72,000 city buildings at quake risk: Minister
Minister for Food and Disaster Management Dr Abdur Razzaque yesterday said over 72, 000 buildings in and around Dhaka city would collapse if the capital is hit by a 7 magnitude earthquake.
The minister was speaking after inaugurating a two-day workshop on ''Risk Resilient Infrastructures: Role of Education and Training'' at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (Buet).
He said academics of Buet could serve an important role to reduce the risk of disasters like earthquake by inventing modern technology.
As part of government initiative to deal with such disastrous situation and minimise the risk, about 62,000 volunteers have been trained under Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP), said Dr Razzaque.
He also stressed the need for the involvement of community people and the use of modern technology side-by-side to reduce the risk of any kind of disasters including earthquakes.
He urged academics to give priority to the experiences of the people who faced destruction of natural calamities over the years, referring to the recent cyclones Aila and Sidr.
''We should use the experiences of the affected people on how they had re-started their lives by involving themselves voluntarily in the reconstruction of damaged embankments within weeks of disaster.'' The minister called upon all to work collectively to reduce risk of disaster, as government alone could not do so.
Buet Vice Chancellor Prof Dr Nazrul Islam chaired the function, which was addressed, among others, by Buet Pro-Vice Chancellor Prof Habibur Rahman, National Project Director of CDMP Abdul Qyaium, and Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, director of Buet-JIDUPS (Buet-Japan Institute of Disaster Prevention and Urban Safety).
CDMP and Buet- JIDUPS jointly organised the workshop participated by over 130 academics, experts and representatives of Wasa, Rajuk, Desa, Desco and other institutes including Cuet.
The objective of workshop is to assess the current status of architecture, engineering, urban, and regional planning curricula in Buet and other institutes to obtain input from different professionals practicing in this field to develop an outline for Master's programme on disaster management.
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