72,000 buildings in Dhaka at high risk of earthquake

Any earthquake at Modhupur region near Dhaka with the intensity of 7 on Richter scale might destroy 72,000 buildings out of 326,600 structures in Dhaka City, reports BSS. Minister for Food and Disaster Management Dr Abdur Razzak said this in reply to a question from treasury bench member M Shahiduzzaman Sarkar during question-answer session in Parliament Sunday. The Minister said the government has assessed the vulnerability of 10,000 buildings in Dhaka, 6,000 buildings in Chittagong and 3,000 buildings in Sylhet. He said the faults of epicentres of the earthquake and tremor risk map of Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet have been prepared and in light of the map, contingency plans have been prepared for nine emergency service providing agencies to response in any emergency. Moreover, the government has taken an initiative to make a digital GIS database of buildings and other structures through satellite image, the minister said. He said the government has so far procured equipment of Tk 580 million to carry out rescue operation during post earthquake disaster and a project of Tk 1.64 billion has been submitted to the planning commission for procurement of more equipment. Listing the government measures for disaster management, the minister said steps were taken for retrofitting of two buildings of Bangladesh Secretariat and Dhaka Medical College Hospital to make them earthquake tolerant.