Taking quake warning seriously

Mother Earth is evidently in convulsion. Its pent-up anger is looking for avenues for its release. Some of the most active zones of the planet are so much in turmoil that the phenomenon called quake is happening much too often now. Bangladesh has perhaps never experienced so frequent jolts in the past. The latest one to shake a wide swathe of the country was on Wednesday, the last day of the Bangla year 2022.
This one was quite powerful and lasted for the longest duration ever. The quake measured at 6.9 and with its epicentre in Myanmar panicked people in all major cities and towns in Bangladesh and north-eastern India. Mercifully no casualty was reported either in Mynmar or Bangladesh or in India. Only a high-rise building tilted against another in Chittagong.   
Japan, sitting on the most active quake zone, also was jolted only a day after on Thursday. First, it was Kyushu island that was hit with a quake measuring at 6.2 magnitude on the Richter Scale, killing nine people. Only a day after another quake of 7.0 magnitude rattled the same area leaving 37 dead and thousands injured. Rescuers were racing against time in order to save lives under rubbles.
Why even a 6.2-magnitude quake accounted for nine lives whereas another of 6.9 magnitude in Myanmar spared lives, buildings and property is no mystery. The two quakes that originated not at a great depth hit the Japanese island almost directly and the impact was telling. But the Mynmar's quake was at a very great depth and thus its impact subsided at the surface. Had this been closer to the surface, the celebration of the Chaitra Sangkranti or for that matter the Bangla New Year -Pahela Baishakh or Baisabi -could turn into a nightmare for many.
After the April quake in Nepal, this region has been shaken quite a few times. But geologists are of the opinion that the Nepal temblor could not quite release the accumulated energy underneath. A quake more devastating than the Nepal's is on the cards. This one is likely to happen on account of the afterslip caused by the stress produced by the Himalayan thrust covering northern India, Pakistan and India.
Bangladesh's geographic location on two major seismic fault lines does in no way reassure that the country will be spared of any such eventuality. There is need for adequate preparedness, particularly for crowded cities like the capital. Dhaka's vulnerability to quakes is no secret. Although the authorities have time and again been letting people know that they have trained an army of volunteers and are procuring equipment for salvage operation, the civil defence's weakness is woefully exposed during a high-rise fire incident or in such an emergency.
Even if in case of a major earthquake, 40-60 per cent buildings of the capital collapse, the rescue operation will prove to be a drop in the desert. When Rana Plaza tragedy occurred in Savar, the girders of a flyover came down in Chittagong or a portion of under-construction flyover collapsed in Kolkata, there was the same feeling of ill-preparedness on the part of the responsible agencies to meet such crises. But these are a single incident each. In case of a powerful quake, there will be innumerable cases of immense gravity and tragedy.
So without considering that the expenditure on advanced machine and equipment can stay awhile, those should be procured as soon as possible in order to handle the emergency arising out of such catastrophes. Also the devices for automatic shutdown of electricity and gas should be put in place without delay. This will help lessen the effects of disaster.