Introduction

The location of Savar (red marker), the site of the building collapse, in relation to Dhaka
The building, Rana Plaza, was owned by Sohel Rana, allegedly a leading member of the local
Jubo League, the youth wing of the ruling Awami League political party. It housed a number of
separate garment factories employing around 5,000 people, several shops, and a bank. The
factories manufactured apparel for brands including Benetton, Bonmarch, the Children's Place,
El Corte Ingls, Joe Fresh, Monsoon Accessorize, Mango, Matalan, Primark, and Walmart.
The head of the Bangladesh Fire Service & Civil Defense, Ali Ahmed Khan, said that the upper
four floors had been built without a permit. Rana Plaza's architect, Massood Reza, said the
building was planned for shops and offices but not factories. Other architects stressed the risks
involved in placing factories inside a building designed only for shops and offices, noting the
structure were potentially not strong enough to bear the weight and vibration of heavy
machinery. On Tuesday 23 April 2013, a TV channel recorded footage showing cracks in the
Rana Plaza building and the building was evacuated. The shops and the bank on the lower floors
immediately closed. Later in the day, Sohel Rana said to the media that the building was safe and
workers should return tomorrow.Managers at Ether Tex threatened to withhold a month's pay
from workers who refused to come to work.
History of the Rana Plaza Tragedy

Submitted by Hisham Bin Mustafa on Tue, 14/05/2013 - 5:36pm

Dhaka, May 14 (Priyo.com): The rescue team on the 20th day declared finished of operation of
the building Rana Plaza in Savar, that collapsed on April 24, 2013 morning.
According to sources, the building, which was found to have cracks a day earlier and was warned
to avoid using the building took away 1127 lives and 2438 people were rescued alive. However,
12 of them died at different hospitals.
The building contained garment factories [Ether Tex Ltd., New Wave Bottoms Ltd, New Wave
Style Ltd, Phantom Apparels Ltd and Phantom Tac Ltd], a bank [Bank Asia], and several other
shops.
These 20 days created the most disgraceful history in the ready-made garments (RMG) sector of
the country. The matter shook not only the country, but also the other countries - mostly the
foreign buyers of garments who took clothing from these 5 garment factories that were in Rana
Plaza.
General Officer Commanding of the 9th Infantry Division Major General Chowdhury Hasan
Sarwardi, who was in charge of coordinating the rescue operation, said they would hand over the
responsibility of the site to the district administration at 6 am on Tuesday.
A total of 3,565 people - dead and alive - have so far been pulled out of the rubble. Meanwhile,
although no body was recovered from the ruins of the Rana Plaza on Monday, huge drugs and
locally made weapons were found while removing the wreckage.
Here is a summary of all the 20 days and nights of the rescue operation that put significance in
the 'Savar Tragedy'.
Savar Bus Stand, 9:00 am
A building, known as the Rana Plaza, has collapsed suddenly, leaving only the ground floor
intact. Owner of the building, also a local Jubo League (the youth wing of ruling Awami League)
leader, Sohel Rana, has been rescued from the basement of the collapsed building.

According to sources, inspectors had discovered cracks in the building the day before and had
requested evacuation and closure. The shops and the bank on the lower floors immediately
closed, but garment workers were told to return the following day, their supervisors declaring the
building to be safe. The official death toll had risen to 135, as indicated by the number of bodies
laid out on the grounds of a nearby college. The final death toll is likely to be much higher.
Locals have joined police, RAB and fire fighters in the rescue.

Extracting pinned victims

The first and foremost policy of the rescuers was to bring out the people trapped inside the
building, even if the operation progresses slowly to free them out. Enough food, water, oxygen,
blood and medicine is required to keep them safe and alive.

The rescuers supplied food, water and oxygen to people trapped inside the building. Relatives of
the victims vented anger as the law enforcers barred them from going near to the collapsed
building.
As people were not seen to be satisfied with the preparations taken by the government, they
started to help with whatever they can. People used Facebook as a media to convey the latest
requirements needed for the survivors, which included cash money, oxygen cylinders, foods,
medicine and many more. Many organizations, citizens contributed according to the capability.

