India’s plague outbreak

Witness History

BBC

History, Personal Journals, Society & Culture

4.4 • 1.6K Ratings

🗓️ 18 September 2024

⏱️ 10 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

In 1994, the pneumonic plague broke out in the city of Surat, causing mass panic.

It saw the largest migration across India since independence was declared in 1947.

Ashley Byrne speaks to Doctor Vibha Marfatia who fled along with her family.

This is a Made in Manchester production for the BBC World Service.

Eye-witness accounts brought to life by archive. Witness History is for those fascinated by the past. We take you to the events that have shaped our world through the eyes of the people who were there. For nine minutes every day, we take you back in time and all over the world, to examine wars, coups, scientific discoveries, cultural moments and much more.

Recent episodes explore everything from football in Brazil, the history of the ‘Indian Titanic’ and the invention of air fryers, to Public Enemy’s Fight The Power, subway art and the political crisis in Georgia. We look at the lives of some of the most famous leaders, artists, scientists and personalities in history, including: visionary architect Antoni Gaudi and the design of the Sagrada Familia; Michael Jordan and his bespoke Nike trainers; Princess Diana at the Taj Mahal; and Görel Hanser, manager of legendary Swedish pop band Abba on the influence they’ve had on the music industry. You can learn all about fascinating and surprising stories, such as the time an Iraqi journalist hurled his shoes at the President of the United States in protest of America’s occupation of Iraq; the creation of the Hollywood commercial that changed advertising forever; and the ascent of the first Aboriginal MP.

(Photo: Surat, India, during the plague outbreak. Credit: RAVEENDRAN/AFP via Getty Images)

Transcript

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0:00.0	Before this BBC podcast kicks off I'd like to tell you about some others you might enjoy.
0:05.0	My name's Will Wilkin and I Commission Music Podcast for the BBC.
0:08.0	It's a really cool job, but every day we get to tell the incredible stories behind songs, moments and movements,
0:14.7	stories of struggle and success, rises and falls, the funny, the ridiculous.
0:19.2	And the BBC's position at the heart of British music means we can tell those stories like no one else.
0:24.5	We were, are and always will be right there at the center of the narrative.
0:28.6	So whether you want an insightful take on music right now or a nostalgic deep dive into some of the most famous and
0:34.4	infamous moments in music check out the music podcasts on BBC Sounds.
0:40.9	Thank you for downloading this edition of the Witness History Podcast from the BBC World Service with me Ashley Byrne.
0:50.3	And today I'm taking you back 30 years to India when an outbreak of
0:54.3	mnemonic plague in the city of Surat led to the largest migration of people
0:58.8	across the country since independence in 1947.
1:02.8	The thing I remember is waking up
1:07.4	to banging on the law, don't drink the water,
1:10.9	and all the water is poisoned. That was my first visiting. Oh, shock and horror.
1:18.0	I've been speaking to Dr. Viba Martha Tier, who was one of around half a million who fled the city when people began
1:24.4	falling ill to the deadly disease in August and September of 1994.
1:28.9	There was panic because you know once you hear that it's the water and then you hear it's the air
1:34.4	people just wanted to get out.
1:39.2	Viba Marfateer had moved to Surat in the Western province of Gugerat in 1984.
1:49.0	Ten years later she was married and bringing up young children in the city, but she says the city which had the biggest diamond
1:54.8	manufacturing industry in the world was also known at the time as a dirty city.
	...

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