Rana Plaza Collapse (huge life losses)

[eastwatch]

^^ I've always thought we could have saved more lives and limbs.

Yes, only by joining the rescue efforts instead of wasting time in front of the computer.

 

[eastwatch]

I fail to understand why BD govt rejected outside help.

We have more than enough manpower in Savar. Only our people know the situation and the time was limited. It is not a kind of Hollywood movie set that the westerners should have been allowed to participate. It would have been unwise to do so by the govt.Westerners would have been a burden and a distraction in the rescue effort. Westerners can do better by paying a little more price to our products and then pressing the factory owners to pay the workers better wages.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

An army officer started crying like a baby when he failed to rescue a garment worker Sahana who survived almost 96 hour from the time of demolition...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=461442857263600

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Yes, only by joining the rescue efforts instead of wasting time in front of the computer.

Some key board warrior and certain party activist or supporters here are only busy to politicize these tragic incident instead of looking at the main problem. Already there are more then 1000 RMG building which is under risk. Infect even today crack has been found in one RMG building at Tehgoan.

তেজগাঁও লিংক রোড অবরোধ পোশাকশ্রমিকদের - প্রথম আলো

Anyway searching operation declared over:::


Search for survivors over at Savar - bdnews24.com


Search for survivors over at Savar

Ashik Hossain, Golam Mujtoba Dhruba and Salahuddin Wahed Pritom, bdnews24.com

Published: 2013-04-28 18:00:36.0 Updated: 2013-04-28 21:28:14.0
1 / 2
Rescuers have started using heavy equipment to remove the wreckage of Rana Plaza as no more traces of life were noticed under the concrete ruins 110 hours after the deadliest accident in the history of garment industry.


The move effectively signals the end of the desperate search for survivors in the ruins of concrete and steel of the nine-storey building.

Two hydraulic cranes started to work at around 11.30pm Sunday with one of them first taking out a pillar.

Brigadier General Abu Sayeed Mohammad, who is supervising the drive, told bdnews24.com at around 1:30am Monday they searched the front of the building, but did not find anyone alive.

”Now, we are slowly removing pillars from the rear (of the building) and putting those at a nearby canal,” he said. “We are very much cautious (in our action).”

At around 2:40am, plumes of smoke billowed out of the building which resembled a sandwitch. Fire-fighters were throwing large amounts of water in every direction. A fire had broken out suddenly at one of the tunnels drilled through the debris of the building at around 10pm on Sunday, injuring three fire-fighters.

Although hydraulic cranes and bulldozers to bore a hole from the top of the building were brought to the site a few days ago, authorities had kept them at bay saying there top priority was to rescue people alive.

The rescuers were trying to pull out a woman alive until 10pm when the fire started. The woman could not be lifted out alive either.

”We could not save the woman… She was Shahina and hailed from Kushtia,” one of the injured fire fighters told reporters, his voice choking.

The massive salvage mission kicked off soon after that.

Army officials then took journalists behind the building covering some 35,000 square feet area and said they had already started the “second phase of the rescue mission”.

”We have made the move assuming that none of those still trapped inside is alive,” Brigadier General Ajmal Kabir, leading this operation, said.

He said they were working with extra care and added “We are taking time to move ahead. The work will progress slowly.”

Earlier, everyone including journalists was asked to evacuate the site. Only the army and Fire Service and Civil Defence members were present there.

These equipment will also drill a central hole from the top to look for dead bodies and, just in case, anyone still alive.

Rescuers had been manually shifting concrete blocks with the help of light equipment to claw through the remnants for survivors.

General Officer Commanding Maj Gen Chowdhury Hasan Suhrawardy of Bangladesh Army’s 9th Infantry Division, who is coordinating the salvage operations, had said on Sunday morning heavy machines would be pressed in service to clear the wreckage if no traces of people being alive in amidst the rubble were there.

Soon after his comment, five people were rescued from under the pile of debris delaying the use of machinery.

Rescue workers had continued their search operation using hand-held machines like cutters, pick axels, shovels and drills to dig tunnels or foxholes through the fallen structure throughout the day.

