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Bangladesh in danger!

Salah Uddin Shoaib Choudhury - 9/24/2009

While a very powerful earthquake struck Himalayan region, causing at least 20 deaths and destruction in the small mountaneous nation of Bhutan, for two days, there had been several earthquakes in Bangladesh, while meteorologists are giving warning of massive earthquake in the country within a week, which may destroy more tha 30 per cent buildings within Dhaka, Sherpur, Sylhet, Nilphamari, Netrakona, Faridpur, Rangpur, Sirajganj, Sunamganj and other parts of the country. In Bangladesh on September 21, 2009, the tremor - measuring 7.2 on the Richter scale - shook Dhaka, the capital city of the country and Dhaka, Sherpur, Sylhet, Nilphamari, Netrakona, Faridpur, Rangpur, Sirajganj, Sunamganj and other parts of the country. The earthquake was felt as far away as Dhaka in Bangladesh and Lhasa in Tibet. Buildings cracked in Guwahati, the capital of the northeast Indian state of Assam. The epicenter of the quake was in the eastern part of the remote nation of Bhutan, between India and China. The U.S. Geological Survey says the epicenter of the quake was near the border of Bhutan and India, about 125 kilometers from Guwahati and at a shallow depth of 6.4 kilometers. The region is considered to be seismically active and last suffered a devastating 8.5 magnitude quake in 1950, blamed on a collision of the Indian and Eurasian tectonic plates. That temblor killed more than 1,500 people in Assam.



It is feared that millions of people will die if moderate to strong earthquakes hit the three major cities of Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet that are situated in risky earthquake zones. According to a recent government study, some one hundred and thirty-two thousand people will die instantly while about thirty-three thousand will need hospitalisation in the capital city alone if an earthquake of 7.5 magnitudes jolts it. The study reveals that at least 10 major hospitals in the capital will be destroyed completely and another 241 clinics and hospitals partially. Strong earthquakes will create human catastrophes in Bangladesh. During the last three years, the observatory at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and the Meteorological Department separately recorded 90 tremors, at least nine of them with magnitudes above five on the Richter scale. There were 25, 18 and 4 recorded incidents of earthquakes in Bangladesh having intensity of more than 6, 7 and 8 respectively during the last 175 years. The 1897 Great Indian Earthquake of the Shillong plateau that also jolted northeastern part of the country had a magnitude of 8.7 in the Richter Scale.



According to Bangladeshi expert ASM Maqsud Kamal, national advisor to Comprehensive Disaster Program for Tsunami, Cyclone and Earthquake, As many as 142,000 out of 180,000 buildings in Chittagong, 24,000 of another 52,000 structures in Sylhet and 78,000 out of 326,000 buildings in Dhaka cities have been labelled as risky. 'Seismic hazard and vulnerability assessment' survey was conducted between Feb 2008 and Aug 2009 to single out the highly vulnerable buildings using a modern software HAZUS in the three cities’, he added.



Also a Dhaka University professor of geological sciences, Kamal said, "We had faced only two-three severe earthquakes in the last 150 years, and because of the long intervals, the possibility of a dangerous strike looks imminent."



In Bangladesh, since 2002, a joint venture cement grinding company introduced cement, which is mixed with Fly Ash, now mostly used by most of the cement grinding companies in the country. According to experts, while regular method of producing cement is mixing 95 percent clinker with 5 per cent gypsum, which makes Portland Grey Cement, conventionally used for various types of construction, the cement produced with approximately 70 percent clinker and 30 percent fly ash could be used in any light construction only. But, in Bangladesh, such cement has been largely used in major constructions, including bridges and high-rise buildings, leaving serious risk of massive devastation once earthquake measuring above 8 in Richter scale takes place in the country. In such case, according to experts, more than 70 percent of the existing buildings and bridges, constructed with fly ask mixed cement may collapse completely or partially, causing huge number of deaths.



According to several reports in the media, there has been major crack in Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge, the largest bridge in Bangladesh, constructed over the River Jamuna. South Korean company Hyundai Corporation constructed the bridge few years back costing few hundred million dollars. Experts said, these cracks in Bangabandhu Multipurpose Bridge was result of fly ash mixed cement used in the construction.



A local non-governmental organization named Action Now has been campaigning since 2003 to create awareness amongst the people about the risk of using fly ash mixed cement in heavy construction. Amir Ansar, an official of Action Now said, some unscrupulous businessmen invested the method of selling fly ash mixed cement in the local market as such productions are much cheaper compared to clinker-gypsum mixing formula. Locals were completely unware of the severe risk in using such cement in heavy constructions. He said, fly ash is basically collected from Hydro Power Stations, which is one kind of industrial waste largely available in India and other countries. Bangladesh spend hundreds of millions of dollars for past several years in importing this industrial waste from India, thus mixing it with clinker and using in heavy constructions, leaving maximum risk of hazard, in case of earthquake. Although Bangladeshi government banned use of fly ash mixed cement in heavy constructions in 2002, the tendency of using such cement continued due to massive efforts and publicity drive by the local cement manufacturers as well as some multi-national companies involved in the business of cement production.

After 150 years of the Great Earthquake in Bangladesh, the country is once again in grave danger. This time, if earthquake will take place above 8 in Richter Scale, devastations will be even beyond speculations. It will be completely impossible for the government alone to handle such severe catastrophe. Moreover, for a developing nation with limited resources, Bangladesh will need decade to overcome any such loss of earthquake. With hundreds of high-rise buildings, mostly constructed with fly ask mixed cement, housing hundreds and thousands of people, the country virtually stands on time bomb without any remedy to overcome the situation.