Will this nation ever really wake up?

Nine-storey garments factory building collapse in Savor made bare administration's lapses

Too many authorities, for too long a time, have paid too little respect to human lives and livelihoods. While much has been said about these issues, little has actually been done. Whenever such an incident or accident occurs, we try to find a quick solution. We do not look for the actual causes, which are far too deep rooted, with far too many untouchables involved. So a quick cover up job becomes the only possible option. We look for a scapegoat. Far too many investigations have been conducted, but too few have been made public so far. I wonder whether we still would have to wait before we reach a saturation point of our tolerance!

How could such an unlawful construction go on and then thrive within the territories of the people who are sworn in to protect the nation? I guess this question has also been asked by far too many people already. As usual, there have been far too few answers! For my own understanding, and possibly for that of a few others, let me try to analyse the case from a little different perspective.

A nine-storied building was built on a foundation meant for four floors, on a marshy land, without proper piling work. This building was then loaded with too heavy machinery, which led to the collapse. Was this not obviously what would happen one day?

Now, will anybody say that this is a unique case? With all the water bodies being gobbled up, with so many new multi-storied constructions coming up all over the city, is this really an isolated case of such faulty and criminal construction? I wish I could believe that, I really do! Trying to look at it very optimistically, let us, at least for argument's sake, believe that all the high-rise buildings that are coming up in Dhaka are all built very methodically, following all the guidelines in the book. That brings me on to my other concern.

On December 26 last year, the whole world saw with awe, how powerful the forces of nature could be. Being married to natural disasters, Bangladesh already has seen its fair share of disasters in the past; 1970 and 1991 are just two reminders. But the scale and breadth that the tsunami covered this time around, simply as an immediate aftermath to an earthquake that was just a bit too strong and lasted just a bit longer, showed us just how little and helpless we are. It was only a miracle that saved our country.

There are too many experts who are opining that a very big earthquake is overdue in Bangladesh. Too many experts claim that Bangladesh is geologically located in a very precarious position regarding earthquakes. Too many experts are saying that the country has been experiencing many of the events that could happen before a major earthquake. I have heard that we have only one machine, that also far too old, that can only barely measure the intensity after an earthquake strikes. But I also have heard that this machine gives faulty readings. I have heard that scientists and experts around the world are just beginning to learn how to predict earthquakes, even if it is at the last moment. I am not a scientist, neither am I an expert. But how I wish all these experts and all these predictions about an impending large earthquake in Bangladesh are all wrong. But what if they are all true? Isn't Chittagong city being jolted by mild tremors about once in almost every ten days? Are we really that far away from reality?

I want to believe that all these modern day developers are constructing all these modern buildings, bridges and fly-overs, maintaining all standard procedures to withstand moderate earthquakes. An earthquake measuring suppose 5.8 on the Richter scale lasting even say 30 seconds, may not -- hopefully -- cause much problem for these modern constructions. But what about the older structures in Dhaka? Would they be able to take the toll? What if the tremor goes up to 8.5 and lasts just a bit longer? Would even these modern structures be able to stand tall? I myself also live in one of these apartment buildings in Dhaka. I have been told that the building is earthquake proof. How would I know that the information is true unless a really big one strikes? Can anyone simply visualise what this beautified city could look like if such a big earthquake strikes one fine day?

Now going back to Savar, with all our available equipment, involving all our possible rescue teams, and taking all kinds of support from the community at large, it took this country more than ten days to reach the ground floor. The first couple of days passed in confusion, not really knowing how to start and where to start. When heavy rescue machinery started arriving, no one knew how to take them there to the right place, as the approach was not accessible. By the third day trapped workers began dying of blood loss, hunger and a lack of fresh air. Even on the fourth day rescue workers could hear frail voices of people trapped beneath the rubble, writhing in pain and crying for help. Some rescue workers have said later that a few more lives could have been saved at the cost of a few limbs, but they did not know just how to reach those victims and how to perform the amputations. By the seventh day, the atmosphere was far too heavy with the stench of putrefied flesh. Rescue workers started to fall sick from exhaustion and inhalation of unhealthy air. Maggots reached the dead bodies far before rescue workers could. They ate to their heart's content, disfiguring the unfortunate victims beyond recognition. It gives me the shivers to think that I too could be one of these victims in the event of a major earthquake.

