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The Tower of Doom, the Tower of Power is still standing...

September 21,2001 10.17 AM. A violent explosion shook Toulouse. From one moment to the other a part of the Pink City Toulouse looked like Bagdad. 30 lives perished, over 2000 got seriously injured, thousands of people where without windows, without a roof, homeless. Without schools, without their working place, without shops. Everything is broken.Total damages about 1 billion Euros, more more than less. (It's hard to wrap your mind around that figure even more given the fact that the damages are paid for by the insurances of homeowners and public money… not one cent came from the plant owner nor their insurance. Mr Total do you have one at all ??)

It was not the first accident in the long history of this highly explosive plant. The explosion on 21-9-2001 was a convenient occasion for the owner, Total-Elf-Fina to dump the old factory while manipulating their staff so the scared for their jobs workers would blame the 'civilian' victims for wanting the place to close down. Whatever the reason was for this explosion, it's amazing on how well this petrol giants manage to come out of the events despite the fact that they are always in the front row where the tragic action of this world is.

Don't let the nice weather fool you. These photos are taken one year after the explosion ! One of many buildings, commercial and homes yet to be renovated. Even in the pink city it does rain sometimes and it can get cold in winter...