Those who were dead were kept at nearby college, called Adhar Chandra School and College.
2013 Savar building collapse
Time
08:45 am BST (UTC+06:00)
Date
24 April 2013
Savar Upazila
Location
Dhaka District
Bangladesh
Also known as
Rana plaza building collapse
Deaths
1,129
Injuries
~2,500
On 24 April 2013, Rana Plaza, an eight-story commercial building, collapsed in Savar, a subdistrict in the Greater Dhaka Area, the capital of Bangladesh. The search for the dead ended on

13 May with a death toll of 1,129. Approximately 2,515 injured people were rescued from the
building alive.
It is considered the deadliest garment-factory accident in history, as well as the deadliest
accidental structural failure in modern human history.
The building contained clothing factories, a bank, apartments, and several other shops. The shops
and the bank on the lower floors immediately closed after cracks were discovered in the building.
Warnings to avoid using the building after cracks appeared the day before had been ignored.
Garment workers were ordered to return the following day and the building collapsed during the
morning rush-hour.
Direct reasons
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 3 floors in comparison to original permit, and

4. the use of substandard construction material (which lead 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.

One good example to illustrate this context is the evacuation of the building after the cracks. It is
reported that the Industrial police first requested the evacuation of the building until an
inspection had been conducted. It is reported that Abdur Razak Khan, an engineer, declared the
building unsafe and requested public authorities to conduct a more thorough inspection. It is also
reported that Kabir Hossain Sardar, the upazila nirbahi officer visited the site, met with Sohel
Rana, and declared the building safe. Sohel Rana said to the media that the building was safe and
workers should return to work the next day. One manager of the factories in the Rana Plaza
reported that Sohel Rana told them that the building was safe. Managers requested then workers
to go back to work, so that on the next day workers entered the factories again.
One cause seems the lack of clarity about the right of workers to refuse unsafe work and the
corresponding investigation procedure by the authorities, and the involvement of workers
organizations in such a procedure.
Based on all the above elements it can be concluded that one cause of the disaster is the lack of
good governance in Savar, and corruption. Some have called Sohel Rana "a crooked mobster".

Reason and responsibility: the Rana Plaza collapse

William Gomes 9 May 2013
The Rana Plaza tragedy was an outcome of a corrupt system that is rotten to the core. Who
should - and can - be held accountable?
The deadly collapse of a building in Bangladesh late last month made news around the world and
brought the country back into the western media spotlight. On 24 April Rana Plaza, a eight-story
building housing several garment factories, situated in Savar, 24 kilometers outside Dhaka, was
reduced to rubble leading, so far, to the death of over 800 workers.
The 3.6 million strong communities of men and women working in the garment industry have
enabled Bangladeshs position as the world's second-largest apparel exporter. In the absence of
basic workplace health and safety standards, these workers have become the victims of
systematic human rights violations, suffering while others get rich to make fashionable clothes
for faceless consumers. The very market that created the masterminds who are root and reason
for this injustice remain untouched, while people continue to argue over responsibility for the
deaths of these workers. Whether its the garments owners, government, buyers, retailers or
consumers in the West, no one wants to take responsibility, instead pointing the finger at others.

From crack to collapse

The politics-business nexus

Illegal building extensions

Worldwide criticism

Politicians

Board with photos of missing people posted by relatives

Nick Clegg, current UK Deputy PM and leader of the Liberal Democrats said: "... there's more
we could do to talk about what goes on behind the scenes and this terrible catastrophe might well
prompt people to think again."
Michael Connarty, UK's Falkirk East MP, is calling on the UK Government to push through new
legislation to end modern day slavery by forcing major High Street companies in the UK to audit
their supply chain. The framework requests that those companies make vigorous checks to
ensure slave labour is not used in third world countries and the UK to produce their goods.
Karel De Gucht, current European Commissioner for Trade, warned that retailers and the
Bangladeshi government could face action from the EU if nothing is done to improve the
conditions of workers adding that shoppers should also consider where they are spending their
money.
Press reports on Rana Plaza Tragedy: Two Years After
Published in The Daily Star
2 Years of Rana Plaza Disaster
Debate still on about number of victims in worlds worst workplace disaster in Bangladesh
Staff Correspondent
Even two years after the Rana Plaza collapse, the debate over the total number of unidentified
victims rages on.
So far 206 of the dead workers, whose identity was initially unknown, have been identified
through DNA tests, the Centre for Policy Dialogue said in a report yesterday.
The government couldnt collect any information about 85 victims. As their identity couldnt be
known, their family members didnt qualify for any financial support, said the think tank.
Labour Secretary Mikail Shipar, however, put the number of unidentified victims at 62.
Identity of 166 workers was initially unknown. Of them, 104 have been identified so far, he told
this correspondent.
On the basis of various claims, we are now trying to know about the 62 victims by contacting
the local administration offices, said Shipar.
The nine-storey Rana Plaza that housed a number of readymade garment factories collapsed on
April 24,

