Yesterday was different from just any other day at the Rana Plaza collapse site not because people came to pay visits as relatives of dead victims rummaging through the rubbles is a pretty much normal scene.
What made yesterday unique was the number of people that gathered at the site in Savar – some 20km off Dhaka. Hundreds of people gathered on the first anniversary of the deadly collapse that ranks top among the deadliest of industrial disasters in human history.
Among those hundreds were those who lost their dear ones in the ruins; there were others who once worked with those who were killed in the collapse; and there were those who were lucky to survive the tragedy that claimed a staggering 1,136 lives.
Some injured victims came on wheelchairs; some with crutches. Some relatives, who still have not traced their loved ones, came with the lost ones’ photographs, roaming around and asking people about their whereabouts.
Many people, both from the locality and outside, who volunteered and risked their own lives to rescue the trapped ones, could not keep away either; just like the way they could not hold themselves back when the disaster actually took place exactly a year ago.
Although it has been a year, one thing has remained unchanged. When they crawled inside the debris with floors piling up like pancakes one year ago, none of them thought of any reward. Yesterday too, there was no reward on offer, but still they had to be there.
Maksuda Begum comes to the site on the 24th of every month. One year ago, she lost her daughter in the collapse. Yesterday, she was surprised to see to so many people at the place. The bereaved mother was talking to the debris as if they were her lost child.
Middle-aged Meherina lost her son Babu when the Rana Plaza came down.
“[On that day] he called me up and told me that there was something wrong. Some of his fellow workers gathered in front of the gate [of Rana Plaza]. They were reluctant to enter the building because a crack had developed on the building. I asked him not to enter, but he did not listen to me. 18 days later, they gave me his lifeless body,” the mother said.
“Please tell me where can I get my son back from... tell me please... whom will I scold over phone now... whom will I tell not to go inside the factory,” she kept sobbing.
Babu’s sisters Irin and Afia were by their mother’s side, splashing water over their mother’s face because she was losing consciousness every now and then.
The place where the building came down has been bordered by a steel fence. Yesterday, the relatives cross the fence, lit incense sticks, offered prayers seeking peace for the departed souls.
Khodeja Begum, who was injured in the accident, came on a wheelchair. She got financial help from various organisations and was on her way to full recovery.
“I have come here to pay tribute to my colleagues, who died here. They were smashed under the pillars right in front of my eyes,” she described the ordeal.
Soon after, the agony of losing the loved ones turned into exasperation. A group of relatives started chanting slogans, demanding death sentence for Sohel Rana, the owner of the building who convinced the factory owners to force their workers into the factory on that day.
At one point, the Dhaka-Aricha Highway got clogged with the visitors. They also chanted slogans demanding compensation for the victims and the families.
The Center for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) has been giving treatment to many victims of the collapse.
One such was Yunus Ali Sarder Yousuf, who suffered some major injuries while volunteering in the rescue operation. He has been taking treatment at the CRP for 11 months. He sang a song for this reporter.
“I used to be a theater artist. But the injuries have not only robbed me of my ability to sing, but also to move. I was released from the hospital only two days ago. My new life has begun on a wheelchair.
Everyone, who came to the place yesterday, had stories of their own to tell – all of those stories equally worthy.
