City developer RAJUK and Dhaka City Corporation have been told to renovate buildings vulnerable to earthquakes, the disaster management minister said on Sunday. Minister Abdur Razzaque spoke to reporters after a meeting with earthquake experts at Secretariat on Sunday.
Around 250,000 buildings in the three major cities of Bangladesh—Dhaka, Chittagong and Sylhet—are extremely vulnerable to earthquakes, according to a recent survey. Some 142,000 among 180,000 buildings in Chittagong; 24,000 out of 52,000 in Sylhet; and 78,000 out of 326,000 buildings in Dhaka were detected as risky.
Nearly 12 lakh extremely poor people in 15 coastal districts of the country remain exposed to the fury of cyclone every year due to inadequate cyclone centre.
More than 200,000 buildings out of the total 3,50,000 in the capital city are vulnerable to earthquake, said an expert working for the government funded Comprehensive Disaster Management Programme (CDMP) here on Saturday.
About 72 percent of buildings in the capital city of Dhaka are vulnerable both to earthquake and fire since they do not have required safety arrangements, according to a survey carried out by a non government organisation (NGO).
About 90 per cent buildings, mostly high rises in the capital, are vulnerable to earthquake and fire as they do not have any arrangements to face these disasters, said a survey report of a civic forum.
Vulnerable Madaripur-Shariotpur-Chittagong highway passing by river Arial Khan may disappear during next rainy season if it is not repaired. l Photo: Banglar Chokh
