Nepal quake, aftershocks jolt Bangladesh

An elderly woman from Panchagarh died of cardiac arrest after being panicked by aftershocks of the earthquake that rattled Nepal and some parts of India yesterday.

Nurun Nahar, 62, was taking a shower at her house at Kuniapara village in Tentulia upazila during the jolts, said Kazi Anisur Rahman, chairman of local union parishad. Sensing tremor, Nahar started screaming and then fell unconscious. Family members rushed her to Tentulia Upazila Health Complex where doctors declared her dead. 

Rakhi Akhter, a medical officer of the health complex, said she died of cardiac arrest, reports our Thakurgaon correspondent.

An employee of Tentulia Sub-Registrar's office also fell unconscious for sometime out of fear of dying in earthquake disaster. She took treatment at a local hospital.

According to the US Geological Survey, the earthquake that occurred in Nepal-China border also shook Bangladesh and India around midday. 

At least 30 people, mostly workers, of a Bidi factory in Pabna fell sick during the tremor, reports our Pabna correspondent.

Dr Khalid Bin Kashim, a doctor at the emergency unit of Pabna Medical College Hospital, said some 30 to 40 people took treatment after feeling sick because of the repeated jolts.

Fazlur Rahman, an officer of Agrani Bank's Nalitabari upazila branch, was grievously hurt when he was hurriedly coming down stairs of his house during the quake, reports our Sherpur correspondent.

The tremor also caused cracks in the house and tilted the two-storey building of Sherpur Govt Victoria Academy. The building was declared abandoned.

Syed Humayun Akhter, a professor of geology department at Dhaka University, said, “It would be really shocking for Bangladesh if the tectonic rupture in Nepal extends further towards east and releases energy that remained stored in Sikim, Bhutan, Meghalaya and Dauki faults.”

The 7.3-magnitude aftershock that jolted Nepal yesterday occurred in the same rupture of April 25 quake, further east from Lamjhung rupture stretching 130 km east and west and released 7.8-magnitude energy, he said.

Frequent tremors in Nepal could mean Bangladesh should start preparation for major earthquake disaster management, said Prof Akhter.

The high-magnitude aftershock struck eastern Nepal, near the Mount Everest, two weeks after more than 8,000 died in a devastating quake.