They had been seen slowly moving out from the wreckage site. A hydraulic crane, dozers and loaders were stationed in front of the collapsed building.

Maj Gen Suhrawardy tried to justify the use of heavy machines at a press briefing held in the morning.

“We had prioritised the lives trapped under there for the past few days. But it is difficult to continue working manually at this stage of the rescue operation. So we wish to use some technology to aid the manual work.”

The chief representative of Bangladesh Air Force in the rescue mission, Flight Lieutenant Sanjib Saha, said the rescue team will soon use bulldozers, cranes, forklifts and excavators.

Cranes and forklifts will be used to remove heavy pieces of concrete from the site.

Excavators and bulldozers will also be used to remove the debris. The Army has several loaders and trucks on standby to take away the bricks and concrete.

Besides the Army, several private companies have provided cranes, bulldozers and loaders along with other machinery.

Rana Plaza came was reduced to rubble on Wednesday, burying thousands of garment owners working inside it. So far almost 2,433 people have been rescued.

Though it was not clear exactly how many people were inside the building when it collapsed, an estimate put the figure to be around 3,500.

The death toll was revised down on Sunday.

Savar police Inspector Aminur Rahman put the count at 377 at around 3pm. He earlier had said the figure was 397.

"There was some mistake in the count," the police officer in charge at the Adhar Chandra School – the place where bodies were being kept – said.

He added a total of 320 bodies were handed over to the relatives and 57 more, awaiting recognition, were sent to the Dhaka Medical College and Hospital and Mitford Hospital.

Similar 'confusions' were also looming over the number of people still missing.

Although, authorities earlier said the number is 1168, Sub-Inspector Abdul Alim said they were not being able to count the number properly at this moment due to "lack of time."

Monir Hossain, Savar district’s Assistant Superintendent of Police, however, said they had started making a list on computers from Sunday.

 

[CaPtAiN_pLaNeT]

Factory owners to blame, claims Rana

Factory owners to blame, claims Rana - bdnews24.com

Kamal Talukder, bdnews24.com

Published: 2013-04-28 15:15:40.0 Updated: 2013-04-28 18:54:57.0

‘Pressure’ from the readymade garment factory owners had made him to allow work in the building which had developed cracks, claims Mohammad Sohel Rana, the owner of multi-storey that has reduced to rubble at Savar.


The nine-storey Rana Plaza came crushing down on Wednesday, burying alive nearly 400 people so far under heaps of steel and blocks of concrete.

He made the claim on Sunday, the fifth day since the commercial structure collapsed, while speaking to journalists at the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) headquarters in the capital in the afternoon.

After his capture in Jessore’s Benapole along with two others, he was flown to old airport in Dhaka’s Tejgaon by a RAB helicopter at around 5pm.

Then they were driven to RAB headquarters at Uttara in a microbus and presented before the press.

RAB Director General Mokhlesur Rahman told reporters there, “Rana is responsible for the deaths at Savar.”

But Rana, who has been sought since Wednesday, said, “I did not force the [garments] owners, but it was them who forced me saying they will face huge loss and shipments will be cancelled if the factories were closed even for a day.”

However, Mokhlesur Rahman said, “Rana forced the workers to join duty.”

On Tuesday, workers of five readymade garments factories had panicked and run out of the Rana Plaza near Savar Bus Stand after huge cracks surfaced on the wall. Industrial Police, the agency that secures garment factories, and BGMEA officials had also visited the building.

They had recommended shutting down the building until it was examined by engineers. A bank and some shops on the first floor had shut their premises on Wednesday.

The building, constructed over 56 decimals of land caved in with some 3,500 people inside it after the garment factories resumed work in the morning.

The workers who survived the collapse claimed that they were ‘forced’ into work by the factory owners despite their refusal after safety alerts raised by the Industrial Police the previous day.

However, factory owners who were arrested recently over the incident claimed that it was the building’s owner Rana who ‘put pressure’ on them to keep running their factories.

