New scheme to protect 4 cities from earthquake

The government has taken up a Tk 1,381 crore project to protect four cities, including Dhaka, from earthquakes. About 96 percent of the money would be from the World Bank.

The Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (Ecnec) yesterday approved the Urban Resilience Project.

The project has been taken after conducting a large-scale study by an international consultant with the technical assistance from the WB. The first phase of the project would be implemented in Dhaka and Sylhet cities and the second phase in Narayanganj and Gazipur.

Under the project, Rajuk in Dhaka would establish an electronic construction permitting system and set up a professional accreditation body for engineers, architects and planners.

After the Ecnec meeting, Planning Minister AHM Mustafa Kamal told reporters that Rajuk would prepare a risk-sensitive land use plan. A land zoning would be done to determine how many floors a building could have in a particular area.

Kamal also said Rajuk would test and certify whether the materials to be used in constructing buildings were earthquake resistant.

Under the project, an emergency response and communication centre, National Disaster Management Research and Training Institute, and Emergency Management Centre and Warehouse would be set up.

Various types of heavy equipment would also be procured for providing training to the disaster management workers at national and local levels on an emergency basis.

According to the WB project document report, Dhaka is vulnerable to seismic risk, largely due to the structural deficiencies of the city infrastructure.

"The building stock in Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh, is susceptible to collapse -- by ground shaking or simply due to gravity -- due to poor enforcement of building code regulations and the absence of robust construction standards," the WB report said.

It said the nearest major fault line is believed to run less than 60km from Dhaka and, although there is some uncertainty, research suggests that an earthquake of up to magnitude 7.5 is possible.

This would have a devastating impact on the city, it said.

Moreover, the city and its inhabitants are poorly prepared to respond to a crisis of this scale within the metropolitan area. A joint research project conducted by the University of Kansas and Dhaka University found that 83 percent of Dhaka's residents do not consider themselves prepared for an earthquake, the WB said.

A WB financed research found that an estimated loss of $5 billion to $7 billion would be incurred due to colossal damage caused to buildings by a strong earthquake in Dhaka.

The Ecnec in its meeting yesterday with Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina in the chair also approved seven projects including this one to be implemented at a total cost of Tk 2,003 crore.