But Shahadat Hussein, who took part in the rescue operation, believed more could be done to ensure people survived disaster. He said: "It was not a proper search and rescue mission, because we just tried to save lives. We did not maintain any sort of safety measures, and we didn’t have the right tools and materials. We just used whatever was to hand." And Shahadat had first-hand experience of how a little knowledge could have saved a life.
He explained: "One of the volunteers called over to us. He had tried to lift a concrete beam which had fallen on a woman, but he could not. We had some oxygen we were using to help people breathe, and we gave some to the woman, Shahina.
"But because we could not move the beam, we used an angle-cutter to try to rescue her. We did not realise what would happen. The cutter created so many sparks, and because of the oxygen, a fire started. It killed Shahina. When I think of how she died, it still causes me pain."
Shahadat vowed to make sure his community need never be in the same situation again. He said: "This kind of accident could happen at any time in our community, because we don’t follow proper rules to build structures. We cannot afford to lose so many lives again."