|
Trapped in the wreckage of a five-storied building, Sadia, a four-year-old girl, screamed for help. ``I'm here mother, save me," cried the girl, the granddaughter of the man who owned the building that collapsed at Hamzarbagh lane in Chittagong city during an earthquake on November 21 1997.
Rescuers were too slow and ill-equipped to pull out the girl alive. Her family watched helplessly as the girl died. An efficient and quick rescue work could have saved the girl. It was reported at that time that authorities simply had no equipment to remove the rubble of bricks and iron rods and pull out the trapped girl alive.
Senior officials and government engineers even held an emergency meeting at the site of the collapse building but they could make little headway. ``If we can't save one girl from the wreckage then what will happen when we may have a big disaster?" wondered a senior official at the site.
Many in Bangladesh are now raising such questions after geologists and scientists have warned that Bangladesh is vulnerable to big quakes. In that case there will be huge devastation. The experts have said Bangladesh is ill-prepared to deal with the devastation if a big earthquake strikes this tropical South Asian nation.
Unlike a cyclone, there is no scientific way to predict an earthquake. But geological changes can indicate an impending quake. Says Mir Fazlul Karim, Director at Bangladesh Geological Survey, "The continents of the world are undergoing changes because of movement in earth. Two hundred million years ago, Bangladesh was part of the Indian plate. The Indian plate had a collision with India's Tibet sub-plate, resulting in today's Himalayas and Arakan-Yoma mountains.
Bangladesh is located at the foot of the meeting place of the three plates: Indian, Tibet and Myanmar. Because of the movements in the plates, countries to the north, northeast and east have suffered big quakes.
Experts say Bangladesh lies within several faults that can be sources of future quakes. This region have already been hit by 14 devastating earthquakes in the past 100 years, according to geological centres in the United States and India. Four of these quakes were measured at more than 8 on the Richter Scale while 10 were of 7-8 magnitude.
Bangladesh, along with Myanmar, lies in a territory that has the risk of earthquakes. Experts say a 6-magnitude quake can cause huge devastation in Bangladesh. They warn that 90 per cent of the buildings in the cities are vulnerable in Bangladesh.
Human casualties are also feared. Consider the deaths and destruction caused by a major earthquake in the Indian state of Gujarat. Up to 20,000 people were killed. A hard-hit area was Bhuj, a town of 150,000 people in an area of 50 square kilometers. But Dhaka is a city of more than 10 million people in an area of 300 square kilometers. That's why the devastation will be greater here than in many other places should a major earthquake hits it. Two major earthquakes in 1819 and 1956 did little to create any awareness about the risks. The devastating tsunami that killed more than 300,000 people across Asia should also serve as a warning to Bangladesh. The country's southeastern region reported several quakes following the tsunami.
Says Mir Fazlul Karim, "There should be a long-term preparedness for earthquake. No single organisation can properly deal with it. However, Bangladesh lacks in most of the preparedness that are needed to face earthquake devastation."
There are also questions about the multistoried buildings that have come up in cities, especially Dhaka, for the past few decades. Are the new buildings following the rules set by Rajdhani Unnayan Katripakkha or RAJUK? Is there any corruption involved in it? Are the buildings quake-resistant?
Says Prof. M Hossain Ali, a teacher at BUET, "The question is not only about public awareness. In our country, there are builders, contractors, architects and engineers who are too greedy, and go for making quick money. That's why they don't perform their job properly. Many of us don't know that there is hardly any extra cost involved in constructing quake-resistant buildings."
However, people should be more aware about earthquake and the dangers from it. ``I really don't know what to do in case of an earthquake," says Salam Talukder, a resident at Dhaka's Rampura. ``What I know is that I must run out of my home for safety." It is unfortunate that there is hardly any publicity about what to do during an earthquake.
.........................
NewsNetwork
|