Savar, Bangladesh (CNN) -- Across from the detritus of Bangladesh's deadliest industrial disaster, up four flights of narrow stairs and inside the makeshift offices of the recovery operations, stands a dry erase board that marks, in neat black handwriting, each life a nine-story building claimed when it pancaked to the ground last month.
On some days, as rescue workers pulled body after body from the mountain of steel and concrete, the number would spiral past 100.
On Monday, it settled at zero.
And so, after 20 days of non-stop digging, the army-led effort to pull out every last body from the ruins of Rana Plaza in the Dhaka suburb of Savar came to an end.
"We said we wouldn't stop until there were no more victims, and we didn't," said army Capt. Ibrahim Islam. "We are confident we have found them all."
Bangladeshi talks about surviving factory disaster
Members of the Bangladesh army pray at the site of the collapsed Rana Plaza in Savar near Dhaka on Tuesday, May 14. The army-led effort to search for bodies has ended nearly three weeks after the nine-story building collapsed. The final death toll stands at 1,127.
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The tally stands at 1,127 dead and 2,438 rescued alive. But Islam is the first to admit that only God knows exactly how many occupants were inside the building when it came tumbling down April 24.
"We never were able to get a full accounting from the factory owners," Islam said, referring to the five garment factories housed in the building.
At least 98 people are still missing.
Another 59 bodies are at a morgue, waiting to be identified through DNA tests.
More than 230 bodies are unclaimed, prompting a civics group to bury them in a Dhaka cemetery.
And what of the three severed heads and four unattached limbs that are listed in red ink on the board?
But, in the last several days, the number of bodies had dwindled, Islam said.
And after recovery crews made their last rounds Monday -- combing through the flooded basement of the structure and finding no one -- they felt comfortable they had done their due diligence.
On Tuesday, the army handed over the site to local authorities to complete the cleanup. Mourners gathered one last time to remember the souls who perished and pray for those still missing.
In the crowd stood Rohima clutching a picture of her 18-year-old son, Azam Khan.
Rohima, who, like many women in Bangladesh, go by one name, said she'd urged Khan to stay at home that day. But he insisted. It was payday, he said.
That's the last she's seen of him. She's been to the morgue, to the hospitals, to the cemetery.
Around her, other mothers wailed and screamed. Some fell to the ground in tears; some fainted.
"We've prayed to Allah, begged him, cried to him," Rohima said. "But he won't give our children's bodies back. He won't."
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The scene
Early Tuesday morning, the yellow excavators that roared night and day, picking up tons of steel, fell silent.
People gathered and gawked at the yawning gap left in the cramped, congested skyline of Savar where the gargantuan plaza -- the size of a city block -- once stood.
"Aha re," the people shook their heads and tsked sympathetically. So sad.
"Shoitaner shoitan," they cursed. The devil's devil.
Their anger was directed at Sohel Rana, the building owner who dismissed concerns that the cracks on Rana Plaza made the structure unsound.
"This building will stand a hundred years," he boasted on April 23.
The next morning, it came down.
Rana, who fled after the disaster but was arrested trying to cross into India, is in police custody. He is a man so hated that even the most pacifist of Bangladeshis wish death upon him.
There was a time when fliers bearing his beaming face festooned the walls around Savar. They've now either been torn down or defaced.
"Kutta!" someone had scrawled on one.
Kutta, the Bengali word for dog.
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A cracked system
But, human rights activists say, if fingers are to be pointed, there are plenty of targets and plenty of blame to go around.
And in the next few days and months, Bangladeshis will have to acknowledge the rude reality that it wasn't just a cracked building; the deaths were as much a result of a cracked system.
The garment industry is a $20 billion-a-year money-generator for Bangladesh. Some 4,500 factories employ 3.6 million workers and account for 77% of the country's exports.
Deadly accidents and deplorable conditions are all too common, but pay is still a lure for many in this impoverished country, where the minimum wage is the equivalent of $38 a month.
And so, the workers continued to work. And the government continued to turn a blind eye to the disasters.
In the last decade, despite several other deadly accidents, no factory owner has faced charges in court.
Until now.
Changes afoot
The outrage over Savar has reached such a fever pitch that the government not only arrested Rana and the owners of the factories in the building, but it also said it will form a committee to raise the minimum wage of garment workers.
On Monday, the government went a step further. Bangladesh's Cabinet approved the draft of a law that will force factories to offer life insurance for workers.
