64 percent of Dhaka's buildings will collapse in the Madhupur fault earthquake

According to the research conducted under the Urban Resilience Project of the Capital Development Authority (RAJUK), if an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 occurs on the Madhupur fault in Tangail, 13 lakh 91 thousand 685 buildings from 8 lakh 64 thousand 619 in Dhaka will collapse.

Rajuk chief engineer and project director Abdul Latif Helali presented this information in a seminar on earthquake risk management organized by RAJUK on Saturday (June 1).

Abdul Latif Helali said that if an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 occurs in Tangail's Madhupur fault, 8 lakh 64 thousand 619 to 13 lakh 91 thousand 685 buildings in Dhaka will collapse or collapse, which is 40.28 to 64.83 percent of the total buildings. Apart from this, if an earthquake of magnitude 7.1 occurs in Sylhet Lineament, then 40 thousand 935 to 3 lakh 14 thousand 742 buildings of Dhaka will be damaged; Which is 1.91 to 14.66 percent of the total number of buildings.

According to the report, if an earthquake of magnitude 6.9 occurs in the Madhupur fault in the morning, then 2 lakh 10 thousand to 3 lakh 10 thousand people will be killed in Dhaka. 270,000 to 400,000 people will be killed in the afternoon, and 320,000 to 500,000 people will be killed at night.

Helali said, there are 21 lakh 47 thousand 219 buildings in Dhaka under Rajuk area, of which 5 lakh 13 thousand 507 are paved buildings. Survey was conducted on 3 thousand 252 (paca) buildings. Out of these, 42 high-risk buildings have been recommended for complete demolition.

At the event, Prime Minister's Private Industry and Investment Adviser Salman F. Rahman said that the present plan will build the Dhaka of the future. There has been no major earthquake for 125 years. Experts say a major earthquake is imminent. So the government is identifying the problems in this regard. This should be done as soon as possible. The government is giving utmost importance to sustainable infrastructure. Work on earthquake resilience in the city is ongoing with RAJUK in coordination with local and foreign experts.

Speaking as the chief guest at the seminar, Housing and Public Works Minister Ram Ubaidul Chowdhury said that coordinated efforts are needed to deal with the risk of earthquakes.

Ubaidul Chowdhury said that the risk of earthquakes is increasing due to various natural disasters. Government is working to avoid disaster risk by overcoming existing weaknesses. Awareness of earthquake hazards should be raised among the public without imposing regulations along with building supervision.

This two-day seminar organized by RAJUK will end on June 2. Rajuk chairman, secretary and local and foreign guests discussed in the seminar.

Bangladesh /FM