely and send more floods of toxic sludge into these towns.‪

‪ On Monday a break in the wall of a reservoir storing waste of an alumina plant caused the spill of 184 million gallons of toxic sludge on the nearby towns. That is almost the amount of oil spilled by BP into the Gulf of Mexico. 7 people were killed and dozens more injured suffering burns from the sludge. Houses, fields and some nearby rivers were completely destroyed and according to green organizations a long-term environmental damage is unavoidable at this point.‪ ‪

Hungarian police opened a criminal negligence inquiry into the incident, but the company in the center of events, MAL, claim they have done nothing wrong and that the sludge is not considered hazardous under EU standards. Their response outraged the residents of this rural area hit by the sludge.‪ ‪

So while earlier this week clean-up works were in full gear and yesterday some people were allowed back to their homes today the situation seems to worsen again and this ecological disaster is far from being over.‪ ‪