by Mahfujur Rahman

The collapse of Rana Plaza, a nine storied building, has drawn huge public attention.

The easy causes of collapse include faulty building construction and low resistance of the underlying soil. Let alone that the structure was resilient to an event of earth quake as it fell without any detectable shake or tremor. Then questions arises that what the government departments like Rajuk and trade organization like BGMEA and
BKMEA did in order to ensure compliance during construction of the building  and operating garments in such a vulnerable building. Another thing is that it was Hartal day. For whose interest the poor garments workers were forced to work in a vulnerable environment amidst hartal- all are questions of people to government. It is not as everything’s liability goes to the shoulder of government ultimately. It is because the owner of Rana Plaza is publicized as a leader of Jubo League.

Humanitarian disaster like collapse of Rana plaza is not new though scale and nature of the hazard is very heart rendering. We almost every year experience similar disaster when we oath to utilize the experience but later we forget. We even cannot handle the similar cases and give toll of life and property.   Recent building collapse at Savar that rendered around 400 people killed ( actual number may be more than double as missing list will be added)and more than 1000 people severely injured, reminds us Fire at Tazrine garments (November 24 last year, which left at least 112 workers killed and around 100 others injured), Nimtoli chemical fire (On June 3 in 2010, at least 123 people, mostly women and children, were killed and many others injured in the Nimtoli fire) and building collapse in Begunbari canal (took a toll of 25 people on 2 June 2010) all remind us where the powerless and poor people were victimized. But casualties of building collapse at Savar out passed all such urban hazards.

Allegations were also raised that workers were forced to work in the factories located in the ill-fated building despite cracks appearing in it on Tuesday and filed cases against the owner. But can we assure that the responsible will be arrested and punished? We always see that criminals try to be connected with the power.  We do not what would happen in this case.

The strengths and capacity of fire service and civil defense department has been put to questions again for the slow recovery of trapped living, injured and dead persons. Though the recovery work started immediately after the collapse by army personnel’s, FSCD members, volunteers and others, until the fourth day, it was not conducted in a disciplined way. Now, it is important to maintain discipline in the whole recovery process.

The incident at Savar claimed 377 (revised according to savar Thana police, earlier declared number was 397) lives so far after five days’ recovery starting from Wednesday to Sunday night. Now, heavy equipments are being used for clearing the site. The missing members are supposed to be dead may be near about one thousands based on the actual persons present during the catastrophe. However, our capacity of search and rescue department is again in question. As we do not know whether any more people are alive and trapped in the building. The department does not have an equipment called ‘life detector’ can easily indentify living persons and their location.

During the rescue operation in the second and third day simple equipments like helmet, Hacksaw blade (rod cutter), Hand Gloves, Safety Goggles, Torch light and gum boot were not in sufficient quantity. If these, materials were ample in hands of volunteers, it is supposed to rescue more people alive.

The chief of an inquiry committee and additional secretary of the home ministry, Mainuddin Khandokar, stated in the media that the owner of Rana Plaza, Sohel Rana, and the owners of five garment factories are fully responsible for the Savar tragedy that claimed the lives of near about 400 workers and injured more than 2,000 so far.

Think about the dead people. Where will go the families those depended on the earning of their son or daughter? Usually the garments workers come of poor family. After a long battle with poverty they take refuge in the garments with view to fight back it. When such a warrior fails to fight, their families have no way to survive in current status, left to abject poverty again. However, the persons who would receive disability due to this accident will be a further burden to their family. Thus this type of incident leaves a long lasting effect on the society.

However, after rescue, to tackle the situation, now target should be to the hospitals. More the quality treatment the patients would get, less than chance of being disabled. Government and trade associations like BGMEA and BKMEA need to take the responsibility of the injured, so that they get sufficient treatment.

The thing is that we do not learn from our previous experiences.  Just think about the economic loss that would the owners needed to suffer from, was it greater than the loss that collapse causing to their business now beside costing lives of hundreds of innocent people?  But we do not want to continue existing situation regarding safety measures in commercial structures.  We need to be aware right now for a safe and healthy work environment for people of all classes.

Everybody wants punishments of all the responsible persons including the owner of the building and garments owners who forced them to work in high risk. But what is more important is learning and getting prepared for further accidents like this one as it is ascertained that there are many buildings in the city as well as its surrounding areas more vulnerable than Rana plaza. However, strengthen the workplace safety system in industry as well as in commercial complexes. We need to learn both for emergency preparedness in building collapse and precautionary actions as prevention measures against such accidents. A details incident log along with rescue strategy followed along with pro and cons should be published for future learning. The procedure followed should be shared with concerned organizations as well as teams worked in rescue and recovery at Savar. Follow up surveys should be done after three months, six months and one year over the victims to measure effects of the disaster and compensate victim’s families. A technical committee comprising the engineers including environment and civil background need to assess the problems of Rana Plaza with a view to prepare detail recommendations to avoid such accidents that lurk unless we become aware now.

Disclaimer: Opinion expressed is solely of the author. Weekly BLITZ

The writer is a journalist and development activist. He welcomes any comments

E-mail  mahfuj_popenv@yahoo.com

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Source: Weekly Blitz :: Writings