This country does not have enough equipment, enough trained personnel, and enough technical know-how to handle a major earthquake.

If a moderate earthquake strikes Dhaka, and say, if a few buildings in the old parts of the city collapse, even with the limited equipment that we have, are the roads wide enough to take such heavy equipment there? Even with the limited number of trained personnel and with the limited technical knowledge, will the rescue teams be able to intervene in time so that a few more lives could be saved? Will the maggots again win the race against the rescue workers?

If suddenly a few hundred injured victims are rushed to the already saturated Dhaka Medical College Hospital or the Mitford Hospital, will there be adequate doctors and other personnel to take care of the immediate needs of so many additional patients? Will there be adequate medical supplies available to cope with this sudden overload? Will vascular surgeons be available to repair the ruptured arteries and veins, or will the victims be amputated right and left like in the injured cases of older day battlefields? Will there be any follow up psychosocial care for the freshly created disabled persons, or for those who have lost their near and dear ones, their entire life's possessions, and all their livelihoods? What would happen if the age-old hospital buildings themselves cave in, where would the victims be taken?

Will there be enough security personnel to ensure that whatever possessions are standing tall, would not be further robbed by miscreants? That the women would not be abused or that the children would not be picked up for trafficking them off as camel jockeys?

Will there be any coordinated effort to feed the hungry and provide makeshift yet safe shelters to those who have lost all their earthly possessions? In times of such sorrow and grief, will the feeding shelters or relief centers still discriminate against who were or weren't in favour of our liberation war three and a half decades ago? Will these centres, showing utmost disrespect to human sufferings, keep blaring loudspeakers with "Ebarer shongram" or "Prothom Bangladesh amar" to ensure that the victims know from whose pockets these handouts are flowing?

Since I live on the top floor of an apartment building, immediately after the Savar tragedy, as I followed almost every news bulletin on TV watching the rescue in slow progress, I was musing to myself that, if, in the case of an earthquake my apartment collapses, I myself and my dear family probably would be one of the luckiest to be pulled out first. Letting my imagination go wild, I would lay in bed visualising how the rescue operations would probably go at a snail's pace. But then some thought struck me really hard! If my building would collapse, that definitely it would not be the only one. The houses of so many VIPs, VVIPs and VIIIPs would also be affected. And frankly speaking, I am a nobody. How could I ever imagine that these scanty resources would be sent to pick up a nobody instead of the very interesting and immensely important persons. Can anyone simply imagine how great a time the maggots are going to have all over Dhaka?

What if an even larger earthquake jolts the city and most parts are affected? I just asked a friend, how many years did he think it could possibly take to clear the rubble? He thought for a while and opined "at least five years." Like me, he also is no expert, and this was just a wild guess. Who knows, he may be right.

This country already has about 14 million persons with some or other form of disability. With all the initiatives taken for their development by the government and non-government sectors together, the needs far outweigh what is available. Our national economy is already too stretched due to disability. Unnecessarily adding a further bulk of more disabled people, by one such disaster, to this already large list could make a huge dent to our slowly growing economy. This one tragedy at Savar should be a timely lesson for us.

With the national budgets coming up, I believe this is a very good time to start thinking a little further than doing "cover up" jobs. The country desperately needs some life-saving equipment, personnel, and technical knowledge! We have spent far too much time looking but not seeing, hearing but not listening, touching but not feeling, wondering but not thinking the hard reality. There is no price larger than human life. Have we not already sacrificed far too many? Should we not take this Savar tragedy as a wake up call?

The only problem is that it is far too difficult a task to wake up someone who sleeps with his eyes wide open. Will this nation ever really wake up?

Dr Nafeesur Rahman is Director, National Forum of Organisations Working with the Disabled (NFOWD).