Earthquakes shake Bangladesh’s Sylhet again

Two earthquakes have shaken Sylhet, nine days after a series of tremors spread panic among citizens of the region.

In the city, panicked people rushed out of residential and office buildings to safety when the latest quakes struck on Monday evening.

No casualties were reported immediately.

Sayeed Ahmed Chowdhury, a senior meteorologist at Bangladesh Meteorological Department’s Sylhet office, said the tremors were felt at 6:27pm and 6:29pm.

The 3.8 magnitude quakes’ epicentre was 188km northeast from Dhaka.

Experts call for earthquake drills after a string of tremors shake Sylhet  

After at least four tremors in four hours on May 29, Sylhet experienced earthquakes the next morning, triggering panic and call from experts to arrange regular safety drills.

The authorities sealed 24 buildings declared vulnerable after the quakes. One of the buildings also tilted after the tremors.

Dhaka University’s Earth Observatory detected the epicentre of last month’s tremors near the east end of the Dauki fault, a major fault along the southern boundary of the Shillong Plateau that causes seismic hazards for the adjoining areas, including Bangladesh’s northeast.

It has made the Sylhet region prone to earthquakes, experts said.