Quake in Nepal a wake-up call for Bangladesh

South Asia has been prone to natural disasters like floods, cyclones and earthquakes since time immemorial. Nepal, a landlocked country between two Asian giants India and China, has been in a crisis following severe earthquake which hit the county with 7.8 magnitude on April 25. Nepal, one of the poor countries in South Asia surviving on income from tourism, has been passing through a series of man-made political crises since 1990 when pro-China Maoist insurgency engulfed the country for abolition of the century-old tradition of monarchy in Nepal.  (Dipankar Srijan, who was born in 982 AD at Vajrayogini in Vikrampur of Dhaka in Bengal, was received by the King of Nepal in 1041 AD while he was travelling on foot to Tibet at the invitation of Raja Byan Chub. Srijan was a scholar on Buddhism which flourished during his stay in Tibet. It means the kingship in Nepal existed in 1041 AD. ) At least, 12,000 Nepalese lost their lives during Maoist insurgency in Nepal. Per capita income, however, jumped to $645 because of remittances from abroad by the Nepalese workers.
Years of political doldrums have left the  country's economy shattered. Now natural disaster has added further misery to the Nepalese in 80 years since 1934 when tremor killed more than 8,000. During severe earthquake on April 25, four of historic temples at Bhaktapur in its majestic Durbar Square were destroyed while Saurpani village, the epicentre of earthquake along with an ethnic Gurkha village, was obliterated by the earthquake while Pashupati temple in the Kathmandu valley and Lumbini, a pilgrimage site in Southern plains believed to be the birthplace of Siddhartha Gautama, Lord Buddha, have been spared the wrath of earthquake. According to the UNICEF, one million children have been affected by the earthquake in about 30 districts of Nepal in the western and central regions while an estimated 4,000 people have perished. As a result of avalanche in Mount Everest, the highest mountain in the Himalayas, at least 19 people succumbed to their injuries. Of them, four US citizens Dan Fredinburg, a Google executive from San Francisco, Thomas Ely Taplin, a filmmaker from Colorado, Maria Eve Girawong, a physician assistant from Seattle and Vinh B.Thruong lost their lives. Immediately this writer got in touch with the editorial board of the Himal South Asian, a prestigious journal being published from Kathmandu following devastating earthquake. In response,  editors reported, "We have not had internet or electricity and even phone lines have been erratic. All in the Himal are safe and well. But both the loss of human lives-- the toll is rising and the terrible destruction of the heritage sites is very sad."  About  250 holidaymakers were stranded  in the Langtang Valley,40 miles of Kathmandu, according to the Guardian of London. Many Japanese and 21 Israelis were rescued by a helicopter, but a few Britons were left out. A guardian of stranded Britons has complained of inaction by the British foreign office.
Since severe earthquakes hit Nepal, spontaneous international response with aid is quite encouraging. Without international aid, the Nepalese administration could not cope with such a magnitude of disaster coupled with years of political doldrums and politicised bureaucracy like Bangladesh. Death toll now exceeds 4,000 while thousands were injured. The need for shelter is now pressing because many houses are lying under debris. Many Nepalese were sleeping on roads.
The  severe earthquake in Nepal could be a lesson for Bangladesh. Geologically, the country and some parts of South Asia are sitting on one of the four most earthquake-prone landmasses. With unplanned growth of high-rise buildings and shopping malls and rampant violation of building code, the situation is extremely vulnerable. The Rana Plaza collapse on April 24, 2013 at Savar is a glaring example. A total of 1,134 garment workers were killed while 2,515 injured. The building collapsed because of structural fault. Most building structures in Bangladesh are not built following quake-resistance protocols. Hardly enough space has been kept between two buildings in many places in Dhaka.
If such an earthquake is to strike Bangladesh, the human toll could be devastating because of lack of emergency rescue teams like Nepal as well as resources to restore power and water supplies on an emergency basis. Disaster preparedness both for Nepal and Bangladesh has become imperative.
The writer is a retired Bangladesh diplomat.
E-mail: amjad.21@gmail.com