Bangladesh Rana Plaza Disaster
The Rana Plaza factory building collapsed in the Bangladesh capital, Dhaka, last year, and more than 1,130 garment workers were killed, crushed under eight stories of concrete.
It happened at Savar Upazila Bangladesh capital Dhaka, April 24th 2013. The building contained clothing factories, a bank, apartments, and several shops. The shops and the bank on the lower floors immediately closed after cracks were discovered in the building.
The building's owners ignored warnings to avoid using the building after cracks had appeared the day before. Garment workers were ordered to return the following day, and the building collapsed during the morning rush-hour.
The building collapsed because too many stories were added on top of the suitable 3. On the illegal top 2 floors large heavy generators were installed because the floors were not story it caused the building to slowly collapse first creating cracks and then making the generators come through the floor. In total the building had 8 stories.
Unfortunately, 1,137 confirmed dead at Rana Plaza. And approximately 2,500 injured people were rescued from the building alive.
The image shows people protesting for better working conditions and human rights. They are also protesting towards the Rana Plaza event and shows all their family/friends that were killed in the disaster.
The direct reasons for the building problems were:
1. Building built first without authorization on a pond,
2. Conversion from commercial use to industrial use,
3. Addition of 4 floors above the original permit
4. The use of substandard construction material (which led to an overload of the building structure aggravated by vibrations due to the generators).
Those various elements indicated dubious business practices by Sohel Rana and dubious administrative practices in Savar.
It is true that no amount can make up for the loss of a loved one or the resulting physical and emotional scars inflicted on those who survived such a tragedy.
But what is also true is that the survivors and victims’ families should be compensated for the financial and medical losses they sustained as a direct result of the disaster.
After the disaster the Rana Plaza Arrangement was set up, which included a trust fund collecting contributions primarily from the 29 global brands that had recent or current orders with at least one of the five garment factories in the Rana Plaza building.