Billboard hazard
Billboards(hoardings) placed on roadside & rooftops in Bangladesh injured several and even claimed lives when they collapsed during heavy gusts of Kalboishakhi (Norwesters). A man was killed at the Chandrima Supermarket in March 2006 when a billboard fell on him. A guard at a gas filling station was killed in a similar accident in June the same year & a boy died last year when a billboard fell on him in front of Shishu (Children's) Park. It appears that no step has been taken to check recurrence of such accidents & at the same time no action has been taken to find a solution to the issue.
With a little application of knowledge of physics it may be possible to find a solution to the issue. The over 100km per hour heavy gusts of Kalboishakhi produce such large amount of thrusts which pull down large billboards causing serious fatalities. The billboard should have a sufficient number of holes of adequate size to let wind pass through & thus sufficiently reduce the thrust on it in order to lessen the hazard. It will be helpful if such provision is included in the Bangladesh Building Code as well as in the Guidelines of the Dhaka City Corporation.
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