Editorial
Latest tremors
One hopes it would jolt the authorities into action
The tremor that the country felt the day before was perhaps the strongest in recent times. We had been subjected to mild tremors, a number of them in fact, in the last few years that have created a sense of worry among the public. And given our location near a tectonic plate there is no gainsaying when we might be hit with an earthquake of a more severe intensity.
The damages were light too, and we have only Providence to be grateful to that it was not worse than 6.8 on the Richter scale.
And that is exactly what begs the question. How prepared are we to survive an earthquake of a more severe intensity than what we got last Sunday. And if there needs to be a wake up call what better than this.
The two issues that keep on coming to the fore whenever we discuss disasters are our vulnerability to earthquakes, much of which is due to our own follies and our indifference to public safety, and our lack of preparedness in this regard. Our vulnerability has increased manifold due the unchecked urbanisation of the major conurbations, particularly Dhaka city. What we have noticed are actions that are at best perfunctory, which do not address two very important matters, that of dealing with pre and post-earthquake phases.
Since we have no way of preventing earthquakes, the best way to deal with it is to reduce its aftereffects; by making the structures and buildings earthquake resistant. As the matter stands today, about 72,000 of the 3, 26, 000 high-rise buildings in the capital, according to the recent report of the Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme, are not.
The authorities must also ensure that all the new buildings are made appropriately earthquake proof, and the ones that are not are retrofitted, particularly the KPIs. Attention must also be paid towards public awareness building; the other important issue relating to conduct of regular earthquake drills which must take into consideration the schools, most of which are extremely vulnerable.
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