Rescue efforts commenced as soon as reports arrived and by the morning of August 22, almost 500 firefighters and rescue workers were on scene.
At least an hour after the incident occurred, there were still no medical workers on the scene.
Still, he said, the collapse of the pen was unforeseeable: workers on the scene in August reported conditions that were "out of the ordinary and severe".
People running from the scene tripped over building debris and fell into piles of dust that looked like snow drifts, often getting scooped up by the city's 10,000 emergency workers on the scene.
Police sometimes give lower casualty tolls than workers on the scene.
As she sang, the screen filled with images of U.N. aid workers on the scene in various wars, famines, and floods around the world.
They could well have the quick-thinking supermarket sweep to thank for the situation not being much worse, if one worker on the scene is to be believed.
Earlier this week the Guardian spoke to a rescue worker on the scene in northern Niger, who described "horrible" scenes of bodies of women and children found in the desert.
Ralf Embro, an emergency worker on the scene, surveyed the shaft helplessly.
A gas company worker on the scene said he had checked for a leak but found none, and was told that there was a charred mattress in the boys' bedroom, which suggested that someone had lit matches in bed.
An emergency worker on the scene was also injured.
