Jolt sends out wake-up call

After the earthquake of 6.1 magnitude, which had the epicentre in Myanmar, was felt in Dhaka, Chattogram and some other parts of the country early yesterday, urban planners said the jolt should be taken as a wake up call.

They urged the government to take the steps needed to enforce Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) as properly designed buildings can save lives during quakes.

According to the United States Geological Survey, the epicentre of the quake was near Hakha, Chin State, Myanmar. The tremors left a four-storey building on Khaza Road, Chattogram, tilted.

Professor Mehedi Ahmed Ansary of Buet said a major earthquake in the past had its epicentre within 50 km of Hakha. No quake of over 6 magnitude jolted the area in the last 50 years and there is a risk of another major quake there.

To reduce the loss of lives in case of a massive quake, the new buildings must be earthquake resilient and the old ones should be made resilient, he told The Daily Star.

He added that a survey should be done to identify the buildings in Dhaka that are particularly vulnerable to quakes.

According to the government's draft Detailed Area Plan of Dhaka, there are 21 lakh buildings in the city and about six lakh of those are above six stories.

Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha has checked 3,252 school buildings in the city and found 90 percent of them to be not resilient to earthquake, he said.

The government should check every building in the city and take steps to make them resilient, he said.

Mehedi, a professor of civil engineering, who along with a group of students conducted a survey in Dhaka between 1999 and 2005, said unplanned urbanisation and construction of buildings ignoring the construction code were rampant.

According to experts, non-compliance with the building code by both the public and private sector builders has been making Dhaka vulnerable.

Prof Maksud Kamal, pro-vice chancellor (academic) of Dhaka University, said there are 13 small geological faults in Bangladesh that can cause an earthquake anytime.

A quake of around 7 magnitude in Srimangal happened in 1918 along a fault line, he said. There is a chance of another major quake from the fault line as over a century has passed without one.

Sixty-five percent of the land in Dhaka is on soft soil, said the professor of disaster science and management.

"Structures on soft soil are particularly vulnerable as waves of tremor remain active for longer in soft soil," said prof Maksud.

He urged construction firms to strictly follow the building codes.

In most cases, people do not follow the BNBC, he said, adding that there is a lack of preparation for rescue operations in case of an earthquake.

He said many buildings in Dhaka have heavy overhangs and short columns, making them particularly vulnerable.