Fire and Rain - Bangladesh and Britain

I saw a Facebook post yesterday of a shop on fire in the Setapak area. Picture was taken from a high elevation and you could see even at that distance, it was a huge building on fire. Have not seen it in the papers though.

Talk about fire, The Star reported that garment workers in Bangladesh staged mass protests Monday to demand the end to "deathtrap" labour conditions after Bangladesh's worst-ever textile factory fire, as a new blaze sparked panic and terror.

Survivors of Saturday night's fire joined several thousand colleagues blocking a highway during a march in the manufacturing hub of Ashulia, outside the capital Dhaka, with some protesters throwing stones at one factory.

Saturday's fire killed 58 people. Witnesses told how desperate workers, most of them women, cried for help and several leaped to their deaths from upper floors as they tried to escape. They will be buried at a state graveyard in Dhaka Tuesday morning. DNA samples of the dead workers have been kept so that their relatives can be identified for compensation.

Another blaze on Monday at a 12-storey building housing four garment factories sparked fresh scenes of panic as workers rushed to safety. There were no casualties.

Ashulia's more than 500 factories, make apparel for top global retailers such as Walmart, H&M and Tesco.

On the domestic front, we had a heavy downpour yesterday which isn't surprising this time of the year in this north-easterly monsoon season. Everyone who has experienced flooding in their areas are already on the alert but sometimes the unexpected can happen.

Over in other parts of the world, unexpected flood levels have left many homes being evacuated. Britain is one country as more than 800 homes in England and Wales have been flooded as heavy rain and strong winds battered the country. Environmental officials warned of more downpours to come on Monday.

Prime Minister David Cameron, in a Twitter message, described the scenes of flooding in the rural southwestern region of Cornwall as "shocking", and promised the government "will help ensure everything is being done to help".

Parts of the Cornish village of Millbrook were reportedly under 1.5 metres (five feet) of water and 40 homes were evacuated, a BBC reporter who lives there said, after torrents of muddy water swept through the village on Saturday.
More..800 homes flooded as Britain soaked by more heavy rain


Source: The Star