If Dhaka City had a spine, a sense of horror would surely have run down that vital frame. The majority of its citizens have felt a chilling sensation running down their backbone when the last month's tremor shook the city quite violently. For once, the realisation for many was that it was the end -the ultimate cataclysm. It was perhaps the longest ever quake experienced by the Dhakaites. Although its epicentre was in Nepal, measured on the Richter Scale at 7.9 (revised at 7.8), the earth quake was strongly felt in Bangladesh, India and Pakistan. The devastation wrought by it is gradually exposing itself because of the inaccessibility of mountainous terrains.
For sometime now, mild tremors have been shaking this region. But why Dhaka City needs particular mention whenever one of the seismic convulsions is unleashed underneath? It is because of the heavy concentration of people in a small area. If the area of Dhaka is taken into consideration, this city is not that large. But population-wise, it surely is a mega city with about 10 million huddling in its core area and another 0.5 million living in such areas as Tongi and Narayanganj.
Today Dhaka's skyline is radically taller than it was at the time of the country's independence. Its skyscrapers are many in number and not so tall buildings are shabbily constructed. Few buildings - even those constructed recently-have been constructed to withstand earthquakes measured 8.0 -9.0 on the Richter Scale. So the initial response from the city's residents has quite valid reasons. Only a few could come running down the staircase on to the streets. But the news that it was a tremor of 7.8 magnitude on the scale may give them a false sense of security.
The epicentre is a long way off. Usually, a tremor of 7.5 reading can wreak havoc of outsize proportion. In this case, the Nepalese capital closer to the epicentre had to suffer a lot. Yet if considered against devastation caused by quakes of similar magnitude in the past, the latest one's is not comparably heavier. In fact, the clash of tectonic plates was at a depth where the forces released get somewhat dissipated.
Whatever may be the cause, the fact is people of the affected region away from the epicentre may this time count them lucky. Next time, it may be different. As for Dhaka which experienced the record number of mild tremors last year, this jolt is a major one and the fear is that it may act as a prelude to a most frightening drama. Is Dhaka waiting to see the unfolding of a tragedy with little comparison in human history? Experts in this discipline have time and again sounded the alarm bell but apart from imparting training to some 10,000-12,000 volunteers to be engaged in rescue operation, little has been done so far.
What a city of this size needs are modern machines and equipment in order to carry on rescue operation immediately after a quake. The post-tremor time will be most crucial. Without immediate intervention by such advanced and high-efficient gadgets, the volunteers will be of little use. The spectre that unfolds is hardly encouraging for the volunteers as well because here time factor is a big issue.
After all, quakes happen unannounced. Cannot be predicted when it will take place. And the moment it happens, the devastation follows with lightning speed. Who knows which building will stand and which will not. More importantly, fire brigade units will prove too inadequate to take up the challenge. The weakness is woefully exposed when a single high-rise building is on fire. If thousands of buildings collapse or catch fire, how to tackle the situation. Indeed, no city authority in the world will be able to address such a situation. But then in some cities, buildings are constructed with specifications, not to their violation. Here buildings codes were non-existent for sometime and when those were approved, few people really made it a point to comply with those. Still the tendency is to defy such regulations and the authorities concerned had never attained the capacity nor the will to monitor what goes in the city's construction sector.
There lurks the fear -the fear of mass annihilation. Dhaka should brace for an outsize tragedy.
© 2024 - All Rights with The Financial Express
