Massive blackout brings Bangladesh to its knees

The biggest blackout in memory that rippled across most parts of Bangladesh including capital Dhaka brought life to its knees on Saturday.

The power outage hit productivity and left numerous patients and medical aid seekers suffering in hospitals.

The collapse of the National Grid at around 11:30am Saturday also led to shortage of water supply in all residential areas across the country.

Power began to flicker on in installments at around 7:30pm. But Bangladesh breathed easier close to midnight when things returned to normal in 80 percent areas of the country.

Power Grid Company of Bangladesh (PGCB) officials said power supply to the remaining 20 percent areas would be restored “very soon”.

Patients at hospitals suffered most during the eight hours of outage. The hospitals managed to take care of emergency cases but patients endured severe heat.

The outage had also hit the readymade garment factories with shipment deadlines hard. Most of them had back-up capacity for a maximum three hours.

Most of the apparel factories called it a day an hour or two after the power failure, BGMEA Vice-President Shahidullah Azim said.

Photo: tanvir ahammed/ bdnews24.com

"We are used to power cuts. But this marathon outage was unprecedented and we are prepared for only two-three hours of power cuts daily," he told bdnews24.com.

"None of the factories are equipped to deal with a long-term power failure," he added.

General Manager of Karnaphuli EPZ in Chittagong's Patenga, Khurshid Alam said they had to continue production by rationing the alternative power supply.

Several factories with shipment deadlines were operating by alternative means.

BGMEA Chittagong Director Md Wahab, who also owns a garment factory in the port city's Muradpur area, said factories outside the EPZ suffered losses most.

Other industrial sectors were not spared either. Many had queued up at oil outlets for diesel to run their generators.

The blackout, though, was a blessing in disguise for candle sellers in Dhaka, which plunged into darkness along with other parts of the country after sundown. They sold their wares at a premium.

Emergency services at hospitals, too, have been disrupted.

Patients suffered at the public hospitals in Dhaka, Chittagong, Barisal and Sylhet.

Photo: suman babu/ bdnews24.com

All health services, apart from first aid, had stopped in Barisal's Sher-e-Bangla Medical College and Hospital after their generator broke down around 2pm.

Many private hospitals in the capital managed the power shortage with generators unlike Dhaka’s National institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (NITOR).

"The patients are suffering as we don’t have a generator," NITOR official Kalam Patwari had told bdnews24.com during the day.

Patients at Chittagong Medical College and Hospital's general wards endured severe heat during the outage while the ICU, CCU and post-CCU units operated with the hospital's own generator.

The hospital’s Director Brig Gen Shahidul Gani was worried that the generator might not withstand the load. "I don't know how long it will provide electricity."

However, contacted over phone, officials of some private hospitals in Chittagong said they were fully operational with their own generators.

But many doctors, asking not to be named, said normal health services were heavily disrupted because of the outage.

Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujib Medical University Director Brig Gen Abdul Majib Bhuiyan said they managed to stay operational through alternative sources of power.

The prolonged power cuts also affected water supply in residential areas across the country including the capital.

Photo: asif mahmud ove/ bdnews24.com

Several residents from Dhaka's Mohammadpur, Mirpur and Mohakhali told bdnews24.com that water supply was shut down and they were unable even to meet their basic needs.

The official residences of the President and the Prime Minister – Bangabhaban and Ganabhaban, respectively – had special power connections as they are among the key point installations.

But residential areas of both Bangabhaban and Ganabhaban officials suffered from the outage.

Shahjalal International Airport, state-run Bangladesh Television and Bangladesh Betar had no trouble operating owing to special power connections.

Chittagong Port, too, was unaffected. “We had no power disruption,” the port’s Deputy Conservator Captain Nazmul Alam said.

Bangladesh Railway Director General Tafazzal Hossain said solar power and generators saw them through the power outage. But he admitted that they had trouble in supplying water to the trains during the period.