On the eve of 13th April this year, while the country was preparing to welcome the Bangla New Year very next day, the country experienced a tremor of magnitude of 6.8 under Richter scale. The epicentre of this tremor was in the neighbouring Myanmar. The exact epicentre was in Jungle 220 kilometres away from Mandalay. Earlier this year, in the early morning of 4th January 2016. The new year dawn is yet to complete its first full week. All of Dhakaites merrily asleep. Suddenly an earthquake with magnitude of 6.7 with very high severity hits 18 miles off Imphal, capital of neighbouring North Eastern state Manipur. The severity was intensely felt in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Myanmar including Dhaka. A scary morning welcomed by a massive earthquake! Everyone panicking and a large portion of people down to the streets hurriedly out of their residences. It seems we are so minuscule in front of the wrath of Mother Nature. Memories of childhood started coming through mind once we are safe and back to our respective abode under the warmth of our own blanket.Earthquake preparedness
Scientists have come to recognise that Bangladesh sits at the juncture of several active tectonic plate
boundaries�including the tail end of the one that caused the 2004 Sumatra tsunami that killed
over 200,000 people
Masihul Huq Chowdhury
On the eve of 13th April this year, while the country was preparing to welcome the Bangla New Year very next day, the country experienced a tremor of magnitude of 6.8 under Richter scale. The epicentre of this tremor was in the neighbouring Myanmar. The exact epicentre was in Jungle 220 kilometres away from Mandalay. Earlier this year, in the early morning of 4th January 2016. The new year dawn is yet to complete its first full week. All of Dhakaites merrily asleep. Suddenly an earthquake with magnitude of 6.7 with very high severity hits 18 miles off Imphal, capital of neighbouring North Eastern state Manipur. The severity was intensely felt in Bangladesh, India, Nepal and Myanmar including Dhaka. A scary morning welcomed by a massive earthquake! Everyone panicking and a large portion of people down to the streets hurriedly out of their residences. It seems we are so minuscule in front of the wrath of Mother Nature. Memories of childhood started coming through mind once we are safe and back to our respective abode under the warmth of our own blanket.
From a shanty township in the early 80s, Dhaka has now turned to be a mega city and among one of the most populated cities in the world. The capital is still undergoing through massive transformation. From flyovers and underpasses, now we are in the process of getting alleviated expressway. Dhaka is known as City of Mosques. Now another term may also fit with Dhaka, City of Traffic Jams. This definitely characterises of a developing nation and it suits with our country GDP growth of six percent plus annually. The level of pollution has also grown in the similar manner. Along with development comes up corruption as a general by product. How can we be isolated from this general global trend? The recent TI report on corruption index of Bangladesh which was also echoed by Finance Minister of Bangladesh proves the point that corruption yet remains an endemic part in our case.
During the days following 13th April, the both side of The Pacific Oceans were shaken by massive earth quakes. In Ecuador, at least 272 people are confirmed dead with final numbers yet to come.The magnitude-7.8 quake struck on Saturday evening.Coastal areas in the north-west were closest to the epicentre and officials say the death toll is likely to rise as information begins to come in. On the other side of The Pacific, an earthquake with magnitude of 7.8 struck off the southern coast of Japan on Saturday, shaking buildings in Tokyo and interrupting subway service, but causing no major damage or injuries.
The story of development of real estate, malls, infrastructure ultimately urbanisation has the similar stories across the world irrespective of developed, developing or underdeveloped countries. Urbanisation has its benefits in the form of jobs, education, health facilities and other modern amenities. But it has its pitfalls too.
A team led by Michael Steckler and Leonardo Seebar of Columbia University has undertaken a project to overview the possibilities of a major earthquake and its impact on Dhaka. Bangladesh is sitting on the conjecture of three platonic plates beneath, Indian Plate; Eurasian Plate and Mayanmar plate. Indian plate moving north east and pressurise Eurasian plate to crate The Himalayas. The Mayanmar plate pushing Indian plate has created Dahuki faults, which has also resulted in Madhupur faults. The collision has created one of the major earthquakes which changed the course of mighty Brahmaputra river. Bangladesh, the largest delta is on the confluence of mighty Ganges. The land area is almost at the sea level. The average rainfall in the country is also one of the highest around the globe. Although Bangladesh is extremely vulnerable to seismic activity, the nature and the level of this activity is yet to be defined. In Bangladesh complete earthquake monitoring facilities are not available. The Meteorological Department of Bangladesh established a seismic observatory at Chittagong in 1954. This remains the only observatory in the country.Accurate historical information on earthquakes is very important in evaluating the seismicity of Bangladesh in close coincidences with the geotectonic elements. Information on earthquakes in and around Bangladesh is available for the last 250 years. The earthquake record suggests that since 1900 more than 100 moderate to large earthquakes occurred in Bangladesh, out of which more than 65 events occurred after 1960. This brings to light an increased frequency of earthquakes in the last 30 years. This increase in earthquake activity is an indication of fresh tectonic activity or propagation of fractures from the adjacent.
