Pressure on Bangladesh, retailers to fix factories

[Omaha Steve]

http://apnews.excite.com/article/20130503/DA62032O0.html

By STEPHEN WRIGHT and FARID HOSSAIN

DHAKA, Bangladesh (AP) - In the aftermath of a building collapse that killed more than 500 people, Bangladesh's garment manufacturers may face a choice of reform or perish.

Home to five factories that supplied clothing to retailers in Europe and the United States, the shoddily constructed building's collapse has put a focus on the high human price paid when Bangladeshi government ineptitude, Western consumer apathy and global retailing's drive for the lowest cost of production intersect.

Police said Friday that more than 500 bodies have been pulled from the wreckage of the eight-story Rana Plaza building that collapsed nine days ago, sparking desperate rescue efforts, a national outpouring of grief and violent street protests.

The tragedy followed the deaths of 112 people five months ago in a blaze that swept through the Tazreen Fashions garment factory in Dhaka and the death of seven in a January blaze.

FULL story at link.



A clothes tag lies in the rubble of a garments factory that collapsed in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, Friday, May 3, 2013. More than 500 bodies have been recovered from the debris of the building, even as the Bangladeshi government suspended Savar's mayor and arrested an engineer who had called for the building's evacuation last week, but was also accused of helping the owner add three illegal floors to the eight-story structure. (AP Photo/Ismail Ferdous)


Moved here from LBN.