DHAKA: At least10,000 people are homeless after a massive fire swept through a crowded slum inthe Bangladesh capital and destroyed thousands of shanties, officials saidyesterday. The fire broke out at in Dhaka's Mirpur neighborhood late on Fridayand razed around 2,000 mostly tin shacks, fire services official Ershad Hossainsaid. "I could not salvage a single thing. I don't know what will Ido," 58-year-old Abdul Hamid, who ran a tea stall inside the slum, toldAFP as he broke down in tears.
Authoritieseventually got the blaze under control and no-one was killed, although severalpeople had minor injuries, firefighters said. Many residents - largelylow-income garment factory workers - were not in the slum as they had lefttheir homes to celebrate the Muslim Eid Al-Adha holiday with their families."Otherwise, the damage would have been bigger," local police chiefGolam Rabbani said.
Around 10,000people have taken refuge in crammed camps at nearby schools closed for theweeklong holiday, according to Hossain. "We are providing them with food,water, mobile toilets, and electricity supply," municipal official ShafiulAzam said, adding that authorities were trying to find permanent accommodation.Some families have erected tarpaulins to shelter them from bouts of rain duringthe monsoon season, but the wet conditions have turned the fields muddy.
Experts say firesare frequent in Dhaka due to lax safety measures. At least 100 people have beenkilled so far this year in building fires across the densely populatedmetropolitan city. In 2012, a fire swept through a nine-storey garment factorynear Dhaka killing 111 workers. An investigation found it was caused bysabotage and that managers at the plant had prevented victims from escaping. A2010 fire in Nimtoli, one of the most densely populated districts of thecapital, killed 123 people. AFP