Potential loss due to earthquake
THE possibility that more than a quarter of a million people might perish, and more than 73 percent of the more buildings would collapse, if a major earthquake were to strike the capital should get our town planners and disaster management department moving. The potential degree of building collapse in percentage terms in Chittagong and Rajshai is even more frightening. These figures emerged at a recent international seminar on seismic design and building retrofitting for safer cities.
The country has been fortunate that it has not been visited by a sever earthquake in many years and we hope that Nature would spare us from it. But the normal gap of 100 years has passed and experts can hear the alarm bells ringing from the many minor shakes we experienced in the last five or six years.
What worries us is the fact that these are very talked about figures at every discussion on disaster and disaster management for last so many years. Yet we have not witnessed any palpable action plan of the government on any aspect of the issue. If, as per the comments of a distinguished expert, 90 percent of the buildings in the country are non-engineered, then it is the government that must bear the major responsibility of adding to the aftermath of a disaster by allowing such buildings to come up.
We would hope that all aspects of the matter including building guidelines, rescue and recovery equipment, manpower training and the like are organised on an emergency basis.
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