Staff Reporter :
The health condition of 56.5 per cent the survivors of the Rana Plaza tragedy has deteriorated, which was 14 per cent last year, a study said on Monday.
The study conducted by ActionAid Bangladesh said that the survivors were suffering from different physical ailments including back pain, headache, waist, arms and legs pain.
The survey found that though the trend of physical health improvement of the injured workers had shown slight improvement in the previous years but this year their condition have deteriorated due to impact of pandemic.
Of the survivors, the physical condition of 33 per cent is almost stable while 10.5 per cent is completely stable, the study said.
About 12.5 per cent survivors, the survey found, were mentally traumatised last year while this figure has gone up by 48.5 per cent. Some 31 per cent reported that their mental condition is almost stable while 20.5 per cent said they are mentally sound now.
Bangladesh ActionAid conducted the survey among the 200 survivors ahead of the ninth year of Rana Plaza tragedy that shock the nation and the world.
Of the survivors, the unemployment rate is 53 per cent while 47 per cent is employed in different types of jobs. Of this figure, 67 per cent reported that they cannot work as they are physically unfit for work while 10 per cent are still traumatized.
The study found that some of the survivors have frequently changed their jobs due to physical constraints.
About 14.5 per cent survivors have returned to their previous jobs in garment factories while eight per cent is engaged in tailoring.
Considering on the health condition, most of these survivors have changed their jobs and are engaged in different occupations like domestic work, agriculture, day labour, famring, sales and driving.
On the other hand, most of the survivors’ income has drastically fallen due to the impact of pandemic.
About 63.5 per cent survivors said that they could not afford to buy daily essentials during the pandemic.
Of them, 51.5 per cent said they could not regularly pay the house rent while 22.5 per cent said they could not nurture their children properly due to financial constrains.
Even 46.5 per cent of the survivors said that they had to receive loans to purchase family foods and daily essentials, the survey said.
The household income of 36 per cent survivors is below Tk 5,000 while the income of 34 per cent survivors is between Tk 10,000 to Tk 15,000.
Some 35 per cent said that their monthly expense is Tk 10,000 while 30 per cent of the survivors’ monthly expenditure is above Tk 15,000.
The respondents said that they spent the income mainly for buying daily essentials, house rent, children’s education and medical treatment.
On 24 April 2013, the multi-storied Rana Plaza near in Savar, an outskirt of the capital, collapsed like the crumbling of a match-box, killing 1,136 people, most of them are garment workers, and injured over 2,500 people.
