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Though the country lies in a seismic-active area and vulnerable to potentially catastrophic earthquakes, the government is yet to have any step to tackle post-tremor damages, reports BDNEWS.
Experts observed that despite knowing the possible risk of earthquakes in the country, the defensive measures for safety was very inadequate and risk of devastation was also very high.
They also apprehended that if any earthquake with intensity of 6.0 on the Richter scale hit Dhaka, it would destroy 30 per cent household totally and at least 2,00,000 people would be killed.
"If any earthquake with a magnitude of 6.0 on Richter Scale hits Dhaka and its epicentre located at Dhaka or near the city, it would simply turn into a mountain of rubbles," said former vice-chancellor (VC) of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) Jamilur Reza Chowdhury.
"Rescue operation is very important for minimising the post-tremor losses," observed Chowdhury, who is the VC of BRAC University.
Although Dhaka is geologically located on a firm soil, unplanned urbanisation, non-adherence to building codes and frequent installation and repairing works by various utility services like WASA, DESA, T&T or PDB might have worst aftermath following an earthquake, he said.
Faulty engineering structures in old Dhaka and other areas of the city might cause insurmountable hurdles in recovery and restoration work after an earthquake, Chowdhury mentioned.
Titas gas sources said that 95 per cent of gas ovens in Dhaka city were kept on such order that might trigger an inferno engulfing 30 per cent city area in the event of an earthquake.
Telecommunications system will also be shattered and it will be difficult to inform fire service department about the matter. Also narrow and destroyed lanes will prevent fire fighters from reaching many affected areas.
Admitting the poor preparation from the government side in tackling post earthquake damage, Disaster Management Minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yusuf at an emergency meeting on earthquake management at Dhaka City Corporation Thursday said: "We have been discussing about the matter at different levels over last two or three years. Even in late, we are now going to start this with a mock exercise scheduled for April 12 at city's Dhupkhola ground aimed at creating awareness among the people."
"It is true that we are yet to reach at the level how to manage post-earthquake damages but we have started our journey in this direction," the minister added.
Dhaka City Mayor Sadek Hossain Khoka also admitted the vulnerability and said: "It will be very tough to conduct a post-tremor rescue operation in the densely populated unplanned Dhaka city, especially in its old part, where most of the buildings are age-old,"
"We started identifying the age-old risky buildings in the area with the help of RAJUK and other organisations and will soon demolish these for the sake of the people," he added.
Besides the Dhaka city, seismologists also identified the port city Chittagong and Sylhet as earthquake-prone zones where new buildings are being constructed defying building coded and without any soil test.
Meanwhile, the snail-pace of implementation of the government plan to set up four seismic observatories to get proper data on earthquakes irked seismologists.
Government has taken a plan to set up three new observatories in Dhaka, Sylhet and Rangpur and refurbishing the country's lone one at Ambagan in the port city of Chittagong.
When contacted, Deputy Director of the Metrological Department Samarendra Karmakar told the news agency that the tender for procurement of the necessary equipments for the observatories was expected to float by this fiscal.
The seismologists are also pressing the government for establishing fully equipped observation network with a global telecom network.
Now Bangladesh fully depended on the United States Geological Survey report or reports of the observatory centres in India for many data in connection with earthquakes.
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