Dhaka, Dec. 27 -- When Bangladesh was still reeling from the Old Dhaka fire, the FR Tower in Banani went up in flames. The Keraniganj factory fire by the end of the year also caused huge casualties.

A slew of measures had been recommended to avoid a recurrence in Old Dhaka after the 2010 Nimtoli fire, but the Churihatta incident showed not much had been learnt or done to avert such disasters.

And the FR Tower fire incident revealed a saga of corruption through which several floors of the high-rise office bloc were illegally built.

Road traffic accidents are quite common in Bangladesh, but in 2019, casualties in train crashes added to the national woes.

As for natural disasters, floods could not cause much damage like previous years, b...