Dangers of earthquake

Seismic activity in Bangladesh has of late become quite frequent, giving rise to worries
among the people. Two tremors of medium intensity, the second one in particular, on the
night preceding the Eid day jolted the capital Dhaka and some districts in middle and
southern parts of the country. The jolt this time was stronger than the country had
experienced in the recent past. This was due to the fact that the epicenter of the last
Friday's midnight tremor was very close to the capital, only 45 km away. Had the Friday's
tremor been of higher intensity, the country could have faced a major disaster.

Earthquake is the swiftest and deadliest of all natural disasters as it takes only a few
seconds to kill thousands of people and cause extensive damage to properties, mainly
pucca structures, including buildings, bridges and culverts. Even superior technology is
of no use against nature's fury, more so in the case of earthquakes. Early warnings about
floods and cyclones can help save lives and some property. But scientists are yet to
develop such a warning system for earthquakes. The residents of the earthquake-prone
lands can, however, build shock-resistant houses and other infrastructures and put in
place an earthquake preparedness programme for conducting efficient and prompt
salvage operation.

Bangladesh, which was visited by a good number of earthquakes of high intensity in the
eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, has five fault lines. According to seismic zoning map
prepared by the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET), 43 per
cent areas of the country are rated as high risk, 43 per cent medium risk and 16 per cent
low risk. Fortunately, none of the tremors that had jolted this land for over more than
century had been killer-type. It is though feared that the country runs the risk of being
struck by major earthquakes anytime. This premonition has unfortunately failed to
generate the necessary urge among the people and the successive governments to initiate
damage-control measures.

Buildings after buildings have come up in the major urban centres, including the capital,
over the years giving a damn to the need for making them earthquake shock-resistant as
far as possible. The enormity of the problem was well highlighted by the Food and
Disaster Management Minister, Dr. Muhammad Abdur Razzaque, some months back. He
said a major earthquake of 7.5 on the Richter-Scale has the potential to kill 88000 people
and demolish 72000 buildings and cause damage to another 86000 pucca structures in
Dhaka city alone. The devastation could even be worse in the port city of Chittagong
because of its location along one of the fault lines.

Since the incumbent disaster management minister is aware of the consequences of

earthquakes of high intensity, it is expected that he would make serious efforts to handle
any possible post-earthquake eventuality efficiently. Such handling requires acquiring of
necessary equipment that are quite expensive and train a large manpower to engage in
rescue missions instantly. Even many affluent countries are yet to acquire enough
capacity to address a post-earthquake situation properly. Bangladesh, that has earned
global appreciation for its post-cyclone or post-flood management, should do whatever is
needed to build its capacity relating to post-earthquake management. Moreover, the
government does need to ensure that all new buildings, commercial and residential,
strictly follow the official building codes. The disaster management minister in October
last year said that the country was trying to collect equipment and train 6000 volunteers
to handle any post-earthquake situation. But nothing has been heard to this effect since
then.

BANGLADESH: MAJOR EARTHQUAKE MIGHT KILL 88,000

PEOPLE IN CAPITAL, SAYS EXPERTS

NAM NEWS NETWORK Feb 24th, 2010

DHAKA, Feb 24 (NNN-BSS) -A major earthquake 7.5 on the Richter scale might kill
about 88,000 people and demolish 72,000 buildings and damage 86,000 others in the
capital Dhaka.

Such devastation in the port city of Chittagong could be more fatal claiming the
lives of nearly 95,000 people and razing to the ground 1,42,000 buildings.

This awful information was revealed by Bangladesh Earthquake Society President Prof
Jamilur Reza Choudhury while presenting a keynote paper at a seminar on `Risk of
Earthquake, Tsunami and Strom Surge in Bangladesh,’ organized by JICA Alumni
Association on Tuesday night.

Prof Chowdhury said the aforesaid prediction about loss of lives and damage to
properties was made three months ago under the initiative of Comprehensive Disaster
Management Programme (CDMP).

He said review of the available data shows that considerable seismic hazard exists for
major parts of Bangladesh.

According to seismic zoning map, About 25 million people, representing one sixth of the
current total population of the country mostly live in Sylhet, Mymensingh and some parts
of Rangpur districts are classified as `liable to severe damage’.

