Deaths in debris
It was 3:50 am. All the members of households were asleep at the building no 81 in Shankharibazar. Suddenly a big bang, as loud as thunderbolt, broke their sleep and resulted in a chunk of debris with 18 dead bodies within a few minutes. This is a brief picture of the tragic event occurring on June 9, 2004. Who will take the responsibility of these deaths ? Why the two government bodies, Rajuk and Dhaka City Corporation (DCC) are accusing each other for the tragedy? Ultimately, all responsibilities go to the two government institutions because of their paying no attention towards the dilapidated buildings in Old Dhaka. Newspapers say that there exists 32 buildings that are highly vulnerable among 142 buildings in Shankharibazar alone, and they may collapse any time. Notwithstanding this vulnerability, the two institutions do not possess any specific lists of these high-risk buildings. On the other hand, due to lack of space, most of the owners of old buildings built up more structures on the rooftops of buildings in an unplanned way. Moreover, some officials of the two institutions reportedly received bribe from the owners for not taking action against the vulnerable buildings. These are the main reasons for which the cave-in resulted in 18 people getting buried under the giant piles of debris. Following the Shankharibazar tragedy, Rajuk and the DCC should identify highly vulnerable buildings and demolish them immediately. As per the identification, the government should take immediate corrective measures for ensuring compliance with the safety regulations and the building code.
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