Internationally, several clothiers signed on to a plan to help prevent fire and building collapses in Bangladesh. Among the clothiers are H&M and Inditex -- which owns the Spanish brand Zara -- and PVH, which owns Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger.
The five-year plan calls for independent safety inspections and for companies to publicly report the findings. It also requires retailers to help finance fire safety and building improvements in factories with which they work.
Companies who sign on will have to terminate business with any factory that refuses to make necessary safety upgrades.
PVH is the only American company to sign on. A Wal-Mart spokesman said the world's largest retailer had nothing to announce right now. And Sears said it "assessing" the agreement.
"This is a crucial victory in the fight for companies to take responsibility for the workers who make our clothes," said Ruth Tanner with the charity War on Want.
"A tragedy like the Rana Plaza disaster cannot happen again."
But for many garment workers, it was a case of too little, too late.
In Ashuriya, a Dhaka suburb close to Savar, the garment trade group on Monday night shut down 100 factories indefinitely. Workers there had refused to work, citing safety fears.
"For the last 14 days, workers came to work, clocked in, walked out," said Shahidullah Azim, vice president of the Bangladesh Garment Manufacturers and Exporters Association.
"We decided, 'No work, no pay.'"
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The last survivor
Rana Plaza housed five garment factories, several shops and a bank.
The collapse occurred April 24, a day after cracks appeared in the structure. The bank ordered its employees not to report for work, and the shops were closed because of a strike.
But garment workers were told to come in despite their concerns that the building's structure was not sound.
The first few days after the collapse, rescue workers were buoyed by hope as many survivors emerged from the rubble.
But then, for days, nothing.
On Friday, their spirits got a boost when Reshma, 19, was pulled out alive after 17 harrowing days.
"I did not have any food to eat. I had four biscuits and some water in 17 days," she told reporters Monday as she recuperated at a military hospital.
"The people who were with me under the rubble died. I heard people screaming. 'Save me, save me,' they screamed. But I couldn't find them. I tried."
For 20 days, so did the rescuers above ground.
But Tuesday morning, they wiped the deaths off the dry erase board.
It was time for a clean start.
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CNNMoney's Emily Jane Fox contributed to this report.
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Relatives of missing garment workers offer prayers in front of the rubble on May 14 in Savar.
A white board at the recovery command center near the disaster is used to track the death toll on Monday, May 13.
Heavy equipment sifts through the rubble of the garment factory building collapse on Sunday, May 12.
A woman cries holds a portrait of a missing relative believed to be trapped in the rubble of the Rana Plaza building on Saturday, May 11.
Bangladeshi garment worker Reshma Begum, a seamstress who survived 16 days trapped in the rubble of a collapsed building, rests in Savar Cantonment Hospital on the outskirts of Dhaka on May 11.
Relatives search through a long line of covered decomposing bodies to try to identify their family members on May 11.
Rescue workers retrieve Reshma from the rubble in Savar, Bangladesh, on Friday, May 10. She got rescue workers' attention by waving an iron rod. She was found in a pool of water, which allowed her to stay alive.
An injured worker who survived the building collapse is carried by her husband to collect her wages in Savar near Dhaka, Bangladesh, on Wednesday, May 8.
Garment workers who survived the building collapse line up to collect their salaries in Savar on May 8.
Workers continue rescue and recovery operations on Tuesday, May 7, nearly two weeks after the Rana Plaza building's collapse outside Dhaka.
Rescue workers recover a body from the rubble on May 7.
Relatives place a body in the back of a truck on May 7.
A woman attempts to identify one of the bodies kept in a schoolyard on May 7.
Members of the Bangladeshi army and firefighters carry the body of a garment worker from the scene of the building collapse in Savar, outside Dhaka, on Sunday, May 5.
A woman holds a portrait of her missing relative as she sleeps on Saturday, May 4.
Relatives attempt to identify the bodies of loved ones on May 4.
Rescue workers dig out debris from the Rana Plaza building as Bangladeshi army personnel continue the second phase of a rescue operation using heavy equipment on Friday, May 3.
A woman reacts on May 3 after identifying a body found in the rubble.
A man stands amid the destruction as rescue and army personnel continue recovery operations on May 3.
A woman holds up a picture of a missing person believed to be trapped in the rubble on May 3.
A garment worker rescued from the wreckage of the Rana Plaza building lies in a hospital in Dhaka on Thursday, May 2.
