The 7.8-magnitude earthquake that ravaged Nepal Saturday could have taken a worse toll on buildings in Bangladesh than has so far been revealed.
With just more than 600 miles between the earthquake’s epicenter near Paslang, Nepal and Dhaka in Bangladesh, tremors trickled throughout Dhaka and some have reported seeing structural damage post quake. Concern has now prompted a new round of factory inspections.
The Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, whose brand members include VF Corporation, Macy’s and Walmart, issued a statement on the day of the earthquake saying it had received several calls to its helpline from workers expressing concern about cracks in their buildings following the tremors.
Related Stories
Workers were immediately evacuated and the Alliance said it is working with factory owners, the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh and the country’s government to make sure all workers are safe.
“This earthquake and its aftershocks should be an indication of just how difficult it can be to ensure the structural safety of buildings in an earthquake zone. While we have not yet seen immediate damage at our ready-made-garment factories in Bangladesh, this does not mean those buildings are structurally sound following this earthquake and its aftershocks. Fresh inspections must now be executed to ensure the structural safety of factories, and we have assembled a team of structural engineers, led by our chief safety officer, to visit each building where there is a concern within the next 48 hours,” the statement issued Saturday noted.
Ellen Tauscher, independent chair of the Alliance, said, “Our teams on the ground in Dhaka are working to ensure that all of the work to date to make RMG [ready-made garment] factories safe has not been impacted by the earthquake. The Alliance has urged all factories in Bangladesh to work with us to undertake immediate structural safety inspections and to and prevent workers from entering factories until they are deemed structurally safe.”
The Accord released a statement Tuesday saying it is implementing measures to determine whether the buildings they have already inspected—which are producing for signatory companies like Fast Retailing, Inditex, Adidas and H&M—have been structurally affected by the quake.
Any factories that needed a Detailed Engineering Assessment after the Accord’s initial structural inspections have been asked to have their engineers conduct an immediate impact inspection to determine whether the quake caused any structural damage to the buildings.
