Home ›› 28 May 2023 ›› Nation
Sylhet is an earthquake-prone region in the country and as per the historical data it may face a big quake anytime.
Experts fear that such a big earthquake may cause massive damages and huge deaths as the authorities in the region have literally no preparations to combat the disaster.
In the last two years, Sylhet has experienced at least 15 earthquakes. Experts call Sylhet a danger zone for earthquakes as multiple faults are active in the tectonic plates of the area.
After several earthquakes in 2021 and 2022, some initiatives have been taken to deal with the risk, but they have not been implemented so far.
In May 2021, Sylhet City Corporation (SCC) shut down six vulnerable business establishments in a building named Raja Mansion. They were to be demolished to prevent them from collapsing during an earthquake.
However, they have not been demolished, on the contrary, after being closed for some time, the shops have reopened.
Former President of Raja Manson Business Committee Abdul Khaliq said, “The building was assumed to be vulnerable in 2016 without proper testing. However, after various surveys and tests, the engineers said that the stability of the building can be increased by retrofitting.”
He added that the building has been renovated and is now risk-free.
According to the Meteorological Department, among the 20 earthquakes that originated within the country 11 of them were in Sylhet region. The remaining seven originated in border areas and neighbouring countries.
Experts said that repeated earthquakes in a place mean that the fault lines between tectonic plates are active.
Meanwhile, the earthquake tolerance test initiative of 42,000 multi-storied buildings in Sylhet is also stopped. According to SCC officials, the buildings cannot be inspected due to the lack of funding.
Due to the initiatives not being implemented the risk of earthquake damage is increasing day by day. After the recent disastrous earthquakes in Turkey and Syria, residents of the district have raised the issue of risks again.
After six successive earthquakes in May and June 2021, experts suggested earthquake resistance testing of all high-rise buildings in the city and demolition of high-risk buildings to reduce damage in major earthquakes.
Some buildings in Bandar Bazar and Zindabazar areas of the city were tested by the experts of Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST).
SUST’s Environmental and Civil Engineering Department Professor Dr Zahir Bin Alam was a member of the team that conducted the experiments.
He said, “Most of the multi-storey buildings of Sylhet have been built without planning. About 74.4 per cent of buildings are not built earthquake resistant. As a result, a majority of high-rise buildings can collapse if there is a magnitude 7 earthquake.”
He also said, “All the buildings of the city should be tested at once. Retrofitting can also be done without demolishing all vulnerable buildings. It can be built as earthquake resistant with supporting power.”
SCC published a list of 25 vulnerable buildings in the city on May 30, 2021. On that day, seven business establishments namely Surma Market, City Super Market, Madhuban Super Market, Samabay Market, Mitali Manson and Raja Manson were ordered to be shut down for 10 days.
At the same time, SCC took the initiative to test about 42,000 multi-storied buildings in the city. But the initiative did not go ahead due to a lack of funding. After the scheduled 10 days, the closed buildings were opened without any renovation.
In this regard, SCC’s Chief Engineer Nur Azizur Rahman said, “We instructed the owners to temporarily shut down and renovate 10 high-risk buildings. But they did not listen. They file cases in courts if we try to demolish the buildings.”
The engineer further said that they took a detailed evaluation initiative with the help of an organisation in Dhaka. However, the company asks for a fee of Tk 40,000-50,000 per building for a detailed evaluation.
“The SCC does not have the funds to spend Tk 25-30 crores in total for the evaluation examination. So we have yet to reach an agreement in this regard,” he added.
He also said, “According to the rules, owners should provide the money for the inspection of the buildings. But no one is willing to pay.”
SCC sources said in 2016, another initiative was taken to test the earthquake resistance of multi-storey buildings in the city. Even then, the initiative got stuck before the implementation stage.
The city’s Fire Service and Civil Defence Assistant Director Md Shafiqul Islam Bhuya said, “Many multi-storied buildings in Sylhet have been constructed without permission. The roads are also narrow and our units can barely enter. In this regard, the city authorities must be proactive.”
