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Rana Plaza Collapse

Traumatised rescuers struggle for normalcy

Rashad Ahamad, saiw
When the nine-storey Rana Plaza crumbled last year trapping over 3,500 people under the debris, several hundred untrained civilians volunteered in the rescue mission. But the service to humanity cost some of them dearly-dozens got men-tally scarred at the horror that unfolded for 20 days.
Many rescuers became so traumatised and physically ailed that they are yet to get back to their profession. Consequently, the loss of their source of income
coupled with the expenses of lengthy treatment has left them financially broke.
"I know more than 20 rescuers who are living in inhuman conditions after failing to return to their professions due to physical ailments and trauma," said Abdur Rahman, one of about 100 civilian rescuers who gathered at the Rana Plaza site in Savar on Wednesday to mark one of year of the end to the rescue operation.
Housing five garment factories and some other offices and a market, Rana Plaza collapsed on April
24 last year, leaving more than 1,100 killed and hundreds wounded or maimed. A 20-day rescue operation followed under the leadership of Bangladesh Army. Two rescuers, Md Kaykobad and Md Omor Faruque Babu, died while the rescue mission was going on.
Within half a month after the mission ended on May 13 last year, Md Rafiqul Islam, 35, a mason, was admitted to the National Institute of Mental Health in Dhaka. "The doctor asked me to stay in the
FROM PAGE 3 hospital for more days, but there was none to look after my family back home. So I went back," he told The Daily Star. "My 19-year-old eldest daughter is the only bread earner in my six-member family now.”
They gathered under the banner, "All Rescuers of Rana Plaza", organising a qurankhwani, doa, discussion, and observing one minute of silence for those killed in the disaster.
Yunus Ali Sarder Yusuf, 44, a wounded rescuer, is battling against paralysis at the Centre for the Rehabilitation of the Paralysed (CRP) in Savar, while NGO staff Abdur Ranman Tota, fruits trader Ali Ashraf Khokon, and garment worker Zakir Hossain are being treated in the mental health institute.
Many of the injured and traumatised rescuers are facing serious financial crisis, said Md Khoaj Ali, a leader of the rescuers.
Dr Abul Kasem Muhammad Khaleequzzaman, a specialist at the National Institute of Mental Health, told The Daily Star that after the rescue operation, at least 500 rescuers took treatment in the hospital, and some of them still came to see doctors every month. “They can't forget the memories of the rescue operation. These come flashing back time and again, especially when they are alone. The treatment will take a long time," he said.
SM Mannan, second vice president of Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association (BGMEA), said, "If anyone contracts us, we will pay for his treatment and try to rehabilitate him.”