Rana, a Senior Joint Convenor of Savar Juba League unit, blamed the heavy machinery used in the garment factories for the building’s collapse. He claimed to have notified the factory owners several times regarding this matter.

Allegations have risen that Rana Plaza was not constructed three years ago in line with the Building Construction Act. RAJUK also sued the building owner after the collapse. Two engineers of the Savar municipality were also arrested on charges of neglecting duties.

Meanwhile, cracks also surfaced in another building owned by Sohel Rana at the Bazar Road on Dhaka-Aricha highway.

Rana was on the ground floor when the building started to collapse on Wednesday morning. But he was afraid to leave the building because of the enraged people.

Witnesses said local Awami League MP Talukdar Mohammad Towhid Jung Murad came to his rescue and took him away from the multi-storied building, of which now only three stories are standing above the ground.

But Rana at press briefing on Sunday claimed that locals had rescued him, not Murad.

The local MP, however, has been rejecting the allegations linking him to aiding Rana. Leaders of main opposition BNP have also claimed Rana is backed by Murad.

Asked about his political identity, Rana said he was the General Secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Savar municipality unit. Later he became the Convenor of Juba League, the youth front of ruling Awami League.

But when asked how he got the post of Senior Joint Convenor of the Juba League Savar municipality unit, he remained silent.

The BNP has alleged that the government helped Rana to escape.

Asked whether anyone had aided Rana to flee, RAB intelligence chief Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan said, “No. If anyone had aided and provided shelter to him, he wouldn’t have to stay at three places before getting to Benapole.”

RAB said Rana was there and had fainted after the building collapsed. He received treatment at a local hospital at Savar for two hours.

Then he came to Dhaka and spent Wednesday night at the house of a friend named ‘Shamim’. Rana went to Manikganj and spent two nights at the house of one ‘Afzal’. From there, he went to Anil’s house in Faridpur and spent Saturday night there, Rahman said.

Rana then went to Mithu’s residence along with Anil on Sunday. RAB arrested all of them there, Rahman added.

Jessore RAB Commander Major Jahiduzzaman said Rana was arrested while hiding in the house of a distant relative named Shah Alam Mithu at Benapole’s Ballfield.

 

[eastwatch]

Now that the heavy equipment have started operations, I only pray to Allah that no alive person locked in the broken concrete dies out of this operation. The rescue team Chief said his team will do work slowly so that no such accidents happen.

http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/frantic-effort-to-locate-survivors/

http://www.thedailystar.net/beta2/news/hopes-fading-flickering/

 

[BanglaBhoot]

We have more than enough manpower in Savar. Only our people know the situation and the time was limited. It is not a kind of Hollywood movie set that the westerners should have been allowed to participate. It would have been unwise to do so by the govt.Westerners would have been a burden and a distraction in the rescue effort. Westerners can do better by paying a little more price to our products and then pressing the factory owners to pay the workers better wages.

We could have used Western tech to find survivors. They have heat sensors and trained dogs to find people. No effort should have been spared.

 

[joekrish]

RIP to all those who lost their lives.

 

[eastwatch]

Insurers won’t pay RMG units of Rana Plaza | The Daily Star

MONDAY, APRIL 29, 2013
Insurers won’t pay RMG units of Rana Plaza
Sajjadur Rahman

Five apparel factories that were operating in the ill-fated Rana Plaza in Savar will not be able to file insurance claims as the garment units were housed in a faultily-constructed building, insurers said.

Of the five, New Wave Bottoms and New Wave Style have fire and marine insurance with Green Delta Insurance Company Ltd.

Building collapse is not covered by the factories’ insurance policy and so these two factories will not get the Tk 14-15 crore claims as per the policies with Green Delta, officials said.

“Even, if incidence of building collapse was included in the policy, the factories would not get the money because of the wrong foundation of the building,” said Nasir A Choudhury, managing director of Green Delta.

The nine-storey building, which collapsed on Wednesday with more than 3,000 workers trapped in the five factories, was built on a marshy land and had a foundation for six storeys only. Death toll already crossed 365.

