The 5.7-magnitude earthquake that struck BD has claimed at least 10 lives and injured hundreds more.

The Energy Tribune news desk

On Friday morning, a strong 5.7-magnitude earthquake hit Bangladesh. It killed at least 10 people, hurt hundreds more, and damaged buildings all over several districts, such as Dhaka, Narsingdi, Narayanganj, Munshiganj, Gazipur, and Manikganj.  When people felt the quake at 10:38 a.m., they ran out of their homes, offices, and high-rises because the buildings shook strongly for a few seconds.

The Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) stated that the epicentre was in Madhabdi, Narsingdi, which is about 13 km east of Agargaon in Dhaka and is the national seismic centre.  The USGS reported that the earthquake measured 5.5 on the Richter scale, with its centre located approximately west-southwest of Narsingdi.

Reports from all over the country show that the earthquake caused a lot of fear, damaged too many buildings, and led to a number of fatal collapses.

Five Dead in Narsingdi—the Epicentre District Narsingdi had the most deaths and injuries, with five people killed and over 100 hurt, according to district officials.

The people who died are Hafez Omar, 8, Delowar Hossain Ujjal, 37, Kaziem Ali Bhuiyan, 75, Nasir Uddin, 60, and Forkan, 40.

Authorities say that during the earthquake in Chinishpur, building materials fell from a building that was still being built and hurt Omar and his father, Delowar, terribly.  Dhaka Medical College Hospital pronounced both of them dead at the end.

Kaziem Ali, who was 75 years old, was killed when his mud house in Palash upazila fell down.  Nasir Uddin, another man, died when he lost control in the fields and fell off a nearby cliff while trying to get to safety.

Forkan fell from a tree in Shibpur during the quake and died on the way to the hospital.

Many homes and buildings in Narsingdi town and the upazilas around it, like Belabo, Raipura, Monohardi, and Madhabdi, got cracks, and some buildings even started to lean.

In Old Dhaka, the collapse of building balustrades and scaffolding claimed the lives of three people.

People were walking in Armanitola Koshaituli in Old Dhaka when a fence, bamboo scaffolding, and pieces of a five-story building fell on them and crushed them to death.

These two people were named as victims:

Rafiul Islam, 21, is a student at Sir Salimullah Medical College. Sabuj, 30, is a nurse.

People who saw what happened said Rafiul and his mother were at the local market when the railing fell right on top of them.  Rafiul died soon after being taken to the hospital, and his mother is still in serious condition after surgery.

Police stated that there was another victim, but their name had not been made public yet.

Fatal fall in the Mugda Area of Dhaka

Maksud, a 50-year-old security guard from Modinabag, Mugda, died when a fence from a building that was still being built fell on him while he was trying to get out.

People in the area rushed him to Mugda Medical College Hospital, but after an hour, they said he was dead.

A newborn is killed when a wall falls in Narayanganj.

In Rupganj, Narayanganj, a baby girl named Fatema was killed when a wall along the side of the road fell on her mother and a friend as they ran out of their home in fear.

Fatema passed away right there.  Her mother, Kulsum Begum, and her friend, Jasmine, were both seriously hurt and taken to the hospital.

Damage to buildings has been reported in both the capital and the districts. Buildings have been tilted and cracked.

• A building in Dhaka’s Badda Link Road shook after the quake.
• Several buildings at Jahangirnagar University, including the brand-new Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Hall, displayed cracks.
• An eight-storey building allegedly leaning on top of another in Sutrapur’s Swamibagh led to an emergency inspection. People in Kalabagan thought a seven-storey building was leaning, but firefighters later found it to be stable and said the call was likely caused by fear.

Debris That Falls

A brick from a still-under-construction building in Khilgaon injured a homeowner. In Gournadi, Barishal, people said their homes shook “violently several times”, which caused them to leave their houses.

A fire broke out in a house in Baridhara, and firefighters were still putting it out at the time of the report. Another fire broke out in Gajaria, Munshiganj, and its connection to the earthquake is still unknown. Inspection teams later ruled out a collapse at the chief adviser's office, finding no structural damage.

Many emergency calls were answered by fire departments, but many of them turned out to be minor plaster falls or false warnings caused by fear instead of a real problem with the building.

Factory panics because of locked exits

Workers said that workplaces in Tongi’s BSCIC area and Sreepur municipality were very chaotic, with locked exits that kept workers inside while the buildings shook.  People were afraid of bigger collapses like those in past industrial disasters, but there were no reports of major injuries at these sites.

National Vulnerability Brought to Light Again

Experts brought up old hazard studies as a stark warning of how vulnerable Bangladesh is to earthquakes.  If there is a 6.9-magnitude earthquake along the Madhupur fault, it could destroy 40per cent to 64per cent of Dhaka’s buildings, which is about 864,619 to 1,391,685 structures. If there is a 7.1-magnitude earthquake along the Sylhet lineament, it could destroy 1.9per cent to 14.6per cent of Dhaka’s buildings, which is about 314,742 structures.

Even though Friday’s tremor was only moderately strong, it showed how even a moderate quake can cause widespread fear, damage to buildings, and even death if they are not built to withstand them.

In Dhaka, there were many videos on social media of buildings shaking, walls breaking, and people running out of high-rises.

 A country on high alert

Throughout the day, emergency services stayed ready, and engineers and inspectors were sent to Dhaka and other areas to check the structure’s strength.

Even though aftershocks are still possible, by the afternoon, no big secondary tremors had been found, according to officials.

Authorities say that Friday’s earthquake shows how badly buildings need to be made safer and people need to be better prepared in one of the most highly populated seismic zones in the world. The death toll is still going up, and reports are still coming in from rural areas.