81 shakari bazaar
On Wednesday, June 9, 2004, at about 4 a.m., the six-storied building number 81 in the Shakari Bazaar neighborhood in Old Dhaka, Bangladesh, collapsed, killing 11 people. Houses in this historic part of the Bangladeshi capital have traditionally been built very narrow and tall. While most of the buildings were originally about three to four stories high, the owners added additional floors over time without reinforcing the existing structures to accomodate their growing families. Standing wall-to-wall, these buildings now support each other like cards in a card house - a ticking time bomb. When the owner of the neighboring building started excavation works on his foundations despite warnings that it might cause a disaster, 81 Shakari Bazaar gave way and collapsed, pulverizing the older structures of the lower three stories and killing nearly everyone inside.