Sabbir Ahmed, chief financial officer of Reliance Insurance, also echoed Choudhury about the claims. Though the owners take out fire and marine insurance to cover their export-import business, they do not insure their workers.

Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association, the trade body of garment makers and exporters, has a group insurance for its member factories, but it is limited to only 20 workers from each factory.

Under the policy, a worker gets Tk 1 lakh as compensation in case of any accident.
“Insurance coverage is very specific. The factories will not be able to file claims for the building collapse against their fire insurance coverage,” said Rafiqul Islam, an insurance veteran who has served the industry for more than five decades.

“Insurance coverage is very specific. The factories will not be able to file claims for the building collapse against their fire insurance coverage,” said Rafiqul Islam, an insurance veteran who has served the industry for more than five decades.

If the factories had considered 10 more hazards, including building collapse, in their insurance policy, then the question of claims would have come, Islam said.
“These factories will not be paid claims as these were housed in a faulty building,” he said.

However, Humayun Kabir, manager of Green Delta’s Nawabpur branch where New Wave has insurance for its two factories, said it cannot be concluded now that these companies would not qualify for claims.

“It depends on the government’s final report on the building,” Kabir said.

 

[Skallagrim]

Yes, only by joining the rescue efforts instead of wasting time in front of the computer.

There was no dearth of volunteers. In fact abundance of them can create problems like BDforever mentioned in his post #202. There was shortage of professionals (definitely, as volunteers had to play risky roles). If we had accepted the offers made by the UK and UN we could have minimized collateral damages with the help of their advanced equipment and skill.

 

[TopCat]

There was no dearth of volunteers. In fact abundance of them can create problems like BDforever mentioned in his post #202. There was shortage of professionals (definitely, as volunteers had to play risky roles). If we had accepted the offers made by the UK and UN we could have minimized collateral damages with the help of their advanced equipment and skill.

Even a flight from London to Dhaka takes 8 hours.. what are you smoking?

 

[Zabaniyah]

We could have used Western tech to find survivors. They have heat sensors and trained dogs to find people. No effort should have been spared.

I do not think that foreign rescuers would be able to deal with the surrounding......"situation" if you know what I mean. They won't be able to focus on the actual work even with all the fancy equipment.

Our army is there, and they have the equipment; so I think that'd be enough.

 

[Skallagrim]

Even a flight from London to Dhaka takes 8 hours.. what are you smoking?

First phase of the search & rescue operation (i.e prior to use of heavy equipment) had lasted for more than 100 hrs.

 

[Moander]

Factory owners to blame, claims Rana

Factory owners to blame, claims Rana - bdnews24.com

Kamal Talukder, bdnews24.com

Published: 2013-04-28 15:15:40.0 Updated: 2013-04-28 18:54:57.0

‘Pressure’ from the readymade garment factory owners had made him to allow work in the building which had developed cracks, claims Mohammad Sohel Rana, the owner of multi-storey that has reduced to rubble at Savar.


The nine-storey Rana Plaza came crushing down on Wednesday, burying alive nearly 400 people so far under heaps of steel and blocks of concrete.

He made the claim on Sunday, the fifth day since the commercial structure collapsed, while speaking to journalists at the Rapid Action Battalion (RAB) headquarters in the capital in the afternoon.

After his capture in Jessore’s Benapole along with two others, he was flown to old airport in Dhaka’s Tejgaon by a RAB helicopter at around 5pm.

Then they were driven to RAB headquarters at Uttara in a microbus and presented before the press.

RAB Director General Mokhlesur Rahman told reporters there, “Rana is responsible for the deaths at Savar.”

But Rana, who has been sought since Wednesday, said, “I did not force the [garments] owners, but it was them who forced me saying they will face huge loss and shipments will be cancelled if the factories were closed even for a day.”

However, Mokhlesur Rahman said, “Rana forced the workers to join duty.”

