Preparedness way too precarious

The country lacks a central command and control system for a coordinated rescue operation in the event of a major earthquake disaster, according to high officials and experts. 

“It is not yet officially spelt out who will command, control and coordinate the search and rescue operations of different government agencies in an earthquake disaster,” said Brig Gen Ali Ahmed Khan, director general of Fire Service and Civil Defence, at a discussion held yesterday.

“We don't have an emergency operation centre for earthquake either,” he said, adding that they had divided Dhaka city into four zones with available workforce, logistics and 13 fire stations. He further said they urgently needed at least five more stations in the capital.

The Fire Service and Civil Defence has 300 stations across the country.

The Daily Star organised the discussion on preparedness for earthquake disaster management at The Daily Star Centre.  

Except the Armed Forces Division (AFD), none of the 17 government agencies had prepared their respective contingency plan for an earthquake rescue operation, said M Abu Sadeque, director of House Building and Research Institute.

The government departments were asked to prepare the contingency plan more than a decade ago and the respective National Plan for Disaster Management during 2010-15, which too had not been prepared either, he added.

The AFD made its contingency plan a decade ago dividing Dhaka city into eight zones for earthquake disaster management.

It was important to ensure enforcement of the national building code immediately and introduction of automatic shutdown of gas and electricity supply lines in the event of an earthquake to reduce the impact of the disaster and the number of causalities, Sadeque observed. 

It was also crucial to have the central command and also the second and third alternatives for an effective and efficient rescue operation, said Kazi Golam Nasir, chief architect of the Department of Architecture.

He said Bangladesh should learn management lessons from Nepal, incorporate chapters on earthquake and fire hazard in academic curriculum, prepare local database on the number of inhabitants and location of safe buildings with the help of ward councillors.

He particularly put emphasis on taking caution against marking any certain building as vulnerable without well-founded assessment.

Three active fault lines of the tectonic plates in Modhupur, Dauki and eastern boundary may trigger a major earthquake anytime with the epicentre within Bangladesh territory, says Prof Syed Humayun Akhter, chairman of geology department at Dhaka University.

The government buildings constructed recently by the Public Works Department were comparatively safer in earthquakes, but the old ones were risky, said Chief Engineer of the Public Works Department Md Kabir Ahmed Bhuiyan. 

Housing and urban development made on soft soil by filling marshy land stand most vulnerable to a major earthquake, according to the experts.

Out of 127-square kilometre Dhaka city corporations area, around 35 percent land had been prepared by earth filling and one-third of it had already been used for structures, said Prof Mehedi Ahmed Ansary of civil engineering at Buet and founding general secretary of Bangladesh Earthquake Society.

Such marshy land had been filled up without any scientific soil improvement method and the rest of the soft soil was also made ready for erecting structures, he observed.

Prof Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, a noted civil engineer and founding president of Bangladesh Earthquake Society, who chaired the discussion, said, “Wetlands have been filled up indiscriminately and the softer the soil is, the more vulnerable it is to earthquakes.”

Conservable flood flow zones earmarked in the Detailed Area Plan of Dhaka city had been massively filled up mainly for housing with the relevant authorities keeping mum, said Prof Isharat Islam of urban planning at Buet.

With the current DAP expiring this year, Rajuk was preparing a Regional Development Plan, in which the earthquake concern had not been incorporated despite availability of relevant findings and data, she added.

Prof ASM Maksud Kamal, chairman of the department of disaster science and management of Dhaka University, however said 65 percent of 300-square-kilometre Dhaka metropolitan area surrounded by four rivers was earth-filled marshy land that remained extremely susceptible to a major earthquake of 7.5 magnitude on the Richter scale with the epicentre within or on the border of Bangladesh.

An estimated 78,000 structures out of 3.26 lakhs were likely to collapse in the event of such a jolt with the epicentre in Dhaka, he said, adding that there was no tangible preparedness of the relevant government agencies.

He put emphasis on public awareness on probable earthquake disasters and life-saving safety measures.

Anwar Zahid, deputy director of groundwater hydrology at Bangladesh Water Development Board, said groundwater table depletion did not necessarily mean earthquake risk had increased in Dhaka.

Md Eftekharul Alam, a water and environment engineer, said river pollution had to stop as a major earthquake might lead to contamination of deeper aquifer with highly polluted river water and lead to a drinkable water crisis.

Abu Sayeed M Ahmed, president of Institute of Architects Bangladesh (IAB), said building safety had to be ensured at design level and multiple use of a single building must be avoided.

PWD Superintendent Engineer Ahsan Habib and former IAB president Mubasshar Hussain also spoke, while Mahfuz Anam, editor and publisher of The Daily Star, and Brig Gen (retd) Shahedul Anam Khan, editor, Op-Ed and Strategic Affairs, The Daily Star were present.