Rescue and emergency management of a man-made disaster: Lesson learnt from a collapse factory building, Bangladesh

Abstract

A tragic disaster occurred on April 24, 2013, in Bangladesh, when a nine storied building in a suburban area collapsed and killed 1115 people and injured many more. The study describes the process of rescue operation and emergency management services provided in the event. Data were collected using qualitative methods including in-depth interviews and a focus group discussion with the involved medical students, doctors, volunteers, and local people. Immediately after the disaster, rescue teams came to the place from Bangladesh Armed Forces, Bangladesh Navy, Bangladesh Air Force, and Dhaka Metropolitan and local Police and doctors, medical students, and nurses from nearby medical college hospitals and private hospitals and students from colleges and universities including local civil people. Doctors and medical students provided 24-hour services at the disaster place and in hospitals. Minor injured patients were treated at health camps and major injured patients were immediately carried to nearby hospital. Despite the limitations of a low resource setting, Bangladesh faced a tremendous challenge to manage the man-made disaster and experienced enormous support from different sectors of society to manage the disaster carefully and saved thousands of lives. This effort could help to develop a standard emergency management system applicable to Bangladesh and other counties with similar settings.