On Tuesday, workers of five readymade garments factories had panicked and run out of the Rana Plaza near Savar Bus Stand after huge cracks surfaced on the wall. Industrial Police, the agency that secures garment factories, and BGMEA officials had also visited the building.

They had recommended shutting down the building until it was examined by engineers. A bank and some shops on the first floor had shut their premises on Wednesday.

The building, constructed over 56 decimals of land caved in with some 3,500 people inside it after the garment factories resumed work in the morning.

The workers who survived the collapse claimed that they were ‘forced’ into work by the factory owners despite their refusal after safety alerts raised by the Industrial Police the previous day.

However, factory owners who were arrested recently over the incident claimed that it was the building’s owner Rana who ‘put pressure’ on them to keep running their factories.

Rana, a Senior Joint Convenor of Savar Juba League unit, blamed the heavy machinery used in the garment factories for the building’s collapse. He claimed to have notified the factory owners several times regarding this matter.

Allegations have risen that Rana Plaza was not constructed three years ago in line with the Building Construction Act. RAJUK also sued the building owner after the collapse. Two engineers of the Savar municipality were also arrested on charges of neglecting duties.

Meanwhile, cracks also surfaced in another building owned by Sohel Rana at the Bazar Road on Dhaka-Aricha highway.

Rana was on the ground floor when the building started to collapse on Wednesday morning. But he was afraid to leave the building because of the enraged people.

Witnesses said local Awami League MP Talukdar Mohammad Towhid Jung Murad came to his rescue and took him away from the multi-storied building, of which now only three stories are standing above the ground.

But Rana at press briefing on Sunday claimed that locals had rescued him, not Murad.

The local MP, however, has been rejecting the allegations linking him to aiding Rana. Leaders of main opposition BNP have also claimed Rana is backed by Murad.

Asked about his political identity, Rana said he was the General Secretary of Bangladesh Chhatra League’s Savar municipality unit. Later he became the Convenor of Juba League, the youth front of ruling Awami League.

But when asked how he got the post of Senior Joint Convenor of the Juba League Savar municipality unit, he remained silent.

The BNP has alleged that the government helped Rana to escape.

Asked whether anyone had aided Rana to flee, RAB intelligence chief Lt Col Ziaul Ahsan said, “No. If anyone had aided and provided shelter to him, he wouldn’t have to stay at three places before getting to Benapole.”

RAB said Rana was there and had fainted after the building collapsed. He received treatment at a local hospital at Savar for two hours.

Then he came to Dhaka and spent Wednesday night at the house of a friend named ‘Shamim’. Rana went to Manikganj and spent two nights at the house of one ‘Afzal’. From there, he went to Anil’s house in Faridpur and spent Saturday night there, Rahman said.

Rana then went to Mithu’s residence along with Anil on Sunday. RAB arrested all of them there, Rahman added.

Jessore RAB Commander Major Jahiduzzaman said Rana was arrested while hiding in the house of a distant relative named Shah Alam Mithu at Benapole’s Ballfield.

Government is pampering garments owners too much. All these accidents is happening because government is turning a blind eye towards garments. BGMEA is crying all the time that they gonna lose foreign market but in reality its a strategy to maximize profit by minimizing cost. Its time government should straighten their priority, whom they are suppose to serve? Are they suppose to serve the people or garments owner? Which is governments priority increase export or ensure public safety?

 

[BanglaBhoot]

I do not think that foreign rescuers would be able to deal with the surrounding......"situation" if you know what I mean. They won't be able to focus on the actual work even with all the fancy equipment.

Our army is there, and they have the equipment; so I think that'd be enough.

This was, however, not the explanation of the government. Our national pride would be hurt if we accepted outside assistance. A country that accepts foreign aid still apparently has national pride not to accept foreign expertise. A strange and ludicrous argument and logic. After the Sydr Cyclone the US Navy provided assistance amidst the chaos. Their help at the time was invaluable and any assistance to rescue the trapped people under the Rana Plaza should not have been dismissed off hand. If I or any of my family was under that I would hope that the best people are there to rescue me or my family and no offers of help are refused off-hand.