On the other hand, 75 million people, the half of the total population of the country,
mostly live Dhaka and Chittagong are under moderate damage, he said.

Prof Jamilur Reza said an earthquake preparedness master plan must be prepared for the
cities and towns of Dhaka, Chittagong, Sylhet, Mymensingh and Rangpur districts.
The government should strictly implement building codes as well as identify and retrofit
the vulnerable buildings.

“The government should retrofit all public buildings as soon as possible and can offer
soft loan to the people as they could retrofit their old buildings,” he said.

Prof Chowdhury said experience in many of the past earthquake in different countries
suggests that significant damage to life and property can be caused by fires originating
from short circuits of power lines or from gas lines.

“There is a need for carrying out a vulnerability analysis of these utilities and lifelines,”
he said. Moreover, the antennas of mobile phones and their network operating centers are
located on the top of existing buildings, many of which may collapse in the event of
earthquakes.

The seminar was also addressed by State Minister for Housing and Public Works
Advocate Abdul Mannan as chief guest and Chief Representative of JICA Bangladesh Dr
Takao Toda and Environment and Forests Secretary Dr Mihir Kanti Majumder as special
guests.

The State Minister said the government is working to turn the existing building code into
a law which would be passed by the parliament soon.

“We must impose the law strictly for ensuring safety of the public life,” he said. Dr Toda
said Japan government is keen to transfer its earthquake preparedness technology to
Bangladesh government.

“We have already taken initiative to transfer our seismic resistance building retrofitting
technology to the Bangladesh government for the public buildings,” he said. — NNN-
BSS

(1) 4.8 Magnitude Earthquake In Bangladesh 11:24:17 PM Sep 10 , 2010

A 4.8 magnitude earthquake happened in Bangladesh at 11:24:17 PM , On Sep 10,

2010.
This is the most shoking earthquake i have ever felt in my life . Thanks to Allah he saved
us.

The earthquake happened arround 45 km (25 miles) South East of DHAKA , 50 km West
of Comilla, 60 km midway between south and southeast of Tungi on Bangladesh .
And also in 255 km midway between northeast and east of Kolkata , West Bengal, India.
Earthquake Parameter was : NST= 18, Nph= 18, Dmin=997.4 km, Rmss=0.84 sec,
Gp=144°,
M-type=body wave magnitude (Mb), Version=6 .

Earthquakes in Dhaka Bangladesh on 10 September 2010 Night

It is now 11:40 PM on 10 September 2010 in Dhaka Bangladesh. In

the last one hour, two earthquakes hit the city and most probably
most parts of the country. The first one was mild and it on around
10:30-40 PM Dhaka Time. I did not touch it but Mehdi (another
blogger of this blog) touched it and called me. The second one was
massive and it was perhaps the strongest earthquake that I felt in my
life. The second quake was felt on 11:25 PM.
I was sitting in a chair. The chair was shaking, the table and the
computer monitor were shaking. It was really a scary feeling and I
cannot think of any other time in my life similar to it. I remembered
God and I think that many people here did the same.
Tomorrow is Eid-ul-Fitar and it is the largest celebration in the country.
So, Dhaka is much quiet and empty tonight. All the newspaper offices
are closed. People got scared and many of them called newspaper
offices and wanted to know about the condition.
After both the earthquakes happened, I took a look at the Bangladeshi
community blogs and found in Somewherein Blog at least 20 posts
about the earthquake. I am now watching the Bangladeshi TV channels
and they are also giving the news as news flash.
What I can find is the earthquakes hit not only Bangladesh but a wide
area of the world.
For some more information, visit this link:
So, pray for us and hopefully, we remain safe from any earthquake in
Bangladesh. The worst part is that Dhaka is perhaps the most crowded
city in the world and any strong earthquake can claim thousands of
lives.

(2) Name:
BANGLADESH EARTHQUAKE 27 JULY 08[12.50-55am]

Description:
27 July 08
dis day is a history for Bangladesh..
arnd 12.50-55 am midnyt whole BD quaked for sum seconds..at 1st it was less bt
later it was more..dat was an earthquake of rikterscale 5.6...at first mny thot it was
ghost mny thot mny diff thingz...bt da thing is dat it was EARTHQUAKE...we all
xperienced it...so over here ppl who xperienced da quake write sumthing