2013, killing more than 1,100 people, mostly garment workers, and injuring many others.
At a programmed in the capitals Brac Centre Inn yesterday, CPD Additional Research Director
Khondaker G Moazzem said 1,134 workers were found dead while 2,535 wounded workers were
rescued.
In his survey report Moving Beyond the Shadow of the Rana Plaza Tragedy: In Search of a
Closure and Restructuring Strategy, Moazzem touched on the issues of payment of
compensation, treatment of the victims, future impact on businesses, suspension of the GSP and
future action plans for the garment sector.
There has been erratic information from different sources regarding the total number of missing
workers, he said.
Despite various initiatives, the victims and their families are not at the same level compared to
their condition before the Rana Plaza collapse, he learnt through telephone interviews of some of
the victims and their family members.
The living condition is very poor for the severely injured workers, and for families whose
members were killed but are yet to be identified. Among the injured workers, few are employed
locally in off-farm jobs after receiving training under various initiatives by different
organizations, according to the report.
The respondents, including family members of the missing workers, mentioned that they
received some financial support from organizations. But the amount varied widely from as low
as Tk 75,000 to as high as Tk 12 lakh.
The difference was mainly because of varying levels of income as claimed by the victims and the
various amounts of money they received (in two installments) from the Rana Plaza Trust Fund.
The amount of financial support received by victims and their families so far is insufficient to
meet their needs although they were promised complete financial support to cover their monthly
expenses as well as medical expenses for their treatment, said the report.
On the transformation the sector went though after the incident, Moazzem said it is significant
for national and international factors.
The restructuring of the sector would provide it with improved competitiveness which would be
beneficial for the sector. New competitors are emerging in the global market which would
change the global sourcing dynamics.
On the post-Rana Plaza export scenario, the report said the conclusion was that the export growth
of garment products might have limited scope to be associated with the tragedy though the
entrepreneurs often complained about the adverse impact on export.

A detailed analysis on products, buyers strategy in sourcing orders from different markets,
buyers as well as consumers perceptions of Bangladeshi products after the tragedy would enable
us to determine the cause and effect of the changing pattern of export of apparels from
Bangladesh.
Bangladeshs export to the European market during post-Rana Plaza period is even more
inconclusive. After attaining considerable growth in both categories of products in 2013,
Bangladeshs export experienced negative growth in 2014.
However, performance of a number of major competitors, including China, India, Vietnam and
Indonesia, was disquieting in the European market. Pakistan and Cambodia are found to
maintain consistent positive growth both in knit and woven products during post-Rana Plaza
period.
Bangladeshs performance has been quite impressive till date with regard to implementation of
various activities related to USTR (United States Trade Representative) action plan.
The USTR should take the recent developments positively and consider reinstatement of the GSP
facility for Bangladeshi products in the US market in the near future if Bangladesh outdoes the
present rate of achievements in terms of implementation of reforms, it added.

What should we do?

Do everything to prevent such an incident from repeating in the future.

What to do for those who have lost lives, their limbs or their livelihoods?

What do we need to do to not only save our garments industry but make it stronger?

The collapse of the nine-storey building in Savar was not merely a collapse. It is just a
precursor to the imminent collapse of all our state institutions. If we look closely at the
collapse of the Savar building, we can read the symptoms of collapse of our state
institutions. We will have to find ways to fix the institutions to protect them from complete
collapse.

We two proposals regarding workers

We have from time to time given recommendations to foreign buyers about how to tackle
the problems faced by the garments industry in Bangladesh. Under the present
circumstances we find it all the more important that we raise this issue again, particularly
because of the castigation by Pope Francis that buyers are treating the garment workers like
slave laborers with $40 wage per month.