With more than 15 million inhabitants, Dhaka is one of the most densely populated cities in the world. The city is still expanding with more migration taking place. We have recently seen earthquakes around Bangladesh namely Assam, Nepal. There needs to be proper action plan including awareness building on the part of the regulators, people, builders, planners considering the possibility and severity of earthquake.
The massive 7.9 magnitude earthquake in Nepal and its climbing death toll have raised the heavyweight cautionary signal for Bangladesh about colossal earthquake.
After the massive quake that killed more than 3,000 people in Nepal, two tremors have hit Bangladesh on Saturday and Sunday. The country was jolted by a massive 7.5 quake on Saturday, causing panic among the people in the capital and parts of the country.
The magnitude of recent quake was 6.7 in Richter scale and the epicentre was 17km South of Kodari, Nepal, according to USGS. Bangladesh, the country of more than 160 million people and the highest in the population density chart, is located on the worlds largest river delta. The country is close to sea level, which exposes it to tsunamis and the possibility of rivers jumping their banks in the event of earthquake.
Scientists have come to recognise that Bangladesh sits at the juncture of several active tectonic plate boundariesincluding the tail end of the one that caused the 2004 Sumatra tsunami that killed over 200,000 people, 1,300 miles south.Syed Humayun Akhter, a seismologist at the Dhaka University Earth Observatory, warns that an earthquake near the crowded Dhaka could dwarf other modern tragedies.Earth Institute blog published a brief documentation in 2011 where a research being jointly conducted by seismologists of Lamont Doherty Earth Observatory, Columbia University, USA the in conjunction with department of Geology, Dhaka University.The research measured plate motions at six different sites of Bangladesh including Dhaka which clearly demonstrate that Dhaka is moving 30.6 mm/year in the direction northeast. Further, the rate of strain accumulation is relatively high in and around Dhaka. It may precipitate in an earthquake of magnitude 6.8 in the event of the release of accumulated strain. The shallow subsurface of Dhaka is also characterised by number of faults of variable dimensions. These faults are vulnerable to motion where these coincide with the zones of high particle velocityAnother study of Michigan University has pinpointed that Dhaka is one of the earthquake vulnerable city out of top cities because of its unplanned urbanisation.Bangladesh lies in a seismically active zone making the occurrence of major earthquakes a realistic possibility.
Kyoto in Japan is one of the most earthquake part region in the world. The authorities there have issued a comprehensive checklist for the citizens what to do during an eventual earthquake and the necessary safety measures to remain alert for any potential earthquake. The literature as used by Kyoto authorities for the public is quite comprehensive which is discussed below for awareness.
Ten Essentials as per Kyoto Earthquake
1. First Protect yourself : Your life is the most important thing. When an earthquake occurs, protect yourself first.
2. Put out any fires and do not panic:Put out any fires emanating from cooking and heating equipment with the assistance of other people. If you rush to put out cooking fires, implements may fall on you and cause injury. Wait for the shaking to stop before calmly extinguishing any flames.
3. Make sure of your emergency exits:In buildings made with reinforced concrete the building may become warped whilst the door is closed, and subsequently the door cannot be opened.
4. When fires occur, put them out immediately:Put out fires at once in cooperation with your neighbours before they spread to the ceiling.
5. Stay calm if you escape outside: If you escape outside, be cautious of falling tiles and glass and do not panic.
6. Dont move towards narrow streets, walls, precipices and river banks: Be aware of objects that may fall easily such as block walls, gateposts or automatic vending machines.
7. Be cautious of landslides and tsunamis : If you experience an earthquake in mountainous or coastal areas, evacuate immediately.
8. Evacuate on foot with minimum luggage : Evacuate to refuge on foot. Dont use cars or motorbikes.
9. Provide emergency aid in cooperation with others : Help each other, including the aged people, the handicapped, the injured, etc.
10. Look out for reliable information : Dont get drawn in by groundless rumours, and obtain reliable information from radio and TV.
We have experienced the jolt of a tremor during few occasions in last couple of years, the latest one being in Imphal, Manipur. Prior to that it was Nepal. Both of them were really nerve wrecking indeed. We have seen Earthquakes from Afghanistan till Assam including Islamabad, Gujarat etc in between. These should rather be treated as early warning signals for us and fully comprehend that the tectonic plates beneath us are still unsettled.
Dhaka is gradually expanding which commensurate with country growth. The modern amenities and facilities will also be there to match with this expansion. Probably gone are the days of reading habit, the green expanse for playground replaced by probox and other digital games and indoor gymnasia. The adherence to building code, reclaiming the water bodies, removal of illegal structures are among the few area which need the steps from regulators with the full participation of the relevant stakeholders. Taking these into cognisance, we need to adopt time bound action plan and start the move right now. We need planned, safe and secured Dhaka for our future generations to come. Lets say, better late than never!!
The writer, a banker by profession, has worked both in local and overseas market with various foreign and local banks in different positions