A woman weeps after identifying her daughter's body in the rubble in Savar on May 2.
Rescue workers move debris as Bangladeshi army personnel continue the second phase of a rescue operation at the site of the collapsed building in Savar on May 2.
A woman mourns before a mass burial in Dhaka on Wednesday, May 1.
Unidentified bodies from the rubble lie on the ground as people gather for a mass burial in Dhaka on May 1.
Workers dig graves during a mass burial of unidentified garment workers on May 1.
Sohel Rana, owner of the collapsed Rana Plaza building, wears police-issued body armor and a helmet while being escorted to court in Dhaka on Tuesday, April 30. Rana was arrested near the Indian border, and protesters called for him to be hanged.
Bangladeshi troops carry the body of a garment worker out of the rubble of the collapsed Rana Plaza building in Savar on April 30.
Clothing with Joe Fresh labels lies in the debris on April 30.
Cranes operated by Bangladeshi army personnel work on Monday, April 29.
Firefighters try to control a blaze that started while they were trying to rescue a woman with heavy equipment on April 29.
Bangladeshi army personnel begin the second phase of the rescue operation using heavy equipment on April 29.
Rescuers look for survivors on Sunday, April 28. The Bangladesh Red Crescent Society says the chances of finding anyone alive in the rubble at this date are remote.
A woman mourns on April 28 at the site of the building collapse in Savar.
Rescue workers search for survivors on April 28.
Volunteers sleep before they begin more rescue operations on April 28.
Rescue workers carry a victim's body recovered from the rubble on April 28.
Clothes lie in the rubble on Saturday, April 27.
An arrested owner of a garment factory is escorted to an appearance at the court in Dhaka on April 27. Four people were arrested and four others are being questioned by police.
Relatives hold photos of missing and dead workers outside the factory April 27.
Two Bangladeshi women look at a board with notices posted of missing and dead workers on April 27.
Bangladeshi relatives and workers load a body onto a truck on April 27.
An excavator operated by the Bangladeshi Army removes debris on April 26.
Volunteers and rescue workers conduct rescue operations on April 26.
Rescue workers use textile as a slide to move bodies out of the rubble on April 26.
Rescue workers look for trapped garment workers on April 26.
Rescue workers stand on the rubble of the collapsed building on April 26.
Rescue workers search the rubble for victims and survivors on April 26.
A rescue worker looks for trapped workers on April 26.
Bangladeshi army personnel recover a survivor from rubble on April 26, 48 hours after the collapse.
Volunteers and rescue workers assist in rescue operations on April 26.
A physician assists a survivor after he was recovered from the rubble on April 26.
Two bodies clutch each other in the rubble on Thursday, April 25.
People rescue garment workers on April 25.
A Bangladeshi woman shows a picture of her missing daughter-in-law she believes is trapped in the collapsed building on April 25.
Bangladeshi firefighters cut a hole through concrete during rescue operations on April 25 in Savar, a suburb of Dhaka.
Volunteers and rescue workers work at the scene on April 25.
A woman appears devastated on April 25 after identifying the body of her husband killed in the building collapse.
Bangladeshi garment workers help evacuate a survivor by using a roll of fabric on April 24.
People rescue garment workers on Wednesday, April 24, after the building caved in, leaving a chaotic mass of broken concrete and twisted metal.
Relatives who lost a brother mourn outside a hospital on April 24.
Rescuers help an injured garment worker to escape from the Rana Plaza building on the outskirts of Dhaka on April 24.
Civilians help an injured garment worker on April 24. Work was proceeding slowly to avoid causing further collapse, an official said.
Rescue workers search for trapped garment workers in the Rana Plaza building on April 24.
An injured Bangladeshi lies on the hospital floor on April 24.
The injured receive treatment at a hospital on April 24.
An injured person rests in a hospital bed on April 24.
People wait anxiously on April 24 while rescuers search for survivors.
Rescuers help an injured person out of the seventh floor on April 24.
Civilians help out in rescue efforts at the collapsed building on April 24.
Hundreds watch the rescue operations on April 24.
People search for garment workers trapped under the debris on April 24.
Rescuers help an injured worker on April 24.
A body is trapped under the damaged building on April 24.
A woman is carried away from the building on April 24.
A rescue worker carries a worker to an ambulance on April 24.
Crowds gather around the collapsed building on April 24.
Rescuers bring out an injured garment worker from the building's sixth floor.
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