Breaking Ships: How Supertankers and Cargo Ships Are Dismantled on the Beaches of Bangladesh

New York: Chamberlain Brothers, 2006. First edition. First printing [stated]. Hardcover. Very good/very good. Buerk, Roland. xix, [1], 167, [5] p. Illustrations. Index. Asbestos, explosives, and chemical waste are only a few of the hazards involved in the meticulous work of destroying a giant ship. When new labor laws and environmental standards came to Europe, the ship-breaking industry moved to places like Chittagong on the coast of Bangladesh-places where the lives of workers seem expendable, and the environment is someone else's problem. "Breaking Ships" follows the demise of the "Asian Tiger, " a ship destroyed at one of the twenty ship-breaking yards along the beaches of Chittagong. BBC Bangladesh correspondent Roland Buerk takes us through the process-from beaching the vessel to its final dissemination, from wealthy shipyard owners to poverty-stricken ship cutters, and from the economic benefits for Bangladesh to the pollution of its once pristine beaches. From Wikipedia: "Roland Buerk (born 1973), is a journalist working for the BBC. He is currently the Tokyo Correspondent for BBC News and is best known for his coverage of the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. He is the son of former BBC newsreader and current BBC Radio 4 presenter Michael Buerk....Buerk was educated at the Royal Grammar School, a day independent school for boys in his former hometown of Guildford in Surrey, followed by the University of Birmingham, from which he graduated with a degree in Political Science in 1995. After graduation, Buerk joined Independent Television News (ITN) in London as a graduate news trainee, and was assigned to Channel 5 News as a producer after he completed an eighteen month course. After leaving ITN, Buerk became a freelance correspondent in Bangladesh and filed news reports for the BBC. He survived the 2004 Asian Tsunami and reported on the effects of the tsunami on BBC News. In January 2009, Buerk was appointed Tokyo Correspondent and reported on the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and reported from inside the Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant. Buerk married Anna Moore in 2005 whom he met at Birmingham. Moore is credited by saving Buerk's life during the Tsunami."