ISAN
THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 28, 2012
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NEWS OF THE WORLD
ASIA
Hundreds of Bangladeshi mourners watch as the bodies of a part of the victims of Saturday's fire in a garment factory are buried in Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Tuesday.
112 killed in clothing factory fire
ASSOCIATED PRESS
ASSOCIATED PRESS
DHAKA, Bangladesh — Clothing is king in Bangladesh, a country that exports more garments than any other in the world except China. It is responsible for four out of every five export dollars and has turned factory owners into members of parliament and leaders of sports clubs.
Associated Press
That strength has often been turned against the workers in those factories, especially those who complain about poor working conditions and pay that can be less than $40 a month. A law-enforcement agency called the Industrial Police is specifically assigned to deal with unrest in factories, and labor activists accuse government forces of killing one of their leaders. Employees are barred by law from forming trade unions, even though Bangladesh allows workers in other industries to unionize.
Workers hope that could change following the industry's latest tragedy, a fire Saturday that killed 112 people at a factory that made T-shirts and polo shirts for Wal-Mart and other retailers around the world. But they have their doubts.
"The owners must treat the workers with respect. They should care about their lives and they must keep in mind that they are human beings. They have families, parents and children," said Nazm Akhter, president of Combined Garment Workers Federation. "Is there anybody to really pay any heed to our words?"
There have been many garment-factory fires in Bangladesh — since 2006, more than 300 people have died. But Saturday's was by far the deadliest, and has drawn international attention to labor
practices as the government tries to encourage Western countries and companies to expand their relationships here.
The Tazreen Fashions Ltd. factory had no emergency exit, and workers trying to flee found the main exit locked. Fire extinguishers were left unused, either because they didn't work or workers didn't know how to use them. One survivor said that after the fire alarm went off, managers told workers to get back to work.
In an interview published Tuesday in Dhaka's Daily Star newspaper, the managing director of Tazreen Fashions expressed concern — about possibly losing foreign buyers. "I'm concerned that my business with them will be hampered," said Delwar Hossain. But there was no mention in the
article of concern for victims or their families.
Tazreen has not responded to repeated requests from AP for comment.
Bangladesh's $20 billion-a-year garment industry accounts for 80 percent of its total export earnings and contributes a major share of the country's $110 billion GDP. This from an export market created only in 1978, with a consignation for 10,000 men's shirts.
The factory owners are a powerful group, holding parliamentary posts in both major parties. The head of the prominent Dhaka sports club Mohamedan is in the business; so is a former president
By 1982, the country had 47 readymade garment factories. In three years the number rose to 587. Now it has more than 4,000.
of the national cricket board.
An important reason for their success is cheap labor. Almost a third of the South Asian country's 150 million people live in extreme poverty.
The minimum wage for a garment worker is 3,000 takas ($38) a month, after being nearly doubled this year following violent protests by workers. According to the World Bank, the per capita income in Bangladesh was about $64 a month in 2011.
On Tuesday, as Bangladesh held a day of mourning for the dead, 10,000 people, including relatives and colleagues, gathered near the site of Saturday's blaze, many wearing black badges as a sign of mourning. Security forces were deployed, but no clashes were reported.
EUROPE
Chernobyl cleanup making progress
ASSOCIATED PRESS
CHERNOBYL NUCLEAR POWER STATION, Ukraine — Workers have raised the first section of a colossal arch-shaped structure that eventually will cover the exploded nuclear reactor at the Chernobyl power station.
Project officials on Tuesday hailed the raising as a significant step in a complex effort to clean up the consequences of the 1986 explosion, the world's worst nuclear accident. Upon completion, the shelter will be moved on tracks over the building containing the destroyed reactor, allowing work to begin on dismantling the reactor and disposing of radioactive waste.
Suma Chakrabati, president of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development, which is leading the project, called Tuesday "a very significant milestone, which is a tribute to the ongoing commitment of the international donor community, and an important step
towards overcoming the legacy of the accident."
The shelter, shaped like a gargantuan Quonset hut, will be 257 meters by 150 meters (843 feet by 492 feet) when completed and at its apex will be higher than the Statue of Liberty.
The April 26, 1986, accident in the then-Soviet republic of Ukraine sent a cloud of radioactive fallout over much of Europe and forced the evacuation of about 115,000 people from the plant's vicinity. A 30-kilometer (19-mile) area directly around the plant remains largely off-limits and the town of Pripyat, where the plant's workers once lived, today is a ghostly ruin of deteritrating apartment towers.
At least 28 people have died of acute radiation sickness from close exposure to the shattered reactor and more than 6,000 cases of thyroid cancer have been detected in people who, as children or adolescents, were exposed to high levels of fallout after the blast.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
The damaged reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant in Chernobyl, Ukraine, on Tuesday. Workers raised the first section of a colossal arch-shaped structure that is eventually to cover the exploded reactor at the Chernobyl nuclear power station.
CARIBBEAN
President Carter calls for more aid to Haiti
Carter's call for greater aid to Haiti came on the first day of a weeklong effort to build 100 homes with about 600 volunteers from Habitat for Humanity.
LEOGAN, Haiti — Former U.S. President Jimmy Carter on Monday urged donors to honor the billion-dollar pledges they made to help Haiti rebuild after its devastating 2010 earthquake.
It was the second time in the past year that Carter, 88, and his wife Rosalynn have come to help house people displaced at the epicenter of the disaster.
"We've seen numerous governments in Haiti; they have a very difficult time." Carter told reporters, noting this was his
11th trip to Haiti. "I think we should give the government of Haiti some breathing room and give them all the support we can, even if there's some waste of money."
Donor nations and institutions promised $4.46 billion to help Haiti after the quake. But only half of that money has been released, according to the U.N. Office of the Special Envoy for Haiti.
The reasons for the delays vary, ranging from economic problems back home to a wait-and-see approach until Haiti's government gets settled. President Michel Martelly took office in May 2011 but much of his first year was spent without a Cabinet because of political paralysis and infighting.
Carter and the former first lady joined
in the construction of the 100 houses on about 14 acres, hammering away and measuring facades. The Carters and fellow volunteers also built 100 homes during a visit a year ago. The effort will result in about 250 homes in total for what organizers say will be a new community, complete with agriculture production.
Still vast numbers of Haitians remain without permanent housing. About 369,000 people live in the tent and tarp settlements that sprung up after the quake, down from a peak of 1.3 million, according to the International Organization for Migration.
Families help build the Habitat homes and then live in them rent-free for five years. After that, they pay the government about $70 a year.
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