5.5 Tripura quake jolts Bangladesh

An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale jolted Bangladesh yesterday afternoon following a shallow earthquake in Tripura state of India.

US Geological Survey pinpointed the 5.5 magnitude earthquake at 19 kilometres northeast of Ambassa region of neighbouring Tripura. The Indian Met Department said the intensity of the quake was 5.7 on the Richter scale as recorded by them.

Syed Humayun Akhter, a professor of department of geology at Dhaka University, said the epicentre was at Ambassa, 59 km from Agartala, capital of Tripura state, 170 kilometres east-northeast of Dhaka and originated at a depth of 36 kilometres.

He said the tremor lasted for a maximum of 10 seconds.

Dhaka city dwellers felt the tremor around 3:09pm. The tremors initially felt were small followed by some strong ones before dying out.

People began to panic when the tremors began and many people were seen rushing outside when the earthquake jolted the country.

 Indian media NDTV reported that tremors were felt across Assam and the Northeast. 

Our Sylhet correspondent reported that the tremor caused huge damage in Kamalganj upazila in Moulvibazar and an elderly person died of shock at Jagannathpur upazila in Sunamganj.

The tremors here originated around 40km south of Kamalganj upazila in Moulvibazar.

Locals said the tremor caused damages to the land, roads and buildings of the upazila.

Many roads of the upazila including Kumrakapon area were broken, cracks appeared in cropland cracked and soil liquefaction occurred in some places to some extent, Md Rafiqur Rahman, upazila chairman of Kamalganj, said.

He said the jolt caused cracks in the newly constructed upazila auditorium and a three storied restaurant building at Shamshernagar of the upazila.

“We are working to repair all the damage in the upazila,” Rahman said.

Meanwhile, an elderly man, Hiron Miah, 60, son of late Sunu Miah of Asampur village in the upazila, died.

Mirza Ali Khan, duty doctor of Jagannathpur Upazila Health Complex, said the elderly man died of shock.

Last year, a research study suggested that a massive fault could trigger a cataclysmic earthquake beneath Bangladesh, parts of east India and Myanmar.

The hidden fault buried under miles of river sediment could cause an earthquake of magnitude 8.2 to 9.0 in this densely populated region.

The researchers estimate that about 140 million people who live within 60 miles (100 kilometers) of the fault, including the 17 million people who live in the crammed megalopolis of the greater Dhaka area in Bangladesh are at risk from this.