Country experienced 516 tremors since 2001: Maya

Earthquakes jolted the country 516 times in 14 years since 2001, the maximum, 42, in 2002, Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury Maya replied to lawmakers' queries in parliament yesterday.

In a scripted reply, he said the government plans to create 62,000 urban search and rescue volunteers for post-earthquake periods and 30,000 have already been trained.

Maya added that "earthquake risk maps" have already been drawn for Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong city corporations through analysing information and data and those of Tangail, Rangpur, Bogra, Mymensingh and Rajshahi areas were in the pipeline.