Quake jolts country, triggers panic

100 garment workers, DU student among injured in Dhaka, Cumilla, Chandpur


FE REPORT | Published: December 02, 2023 22:51:51


Quake jolts country, triggers panic

A magnitude-5.6 earthquake struck Bangladesh on Saturday morning, injuring more than 100 people including garment workers.
The quake shook different parts of the country, including Dhaka, at around 9:35am, lasting a brief period, according to Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
Earthquakes in Bangladesh are frequent and often cause damage. The earthquakes occur due to a convergent boundary between the Indian Plate and the Eurasian Plate.
At least 100 garment workers at a factory were injured while hastily leaving a building in Chouddagram upazila of Cumilla district, Trinath Saha, the officer-in-charge of Chouddagram police station said.
Additionally, three others, including a college student, suffered injuries while exiting buildings in different locations in the country, according to media reports.


The earthquake's epicentre was in Ramganj of Laksmipur, as reported by the Met office.
Meanwhile, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) recorded the earthquake at a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale.
The seismic event occurred at a depth of 10 kilometres, with the epicentre situated approximately 8.0 kilometres east-northeast of Ramganj, according to USGS data.
The tremor jolted various regions, including Chattogram, Sirajganj, Narsingdi, Sylhet, Khulna, Chandpur, Madaripur, Rajshahi, and Brahmanbaria districts.
An alert from the Android Earthquake Alerts System estimated the earthquake to be of a 5.2 magnitude, providing additional insights into the seismic activity.
BSS adds: The tremor sparked panic among the workers of the Amir Shirt factory, situated in the Chupua area along the Dhaka-Chattogram highway in Cumilla, resulting in many injuries as they tried to rush out of the three-storey building, according to Trinath Saha, officer-in-charge of Chauddagram Police Station.
Anwar Hossain, the factory manager, said the factory employed thousands of workers, and most of them evacuated safely during the earthquake.
UNB adds: Three people including a Dhaka University student were also injured while coming out of buildings in separate.
A student of Dhaka University Minhazur Rahman, a student of Islamic History and Culture Department, was undergoing treatment at Dhaka Medical College Hospital.
Minhazur jumped out of the window of the room number 233 of that hall, Masterda Surja Sen in fear during the earthquake around 9:35 am. Later, he was taken to the DMCH with leg injuries.
In Chandpur, ten people were injured while coming out of a multi-storey building during the earthquake in the district town in the morning.
However, all of them were slightly injured, according to sources at Chandpur District Hospital.
Rabiul Haque, officer-in-charge of the Meteorological Office, said that the place of origin of the earthquake was Ramganj, Lakshmipur.
Another earthquake with a magnitude of 5.1 jolted south of Java, Indonesia at 0537 GMT on the same day, the GFZ German Research Center for Geosciences said.
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