Shockingly, in this country people have become so prone to disasters and deaths that they only wake up after a disaster has hit. Some ad hoc measures like constituting committees are then taken to appease public rage and then life goes on as usual. As reports from workers engaged in night shift duty on that fateful night indicate out of some 350 working that night some 150 remain untraced and feared to be buried alive under the debris. It was a terrible incident. It seemed to touch a chord in all citizenry because garments industry employing the largest labour force in the country is a part of our national pride and existence. Ironically true, these factories are very poorly managed. More shocking, the very work place where our young men and women go to earn a living has the shadow of death over it.

Systematic flouting of safety norms and have turned the country's garment factories into veritable death traps. Reports published in the newspaper and other sources indicate that only fires in city's garment factories have claimed so far 322 lives. Inquiries are invariably instituted as a routine matter but the guilty even if identified are rarely punished. The irony in the latest building collapse incident at Savar is such that because of powerful lobby no formal diary in the local thana could be filed by any party. Most shockingly, an industry that employs more than ten lakh workers in the city and its outskirts and now ranks as the biggest foreign exchange earner has given little attention towards ensuring safety and security of its workers. No sensible citizen can compromise the idea of allowing such a vital industry to operate with so little accountability.

While the long term measure of relocating these industries to the outskirts of the city as suggested by the ministerial committee is a long way off, short term measures such as installation of fire fighting implements in the buildings, creation of exit routes and most importantly approval of the building plan by RAJUK must be taken up before a factory starts functioning. It's reportedly learnt that in the case of Spectrum sweater factory approval of the 9-storey building plan from the Cantonment Board was taken in 2004 whereas the factory started operation from 2001.

In most cases building laws are violated with impunity. Most of the factories have exit routes or stairs throttled with waste clothes and baskets full of waste. Most shockingly in most cases the main entrance gate has been found locked without the guard being available there. Think of the colossal problem that is likely to create when some 500 to 600 workers, mostly untrained women from the rural areas, want to evacuate through such a narrow three foot staircase after hearing an alarm bell false or real.

Besides these, electric lines in most cases are very fragile and a little spark or a short circuit can spread the fire through the whole installation in the twinkling of an eye. Despite the fact that a series of accidents have taken place in quick succession, the licensing authorities or the administration have never showed up or visited the factories to see if these units met the safety regulations and norms. Many of these factories situated in the narrow by-lanes and densely packed residential areas in high rise buildings are almost inaccessible to fire fighters.

The ministerial committee constituted by the government made some recommendations that the garment owners must follow. Sadly true, these laws were already there but management were reluctant to invest the extra money needed. Rather they lived with the risk and their workers were exposed to frequent hazards. No one would believe that garments industries are losing concerns and that as such any additional investment would render the business unprofitable.

In recent years there has been an unusual boom in building construction, mostly high rise apartment blocks by real estate developers as well as private individuals in the city and its outskirts far up to Gazipur on one side and Savar on the other. The stark reality is: this construction business is also corruption ridden and this endemic nature of corruption has bred problems and set off risk situation in the building sector as well. But the fact is: until an accident occurs every building is supposed to be safe. Moreover poor supervision by novice engineer employed at a cheap salary often leads to disastrous situation.

People might recall the chilling experience of Shakharibazar building collapse in the wake of the building being raised to three more floors over a weak foundation. The incidence of building collapse in other areas of Dhaka namely Mohammadpur, Rampura and Narayanganj are tell- tale evidences of the havoc that it can wreak if we fail to look at the weaknesses. As our experiences of building collapse in the city and its suburbs , due mainly to structural defects and design flaws are very bitter, RAJUK and PWD should make coordinated efforts through media publicity to create public awareness about the safety norms to be adhered to in building construction, because public awareness is essential for their enforcement.

Sadly true, it is only because of lax enforcement that disasters one after another have gripped us. Ironically true, four out of five Bangladeshi homes are designed by the owners themselves, and most do not realise that their homes may become their tombs. Regulating engineers is also the need of the time. Because engineers have no licensing system, so even a novice engineer can legally certify that a building has been suitably built.

