A massive fire ripped through a slum in Bangladesh’s capital of Dhaka on Wednesday, leaving thousands of people homeless. Hundreds of shanties were destroyed in the Rupnagar slum in the city’s Mirpur area, witnesses said.
As many as 150 firefighters scrambled to get access to enough water and battled for three hours to bring the flames under control, said fire service official Zillur Rahman.
There were no immediate reports of casualties. The cause of the fire was not immediately known. Video footage showed heavy plumes of smoke billowing all around the congested slum area.
Photo: EPA-EFE
照片：歐新社
Lax regulations and poor enforcement have often been blamed for large fires in the South Asian nation that have killed hundreds of people in recent years.
At least 25 people were killed in March last year when fire broke out in a 22-storey commercial building in Dhaka’s upscale area of Banani.
In February last year, an inferno in a centuries-old neighborhood of Dhaka killed 71 people and injured dozens.
Photo: EPA-EFE
照片：歐新社
(Reuters)
孟加拉首都達卡的一處貧民窟，本週三慘遭大火肆虐，導致數千人無家可歸。據目擊者指出，有數百間簡陋的小屋，在這場發生於該城米爾布爾地區魯普納加的大火中均被燒毀。
消防局官員拉赫曼說，多達一百五十名消防員緊急尋找足夠的水源進行灌救，奮戰了三小時才把火勢控制住。
Photo: EPA-EFE
照片：歐新社
目前還沒傷亡人數的立即報告，起火原因尚不得而知，影像則顯示強烈的滾滾濃煙籠罩著擁塞的貧民窟地區。
法規鬆散與執法不力，常被視為該南亞國家發生大火的原因，而這些火災近年來已造成數百人喪生。
至少有二十五人於去年三月時，在達卡高檔的巴納尼地區，一棟二十二層商業大樓所發生的大火中喪生。
而去年二月時，達卡一處數百年歷史的社區亦冒出熊熊烈火，不幸造成七十一人死亡及數十人受傷。
（台北時報張聖恩譯）
Many consumers are guilty of filling drawers or closets with old laptops, cellphones, fitness trackers and other electronic devices once they are no longer needed. It’s hard to know where to recycle such items, or it seems costly and inconvenient to do so. The world generates millions of tons of electronic waste — also called e-waste — each year. According to the UN’s most recent estimate, people worldwide produced 62 million metric tons of e-waste in 2022, and only about 22 percent of it was properly recycled. The US’ Environmental Protection Agency estimates that less than a quarter of e-waste is
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