Hungary experienced the power of alkali

    On October 4th 2010 toxic red sludge leaked from a reservoir following an explosion at an alumina plant around 160 km (100 miles) west of the Hungarian capital.
    The sludge contaminated more than 40 square kilometres of soil, leaving it unable to bear life until it will be cleaned. Officials compared this ecological disaster to that of the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, because the amount of leaked material was almost the same. Others even compared it to the nuclear catastrophe in Cernobyl in last century in Ukraine

    In this territory, experts measured more than 110 mg/kg of arsenic, 1,3 mg/kg of mercury a 660 mg/kg of chrom which are very above the safe limits of these compounds.
    The reservoir Ajkai Timföldgyár belongs to alumina company MAL Magyar alumínium. The red sludge is very dangerous when contacts human skin, because it has very high pH and thus is very alkaline.

   As you might know, the skin contact with a strong base is almost the same as with a strong acid.
It can cause severe burns and in Hungary a couple of people even died because of the contact.
The alkaline burns occurs as a slowly dissolving ''ring'' of skin around the affected area. If not treated with and mild acid or other medicaments to alleviate the damage of the base, the alkaline gets under the skin and that can be penurious and gradually deadly because it dissolves one's organs.

 Thus, one should avoid any contact with an alkaline as well as with an acid; especially in Hungary for the next 50 years.

Sources:
http://en.rian.ru/photolents/20101008/160884216.html
http://cs.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hav%C3%A1rie_hlin%C3%ADk%C3%A1rny_u_Ajky