VOA慢速英语2015 幸存者回忆孟加拉国服装厂事故

AS IT IS 2015-06-17 Survivors¹ Remember Bangladesh Garment Factory Collapse² 幸存者回忆孟加拉国服装厂事故

The Rana Plaza³ building near Bangladesh's capital, Dhaka, collapsed⁴ in April 2013, killing⁵ 1,100 garment workers. More than 2,500 other people were injured.

Last week, the victims' compensation fund finally reached its $30 million target. The needed amount came from a donor⁶ who asked to remain unidentified.

All payments from the Rana Plaza Trust can now be made. Many victims desperately⁷ need the money as they continue to recover.

Rehana Akter is one such victim. She was working on the seventh floor of the Rana Plaza when she felt a strange sensation, "like being in an elevator," she said. Then the 24-year-old woman heard a roaring sound. The room went dark.

People started to run and scream. Ms. Akter fell, her leg twisted beneath a heavy column. She was rescued from the ruins almost 12 hours later.

Ms. Akter's leg was crushed. Six days later, doctors removed the leg from above the knee.

An international effort developed to compensate⁸ victims

The collapse of the eight-story Rana Plaza was the world's worst clothing factory disaster. The voluntary Rana Plaza Trust fund includes donations from international clothing companies, the Bangladeshi government and others.

The International Labor⁹ Organization, or ILO, established the fund last year to compensate survivors and families of those who died.

The compensation committee gave an update in April on the second anniversary of the collapse. At that point, more than $27 million had been raised. About 70 percent of the compensation had been paid to about 2,800 people.

The payments range in size from about $625 and nine months of salary for those without injuries to thousands of dollars for other victims. The top official of the Rana Plaza Claims Administration says some people received more than $31,000.

The advocacy group Clean Clothes Campaign said only half the clothing companies connected to Rana Plaza gave to the fund. Those donors¹⁰ include Mango, Primark, Walmart, C&A and Inditex, owner of Zara. In April, the clothing business Benetton announced a contribution of $1.1 million to the fund. Clean Clothes Campaign had urged Benetton for months to contribute at least $5 million.

Clean Clothes Campaign said last week, "This is a huge victory but it's been too long in the making.” The group said the companies involved make a total profit of more than $20 billion each year. Yet, it said, it took two years and intense public pressure to get them to provide $30 million. Clean Clothes Campaign said the lack of speedy action shows that voluntary social responsibility is not dependable.

“You have to move forward.”

More than two years later, many survivors are still struggling. Money alone is often not enough. For example, some female garment workers say their husbands took their compensation payments and left the marriage. Others still experience mental problems or physical pain that makes it difficult to work.

Rehana Akter received treatment from the Center for the Rehabilitation¹¹ of the Paralyzed, a hospital in Dhaka near Rana Plaza. Last year, she began walking with a prosthetic leg made at the center. The group also gave her a cow and training as a way to make money.

The prosthesis causes pain to her leg and she uses a stick to help her walk. She has trouble pumping water and carrying things.

She says she has a lot of difficulties, but still has to try to do something. "This is life," she says. "You have to move forward."

Some of the neediest survivors received additional help from organizations including the International Labor Organization and local and international non-profit groups. They supply training for new jobs or provide money to start small businesses.

Thirty-five-year-old Liton Mia was a supervisor¹² on the fourth floor of the Rana Plaza. He was trapped under the ruins for 14 hours. A university student rescued him. Mr. Mia’s leg was fractured and he could not work for seven months. He says he was under "serious stress" about how to support his family.

Mr. Mia received about $1,200 (95,000 taka) in compensation and attended a skills training workshop funded by the German aid agency, GiZ. Last July, he opened a business that provides lights and sound equipment for parties in exchange for a fee.

Liton Mia sits in his small store surrounded by party lights. He hires two workers to hang strings¹³ of lights around houses during weddings. He makes from $260 to $650 each month compared to his salary of $140 at the clothing factory.

He says he used to remember the traumatic memory of the collapse. But after being involved in this business, he is always busy and does not have time to think about what happened.

On a quiet street a few miles from Rana Plaza, Shahjahan Selim works in his small shop. The 37-year-old cannot use his hand very well, so sometimes customers get their own change from a plastic box on the counter.

Mr. Selim was a supervisor on the fifth floor of the Rana Plaza. He was uninjured in the collapse. But he went back into the wreckage¹⁴ when he heard calls for help. Over four days, Mr. Selim rescued 37 people and recovered 28 bodies.

On the fourth day, he freed a man by using a saw to cut off an arm trapped under heavy wreckage. Mr. Selim then slipped and fell four floors, more than 12 meters. He seriously injured his back. He was hospitalized and then treated at the Center for the Rehabilitation of the Paralyzed for almost a year.

Today, it is very difficult for Mr. Selim to walk. With training and money from Action Aid and the ILO, Mr. Selim opened the shop where he works seven days a week. As many as 200 customers come each day.

