Dhaka Bureau: The capital, Dhaka, is one of the cities that are at risk of earthquakes in the world. According to the report of the Earth Observation Center, Bangladesh is located at the junction of three plates: Indian, Eurasian, and Myanmar. As a result, there is a risk of major earthquakes in the region, the agency said. News from BBC Bengal
Despite the fact that numerous projects and plans have been developed to reduce the risk of the densely populated city, they have yet to see the light of day.Every time a major earthquake occurs, there is a flurry of activity, which is suppressed until another major earthquake hits.
If you go to old Dhaka, you will see that many buildings are still standing. The maximum three-story masonry building, 5–6 floors, is being raised freely.
In the Jagannathpara area, one can see a five-story house with an area of 300 to 400 square feet where at least 15 members of a family are living on its different floors. The people of this area were very scared when this building shook in the early morning earthquake on Friday. But none of them have the space to shelter in the street under the building.
Syed Humayun Akhter, professor of the Geology Department at Dhaka University, said that usually a major earthquake occurs every 100 years. The last major earthquakes occurred in 1822 and 1918 on the Madhupur fault. As such, Bangladesh is standing on the verge of another big earthquake. In 2009, a joint survey by the Integrated Disaster Management Program (CDMP) and JICA revealed that if an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more is felt in Dhaka, 72,000 buildings in the city will collapse and 135,000 buildings will be damaged. Seven million tons of concrete piles will be made.
In this regard, Engineer Mehdi Ahmed Ansari said that the number of dangerous buildings in Dhaka is constantly increasing, and the risk of an earthquake disaster is increasing along with it.
So far, the Bangladesh government has done few things to prepare for the earthquake. Purchasing various materials for the fire service, for example, would necessitate the expenditure of at least one hundred crores of government funds.Along with launching the Urban Resilience Project under RAJUK, which monitors the earthquake resilience of buildings and takes necessary measures,
However, Mahfuza Akhtar, the urban planner of Rajuk, says that they have no ability to check whether a building is earthquake-resistant.
