Tremors jolt country

Two consecutive tremors on Monday and Tuesday jolted the capital city and different parts of the country during Eid holidays with no reports of damage or loss of life.
The mild earthquakes were felt in Dhaka, Sylhet, Nilphamari, Netrakona, Sherpur Faridpur, Tangail, Sirajganj, Mymensingh, Rangpur, Jamalpur, Panchagarh and other parts of the country.
The earthquake of 6.4 magnitude on Monday also jolted the Himalayan country Bhutan killing at least 11 people and damaged an ancient monastery leaving around another 15 injured, reported New York Post.
The dead included four Indian nationals who were highway workers.
Dhaka Met Office officials said an earthquake measuring 6.4 on the Richter scale originated on Monday in the Bhutan-China border region at 3:53pm local time. The epicentre of the quake was 462 kilometres off Dhaka.
Duty Forecasting Officer Abdul Mannan yesterday said, “The Tuesday tremor was a moderate one which had a magnitude of 5.4 on the Richter scale.”
The tremor on Tuesday originated in Myanmar region at 2:38am. The epicentre of the quake was 552 kilometres from the capital.
The Monday tremor also jolted Gauhati, the capital of India's north-eastern Assam state.
Prof Mehedi Ahmed Ansary of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, also secretary general of Bangladesh Earthquake Society, said frequent mild tremors might be precursors to a major shock.
“It is very much likely that an earthquake of seven plus magnitude may follow and shake Bangladesh, as it has long been overdue with a 70-year pause,” said Ansary, also the coordinator of National Centre for Earthquake Engineering.
The Dubri earthquake of 7.1 magnitude with its epicentre in Coochbihar in 1930 devastated northern region of Bangladesh, he said. A series of major earthquakes occurred in the Indian sub-continent during 1869 to 1930.
A six-magnitude earthquake originated in the India-Myanmar border area in the early hours of September 4 and jolted greater Sylhet region and other parts of the country.
In the dead of night on September 12, another tremor of 7.6 magnitude shook the Andaman islands in the Indian Ocean and a Tsunami alert was declared in Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Indonesia and Thailand.
Fortunately, nothing happened to Bangladesh.