(a) A minimum wage law for the labour already exists in our country. If any company pays a
salary below that minimum wage, that will be illegal.
My proposal is that the foreign buyers will jointly fix a minimum international wage level.
For example, if the minimum wage is now 25 cents per hour in Bangladesh, then they will
standardize minimum wage for garment industry as 50 cents per hour. No buyer will give
any salary below this rate, and no industry/owner will fix salary below this limit. It would be
an integral part of compliance.
Of course, we have to be prepared for a negative market reaction to this. As a result of this,
some will argue that Bangladesh may overnight lose the competitiveness it had gained for
being a country offering the cheapest labour. In order to retain its competitiveness,
Bangladesh will have to increase its attractiveness in other ways. For example, increasing
labour productivity, increasing specialized labour skills, regaining the trust of buying
companies, giving assurance that no unfavorable situations will be created in future, is
ensuring the complete welfare of the workers, and so on. Until we are able to ensure this
international minimum wage, we will not be able to pull out the workers from the grievous
category of slave labour as mentioned by the Pope.
We have to gain support for the international minimum wage through discussions with
politicians, business leaders, citizens, church groups, and media leaders in the countries of
the foreign buyers. In the past, I had tried to convince the buyers, but have not yet
succeeded. Now after the Savar tragedy, and in light of the castigation from the Pope, the
issue has gained a new dimension. I want to mobilize my international and Bangladeshi
friends to make my efforts stronger and more persistent this time.
We have to get the international business houses to understand that while the garment
workers are physically working in Bangladesh, they are actually contributing their labour for
their (international business houses) businesses. They are stakeholders of their businesses.
Their business depends on the labour here. Mere physical separation should not be a
ground for them to look away from the well-beings of this labour. That is the main message
from the Pope. I hope the buying companies get the point.
It is not necessary for all the companies to agree on the minimum international wage at the
same point in time. If some of the leading companies come forward on this issue, I think the
process will start. Others will soon accept it.
(b) I have made my second proposal many times before, but it did not get any attention.
There is now an opportunity for me to propose it again. This time I see a good chance for its
adoption because of its relevance to the current situation.
Bangladesh garment factory produces and sells a piece of garment for five dollars, which is
attractively packed and shipped to the New York port. This five dollars not only includes the
production, packaging, shipment, profit and management but also indirectly covers the

share that goes to the cotton-producing farmers, yarn mills for producing the yarn, cost of
dyeing, and weaving as input cost.
When an American customer buys this item from a shop for $35, he feels happy he got a
good bargain. The point to note is that everyone who was involved in the production
collectively received $5. Another $30 was added within the US for reaching the product to
the final consumer. I keep drawing attention to the fact that with just a little effort only we
can achieve a huge impact in the lives of those so-called slave labours. My proposal relates
to the little effort. I ask whether a consumer in a shopping mall would feel upset if he is
asked to pay $35.50 instead of $35 for the item of clothing. My answer is: No, he will not
even notice the little change. If we could create a Grameen (or Brac) Garment Workers
Welfare Trust in Bangladesh with that additional $0.50, then we could resolve most of the
problems faced by the workers their physical safety, social safety, individual safety, work
environment, pensions, healthcare, housing, their childrens health, education, childcare,
retirement, old age, travel could all be taken care of through this Trust.

Conclusion
I believe that for buying companies leaving Bangladesh is definitely not a solution. It would
be as unfortunate for Bangladesh as it would be for the foreign buyers. There can be no
sense of relief for them in leaving a country which has been highly benefited through their
business, a country which could have gained continuing rapid and visible economic and
social progress because of them, a country that would always remain grateful to them for
their business.
Rather, if the Bangladesh government and citizens come forward to work together to
remove all the difficulties being faced by the foreign buyers, and work shoulder to shoulder
with them, it would bring joy for creating a new kind of business that takes pride in
achieving something which is far beyond only business success something which leads to
a bright new future for a country.
I believe that they would rather like to remain in Bangladesh, face the challenges and take
pride in creating a new society and a new economy. Not only will Disney, which left the
country because of the recent problems, come back when they see big changes taking place
because of the collective efforts of the government and the citizens, but more companies will
also be interested to invest here.
Changes are taking place in the world of business. Even if they are tiny changes, they are
coming nonetheless. We can accelerate that change. A citizen action group can prepare the
ground for that.

Reference
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2013_Savar_building_collapse

 http://news.priyo.com/2013/05/14/end-savar-battle.html
http://archive.thedailystar.net/news2014/rana-plaza
https://www.opendemocracy.net/opensecurity/william-gomes/reason-and-responsibilityrana-plaza-collapse
http://cpd.org.bd/index.php/press-reports-rana-plaza-tragedy-two-years-after/

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