Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) on Monday said it has so far identified around 300 small and large buildings which are vulnerable to earthquakes.
“Three hundred buildings, large and small, have been identified as vulnerable,” RAJUK Chairman Engineer Riazul Islam told a gathering of quake specialists and engineers about post-earthquake activities at the Institute of Engineers Bangladesh.
M Ashraful Islam, RAJUK’s chief town planner, told BSS over the phone that a primary survey of theirs around the city revealed the 300 buildings to be vulnerable, with “cracks and tilts”.
He stated that eight RAJUK teams were hired to do the main survey after a 5.7 Richter scale tremor rattled the capital on Friday, followed by three more the next day.
Adilur Rahman Khan, Housing and Public Works Adviser, and Syeda Rizwana Hasan, Environment Adviser, attended the IEB meeting and provided policy recommendations to minimise quake damage.
Earthquake disaster management specialists Professor Mehedi Ahmed Ansari and Professor Tanvir Manjur of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) delivered papers on earthquake preparedness and post-earthquake management.
”Along with the preparation of the people, coordinated efforts of all government agencies are essential to reduce earthquake risk.” Adilur Rahman Khan explained.
Rizwana Hasan advocated for more public earthquake knowledge and advised RAJUK to do a thorough assessment of risky buildings.
Housing and Works Secretary M Nazrul Islam urged RAJUK to improve field-level monitoring to oversee building projects and firmly adhere to the ‘zero tolerance’ anti-corruption policy.
The RAJUK chairman asked for help from all parties, including building developers and owners, as well as government organisations, because “we have to work in a coordinated manner to deal with the post-earthquake situation in the capital”.
”Coordinated work is a must for dealing with the post-earthquake situation,” he told reporters.
Representatives from various government departments, emergency service providers, professional organisations, specialists and researchers from universities like as BUET and Dhaka University, REHAB, and both city corporations attended the meeting.
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