Experts urge alert after four mild tremors jolt Sylhet
After repeated mild tremors in Sylhet yesterday, experts warned the possibility of a major earthquake at Dauki Fault Line and urged all to stay alert.
At 10:36am, people of Sylhet city experienced the first tremor. Before they could recover from the shock, another tremor -- stronger than the first one -- jolted Sylhet at 10:50am and then the third one at 11:30am.
The residents of the country's northeastern city became panicked after experiencing the fourth one at 1:58pm. They also experienced several aftershocks.
The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) couldn't pinpoint the accurate location of the earthquakes as the seismic activities were recorded only in one seismic station in Sylhet as it needs data from three stations.
Sayeed Ahmed Chowdhury, meteorologist of BMD in Sylhet, said, "Among the earthquakes, the one at 10:50am was of the highest magnitude, 4.1 in Richter scale."
"We were able to measure aerial distance of the epicentre, toward the north that points to the Dauki Fault Line; but couldn't pinpoint accurately as the depth was less and the earthquakes were not recorded in any other seismic centre," he said.
Prof Dr Syed Humayun Akhter of the department of geology at Dhaka University and the director of Dhaka University Earth Observatory, said, "As per our finding, the location of the tremors were at the hilly terrain right in the upstream of Sari river in Jaintiapur upazila, which is the eastern part of Dauki Fault Line."
Dauki Fault Line, a 300km fault line, stretches south of the Shillong Plateau and right at the northern border of Mymensingh and Sylhet division.
On June 12, 1897, a magnitude 8 plus earthquake was triggered in the fault which almost destroyed every structures of Bangladesh's northeastern part and present day India's Meghalaya and Assam's all towns; and at least 1,542 persons died.
Dr Humayun said, "Dauki has huge strain energy stored that will be released at any time and can cause 7.5 to 8.5 magnitude earthquake. These mild tremors might be an alert for a major earthquake, which might take place in a couple of days or within couple of months."
"Moreover, the Chittagong-Tripura Fold Belt, right at the bordering stretch of Chattogram division, contains more strain energy that can trigger magnitude 8.5 or more earthquake," he said.
He said, "Science has not improved that much to forecast an earthquake surely. People need to be ready for a major earthquake soon. Awareness is important as we witnessed five people of Bangladesh died being panicked during the earthquake of Nepal in 2015. No one should panic."
Meanwhile, Sylhet City Corporation called an emergency response meeting with all authorities concerned at the Nagar Bhaban yesterday afternoon.