The store helped him to "go ahead," he says. Shahjahan Selim says he does not regret going back into the wreckage of Rana Plaza although it left him permanently¹⁵ disabled. But he says the disaster should never have happened.

"Government should not permit this type of building," he says. "We lost many lives. I want to see a garment industry where workers are safe."

Widespread safety efforts are going on now in Bangladesh. At the same time, survivors of Rana Plaza struggle and carry on with their lives.

Words in This Story

garment – n. clothing, something that is worn

compensation – n. payment, or something else, that is given to make up for damage, suffering or death

column – n. a tall support made of steel, stone etc. that is used to help hold up a building

range – v. to include everything between set limits

advocacy – n. speaking or acting¹⁶ in support of a cause or of a person or group

prosthetic – adj. a manufactured device that replaces a part of the body

1 survivors   

幸存者，残存者，生还者( survivor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The survivors were adrift in a lifeboat for six days. 幸存者在救生艇上漂流了六天。
• survivors clinging to a raft 紧紧抓住救生筏的幸存者

2 collapse   

vi.累倒；昏倒；倒塌；塌陷

参考例句：

• The country's economy is on the verge of collapse.国家的经济已到了崩溃的边缘。
• The engineer made a complete diagnosis of the bridge's collapse.工程师对桥的倒塌做了一次彻底的调查分析。

3 plaza   

n.广场，市场

参考例句：

• They designated the new shopping centre York Plaza.他们给这个新购物中心定名为约克购物中心。
• The plaza is teeming with undercover policemen.这个广场上布满了便衣警察。

4 collapsed   

adj.倒塌的

参考例句：

• Jack collapsed in agony on the floor. 杰克十分痛苦地瘫倒在地板上。
• The roof collapsed under the weight of snow. 房顶在雪的重压下突然坍塌下来。

5 killing   

n.巨额利润；突然赚大钱，发大财

参考例句：

• Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
• Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。

6 donor   

n.捐献者；赠送人；(组织、器官等的)供体

参考例句：

• In these cases,the recipient usually takes care of the donor afterwards.在这类情况下，接受捐献者以后通常会照顾捐赠者。
• The Doctor transplanted the donor's heart to Mike's chest cavity.医生将捐赠者的心脏移植进麦克的胸腔。

7 desperately   

adv.极度渴望地，绝望地，孤注一掷地

参考例句：

• He was desperately seeking a way to see her again.他正拼命想办法再见她一面。
• He longed desperately to be back at home.他非常渴望回家。

8 compensate   

vt.补偿，赔偿；酬报 vi.弥补；补偿；抵消

参考例句：

• She used her good looks to compensate her lack of intelligence. 她利用她漂亮的外表来弥补智力的不足。
• Nothing can compensate for the loss of one's health. 一个人失去了键康是不可弥补的。

9 labor   

n.劳动，努力，工作，劳工；分娩；vi.劳动，努力，苦干；vt.详细分析；麻烦

参考例句：

• We are never late in satisfying him for his labor.我们从不延误付给他劳动报酬。
• He was completely spent after two weeks of hard labor.艰苦劳动两周后，他已经疲惫不堪了。

10 donors   

n.捐赠者( donor的名词复数 )；献血者；捐血者；器官捐献者

参考例句：

• Please email us to be removed from our active list of blood donors. 假如你想把自己的名字从献血联系人名单中删去，请给我们发电子邮件。
• About half this amount comes from individual donors and bequests. 这笔钱大约有一半来自个人捐赠及遗赠。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 rehabilitation   

n.康复，悔过自新，修复，复兴，复职，复位

参考例句：

• He's booked himself into a rehabilitation clinic.他自己联系了一家康复诊所。
• No one can really make me rehabilitation of injuries.已经没有人可以真正令我的伤康复了。

12 supervisor   

n.监督人，管理人，检查员，督学，主管，导师

参考例句：

• Between you and me I think that new supervisor is a twit.我们私下说，我认为新来的主管人是一个傻瓜。
• He said I was too flighty to be a good supervisor.他说我太轻浮不能成为一名好的管理员。

13 strings   

n.弦

参考例句：

• He sat on the bed,idly plucking the strings of his guitar.他坐在床上，随意地拨着吉他的弦。
• She swept her fingers over the strings of the harp.她用手指划过竖琴的琴弦。

14 wreckage   

n.（失事飞机等的）残骸，破坏，毁坏

参考例句：

• They hauled him clear of the wreckage.他们把他从形骸中拖出来。
• New states were born out of the wreckage of old colonial empires.新生国家从老殖民帝国的废墟中诞生。

15 permanently   

adv.永恒地，永久地，固定不变地

参考例句：

• The accident left him permanently scarred.那次事故给他留下了永久的伤疤。
• The ship is now permanently moored on the Thames in London.该船现在永久地停泊在伦敦泰晤士河边。

16 acting   

n.演戏，行为，假装；adj.代理的，临时的，演出用的

参考例句：

• Ignore her,she's just acting.别理她，她只是假装的。
• During the seventies,her acting career was in eclipse.在七十年代，她的表演生涯黯然失色。