LONDON, United Kingdom — British fashion retailer Primark said on Tuesday it would provide short-term financial assistance to all victims and families affected by the collapse of Rana Plaza last month in Bangladesh while the clothing industry continues to formulate a long-term compensation plan.

The collapse of the building, where clothes were made for various international brands including Primark, has claimed more than 1,100 lives and is believed to have been triggered when generators were started up during a blackout.

Primark, owned by FTSE 100 company Associated British Foods, was urgently working on the details of the delivery of the aid, which will be available for six weeks, and hoped to start making the payments within seven days, it said in a statement.

The company also said that it had engaged advisers and experts to work on a long-term compensation package.

However, a reliable list of those who worked in the factory which supplied Primark was necessary for any long-term payments to be made, the company said.

Earlier this month, the company had said that an existing framework, which calculates payouts using criteria such as loss of earnings, the ability of victims to work and the vulnerability of those affected, would be used to assess the levels of compensation.

A series of deadly incidents at factories in Bangladesh, the world's second-biggest exporter of clothing after China, has focused global attention on safety standards in the booming $20 billion garment industry in the country.

Reporting by Abhirup Roy in Bangalore; Editing by Leslie Adler; Copyright (2013) Thomson Reuters. Click for restrictions