All in the name of the West's insatiable appetite for stuff - or is it nothing to do with us? Either way, it's a terrible tragedy which needn't have happened.
Maybe it's time to start putting manufacturers who take advantage of cheap overseas labour on notice that as consumers, we also expect them to have a conscience and to ensure that their overseas workforce is safe and treated with respect. It's no less than we expect for ourselves.
It's a Catch 22 situation though isn't it? The jobs created, through the fact their labour is cheaper, are helping people in countries like China and Indonesia to survive, to provide for or contribute to the welfare of their families. If we protested by refusing to buy products which are made overseas, those jobs would disappear. According to what I've read about the building collapse in Dhaka, the garment industry in Bangladesh is worth 13 billion ($23.7 billion).
There has to be some sort of middle ground and the manufacturers who benefit from these factories may need to take the lead. It seems we are powerless to effect any significant kind of change in the way some overseas countries operate - they won't be forced to create the sort of legislation we have which ensures buildings are safe and that workers have rights. And even if some manufacturers were prepared to put greater demands around workforce safety and rights on their suppliers, others would not.
I don't know what the answer is but maybe we as consumers can start by demanding greater responsibility around such issues of the companies which sell products in our country. Having said that, we are likely to be a very small drop in the ocean with very little influence.
Can we really make any difference at all? By taking a stand and refusing to buy items made in certain places are we simply taking away livelihoods?
Given that so many of our possessions are made in places with few, if any, rules and regulations that protect workers, it seems like an impossible situation.
Tragedies like that in Dhaka inevitably raise questions about the safety of buildings and the treatment of workers but there always seem to be few answers and little or no action resulting from these questions. And so our lives will move on.
The people affected by this latest catastrophe in Dhaka will also move on. Factories will continue to operate in unsafe buildings and workers will continue to be threatened with dismissal if they don't just get on with their work - and we will again voice our indignation when the next tragedy occurs.
Ingrid Tiriana is a freelance writer based in Rotorua.
