Bangladeshi garment business at risk as death toll hits 525

Bangladeshi garment manufacturers fear a slide in orders from Western retailers after the deaths at least 525 industry workers in a building collapse last week, officials and business people said Friday.

 

"There are fears that the international retailers may pull out from Bangladesh, but we urge them to work together to overcome the disaster," Atiqul Islam, head of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), told dpa by telephone. He spoke after reports that the Walt Disney Company was pulling out of Bangladesh after a series of factory disasters in recent years that have exposed poor workplace safety in the South Asian country.

 

The lingering issue is becoming a public relations problem for the Bangladeshi industry and Western companies, concerned that consumers will become worried their clothing is made in unsafe conditions. Bangladesh is under pressure to meet international labour standards for its garment industry, which accounts for 79 per cent of the country's export earnings. The garment manufacturers association asked all its nearly 3,500 members Friday to submit plans by May 30 for factories buildings, which are to be examined by an expert panel.

 

"If the owners fail to comply with necessary corrections, their factories will face closure," the BGMEA chief said. Members were asked to donate at least 25,000 taka (320 dollars)

each to create a fund to compensate the victims. The disaster left at least 2,500 workers seeking compensation. Mohammad Fazlul Azim, an independent lawmaker and owner of a

number of garment industry factories, said that owners were trying to make the Bangladeshi garment industry compliant to international standards.

 

"The government, the owners and the international buyers must join the effort to improve the factory condition," he said, urging international buyers not to withdraw business at a time when Bangladesh was trying to make improvements. Islam said that "international buyers be with us at the time of disaster to help overcome it." Many factories have popped up haphazardly in recent decades, fueled by foreign investment attracted by Bangladesh's cheap labour costs.

 

Emergency workers were sifting through the rubble on the 10th day of rescue operation to find workers missing since the April 24 disaster, when the eight-story building collapsed in Savar, 25 kilometers north-west of the capital, Dhaka. "The more we dig through the rubble, the more we find bodies of the missing people," said Major General Hasan uhrawardy, head of the rescue operation. He said the search would continue until the last missing person was found, but could not say how long clearing the concrete wreckage would take.

 

"It is a new experience for Bangladeshi rescuers to handle the worst-ever industrial disaster, and we can't say certainly as to when the operation be completed," said Brigadier General Ali Ahmed Khan, chief of the firefighting department. Rescuers have retrieved more bodies, mostly unrecognizable, from the wreckage since late Thursday, an official at the control room monitoring the disaster said. The death toll was at 525 but likely to rise. The Rana Plaza building housed five garment workshops, a bank and several shops.

 

Authorities said they had listed 149 people still missing by reviewing 1,300 names registered by relatives. The number of relatives waiting for news of missing workers declined Friday. About 50 relatives holding photographs and identity cards of their loved ones were seen waiting outside the accident site, along with several hundred onlookers. President Abdul Hamid on Friday visited the disaster site and survivors undergoing treatment. 

 

Police have arrested the building's owners, as well as the owners of the factories housed in it. They face prosecution for negligence. Workers were evacuated last week from Rana Plaza after major cracks developed in the building, but factory owners forced employees back to work the day of the collapse. State-run Bangladesh Sangbad Sangstha (BSS) reported Friday quoting the head of an inquiry committee that the Rana Plaza building collapsed due to the use of sub-standard construction materials and the placement on the roof of large generators, used to supply electricity during power outages.

 

"We have found the use of heavy machinery and high-capacity generator that might have caused the accident," Main Uddin Khandaker, head of the probe body, told dpa. The probe body found use of sub-standard materials - including rods, cement and bricks - during the construction of the building, he said, noting that the building lost power a few minutes before it collapsed.   The committee, formed immediately after the accident, is expected to submit its report by Monday.Author: Nazrul Islam

 

-Sapa-dpa