Early morning earthquake jolts Bangladesh on Thursday

Concerns mount over the recent series of quakes felt across the country

An earthquake has jolted Bangladesh early on Thursday morning.

Rubaiyat Kabir, an official at the Seismic Monitoring Centre of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD), said the quake struck at 6:14:45am on Thursday.

He told bdnews24.com that the epicentre of the quake was at Narsingdi’s Shibpur, 38km northeast of Dhaka. It was a mild tremor measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale.

European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) said the epicentre was situated 3 kilometre north of Narsingdi.

Another earthquake had struck at 4:15pm on Nov 27 with its epicentre in Narsingdi’s Ghorashal. It registered at magnitude 4 on the Richter scale.

Last Monday, another jolt occurred at Myanmar’s Falam which was felt in Bangladesh’s Chattogram region. According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS), the quake struck at 12:55am Bangladesh time and registered a magnitude of 4.9 on the Richter scale.

Before that, a deadly earthquake – the strongest in several decades – had shaken Bangladesh on Nov 21. At least 10 people were killed in three districts and more than 600 people were injured.

That 5.7-magnitude quake had its epicentre in Narsingdi’s Madhabdi, just 13km from Dhaka, and its hypocentre lay 10km beneath the surface.

The next morning, a 3.3-magnitude quake shook Palash in Narsingdi. Before residents recovered from that jolt, two more tremors hit the same evening within seconds of each other -- one centred in Dhaka’s Badda and the other again in Narsingdi.

After repeated earthquakes, experts have urged the government to swiftly determine the necessary emergency measures.

On Nov 21, Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, BUET civil engineering professor warned the authorities that “today’s earthquake can be termed a foreshock. Before a major earthquake, smaller tremors like this occur”.

Geoscientist Prof Syed Humayun Akhter believes Bangladesh faces the threat of a major earthquake. He said the danger had reached an alarming level due to a lack of public awareness and insufficient government planning and preparedness.

In his view, earthquakes cannot be stopped, prevented or predicted, but their impact can be reduced if the right decisions are taken.

“The bottom line is that we must build our capability, and adopt short-term, medium-term and long-term plans for earthquake resistance and disaster management.”

Amid mounting public anxiety, Chief Advisor Muhammad Yunus convened an emergency meeting on Monday with experts and relevant officials. The meeting decided to form a taskforce.