Six months after a building in Bangladesh collapsed, killing over a thousand garment workers and wounding thousands more, the victims still wait for compensation.

The surviving workers and families have received little money from those responsible: Neither the government which steadfastly turned a blind eye to the conditions under which the workers toiled, the factory owners who forced the workers to show up knowing there were cracks in the walls, or the brands for whom the workers sewed, hemmed and stitched.

A recent report by the Clean Clothes Campaign and the International Labor Rights Forum outlines some of the horrific ordeal survivors have had to endure. It concentrates on the limited steps to increase worker safety and the pitiful amounts of compensation doled out thus far.

The report says $71 million is needed just to start:

...for pain and suffering, as well as long-term loss of earnings for families of deceased workers and for injured workers not able to return to work. It does not include medical costs and rehabilitation for physically injured workers, psychological support, or payment of wages and legal severance to those rendered unemployed. All of these additional costs require further information gathering, needs assessment, and calculation.

The true compensation delivered is a fraction of what it needs to be. 800 families received an average of $257 for burial costs. Dependents of survivors received as little as $1,285. Most of these disbursements come from the Prime Minister's Fund, a clearinghouse for donations, but not from those who should be held responsible (save the retail chain Primark, who bit the bullet and assumed some liability).

The report also delves into the lives of those affected: The workers desperately struggling with the loss of their loved ones and lacking the means to survive without that breadwinner's income.

People like Rezaul, an unemployed father of two, who hasn't received a dime because his wife's body has yet to be recovered.

My wife is missing. She was a machine operator on the third floor. I have seen no officials, I talked only to a journalist. He gave me a slip saying that I had to go for a DNA test.

There is hope yet, and a building coalition of manufacturers and government officials willing to do their part.

On September 12, 2013 eight of the brands attended a meeting in Geneva called by the IndustriALL Global Union and chaired by the ILO. Although no concrete commitments were made, the brands present largely indicated they were prepared to make a voluntary contribution to set up a fund to provide compensation.

Talk is cheap, though. Real progress needs to made - and fast - to help those workers and families still peeling away the rubble of this year's worst preventable accident.