Bring all risky buildings under scrutiny

A large portion of buildings in the city are disaster prone. Studies have shown that more than 70 per cent of the buildings will suffer significant damage should an earthquake measuring more than 7 on the Richter scale hit Dhaka. In the midst of all this anxiety, we are informed that due to a trilateral argument over jurisdiction among RAJUK and the two city corporations, 321 already identified risky residential buildings are not being demolished. What is particularly frustrating to note is that even after the collapse of Rana Plaza that cost more than 1,100 lives, we remain blissfully indifferent to what the probable casualty rate will be for the residents if those unsafe buildings were to start collapsing.
Houses and buildings, both commercial and residential continue to be erected violating the building code. The estimate of 321 buildings made by RAJUK in the aftermath of an incident in 2010 is considered by many experts to be grossly understated. Indeed, a statement by the head of RAJUK stated that there were as many as 5,000 illegal structures in the city. The magnitude of the problem truly hits us when we look at a research report by Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) that puts the number of vulnerable buildings at 78,000, of which 6,500 are in the red. It is high time the government sort out this bureaucratic mess and assign one authority to be responsible for dealing with identification and demolition or retrofitting of structures considered a threat to public safety, for we do not need any more avoidable disasters.