2.5 lakh buildings extremely vulnerable to earthquake
Says minister
At least 2.5 lakh buildings of the country are extremely vulnerable to earthquake and tsunami, said Food and Disaster Minister Abdur Razzaque yesterday.
Bangladesh is exposed to the calamities as four active sources of earthquake in the Bay of Bengal can generate tremors up to 7-magnitude on the Richter scale, he said, adding that a quake of 6-magnitude may cause massive destructions..
The minister was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of a two-day conference on Management of Complex Emergencies organised by Bangladesh Institute of Peace and Security Studies (BIPSS) at a city hotel.
He said the prime minister would hand over various rescue equipment worth Tk 70 crore to the armed forces division and the fire service department as a preparation to earthquake events.
As per the findings of Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP), a total of 2.5 lakh buildings in Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet are extremely exposed to major earthquakes, said Abdur Razzaque.
As many as 90 earthquakes, including nine over 5 on the Richter scale, were detected between 2007 and 2008, the minister said.
He mentioned that cyclone Sidr claimed 3,295 lives and damaged around 2.2 million acres of croplands along with 1.5 million houses in the southwestern coastal belt of the country in 2007. Last year's Aila rendered 50,000 people homeless and exposed 20 million people to post-disaster health hazards.
Razzaque also said Bangladesh being on top of the Global Climate Risk Index has been projected to have 20 million of its population go "climate refugees" by the year 2050.
Besides the local experts, 12 foreign experts and management practitioners from Pakistan, Nepal, Sri Lanka, China, Singapore, Afghanistan and Canada are taking part at the conference.
Christoph Vogt, head of International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) Dhaka, and Urs Herren, ambassador of Switzerland in Bangladesh, were also present at yesterday's conference.
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