So how can buildings be made resistant to collapse -- in either earthquake or cyclone?. Two essential factors are -- good design and good construction. The idea is to build structures in a way that can absorb maximum force and still remain stable. So says a leading structural engineer in the country, "If the beams and columns of the building are properly joined, 50 per cent of collapse resistant design is taken care of." This means if a builder has a tendency to save on concrete or steel, the sturdiness of the building will be at stake.

Pure geometric shapes like squares, rectangles and triangles disperse the seismic or torsional forces equally in all directions, so are safer. For similar reasons, a cantilever or irregular shape results in uneven distribution of forces causing such buildings to collapse. Uneven structures can be safe, stresses an expert, but they have to be appropriately reinforced to resist such forces. Steel cross beams in high rises are latest techniques. A solid concrete core -- such as the lift-shaft in the centre -- and sheer concrete walls, along with cross beams, are extremely quake resistant. Building materials are crucial too. The safest building would be all steel as it is an extremely good shock absorber.

After the Savar building collapse, the image is fast turning out to be administrative failings in terms of salvage operation. The collapse and debilitation of the 9-storey building that led to more than 100 deaths at Savar Spectrum sweater factory weren't due only to faulty design and shoddy construction. In popular perception, however, this disaster is being blamed on the government's indulgence in the unscrupulous builders. Understandably other than the tendency to reduce the cost of construction, use of cheap quality cement and absence of routine check on the sand-cement mix ratio and the sub-standard size of rods used and non-performance of soil test that would have given indication of the soil condition at the foundation base exacerbated the fatal fall. To contain such damage and disaster in future and to deter such unscrupulous builders from indulging in such dirty tricks, the ministry concerned should have swung into action. They should have seized the documents relating to the collapsed building and rounded up the persons who flouted standard practices.

Consider what happened after the building collapse at Savar Spectrum sweater factory. Valiant Fire brigade, Civil defence and Army team went on salvage mission with crowbar level machinery, crushing machines, cranes and spades. Thanks to American assistance of some post-quake rescue operation equipment received only a month ago that greatly accelerated the rescue effort. But the fire fighters admitted that the equipment they received were not enough for rescue efforts in such a major collapse. Think of our primitive style of disaster fighting effort when much of the world is talking of using industrial robots for such a role.

To offer another example, industrial thermal imaging equipment saved lives after the Turkish earthquake of 1999. Saving time is most critical in such a disaster situation and speed is of great essence in any rescue operation. During Gujarat quake on January 27, 2001 the Swiss rescue team reached Ahmedabad in just about 14 hours after the Indian government's request for help reached the Swiss embassy in Delhi. The Swiss rescue team comprised doctors, telecom specialists, paramedics, logisticians and nine dogs carrying 16 tonnes of equipment including sonar vibration equipment, cameras to look through crevices, shafts and holes, devices to detect heart beat, driller and slings to lift concrete. The whole salvage operation in Ahmedabad lasted for only four days. The team especially trained to combat such disaster saved many lives from the debris and extricated countless bodies.

Bangladesh, a disaster-ridden country is yet to develop such a trained manpower. People wonder why the offer of help by Action Aid with their branch office in Dubai was not taken too seriously by the government at such a critical time. It's a well established fact that the first 48 hours after any collapse are critical in saving lives. One can't miss the traditional scenario that goes on after any such accident: the government machinery goes into a flurry of activities. High-powered committees are set up , recommendations are made and grim warnings and punitive measures against the violators are also announced but after some days all these recommendations lie buried in the dark corners of the ministry concerned. The saddest part of this tragic incident is that even after passage of so many days the relatives of the victims are perhaps yet to get any help or compensation either from the owner or the government other than some verbal assurance of monetary help from the BGMEA.

Md Asadullah Khan is a former teacher of physics and Controller of Examinations, BUET.