Nothing moves forward in this country without a tragedy taking the nation off guard. It was only after thousands of workers perished in Rana Plaza collapse and other deadly factory fires that apparel producers, retailers, government and international agencies teamed up together to make factories safe for workers. The work is still continuing. Similarly, thousands of seminars and workshops were held in recent past on do's and don'ts in case an earthquakes strikes. But all such efforts have so far ended up with mere calls resounding within the four walls of seminar halls or auditoriums. In this context, the finance minister's fervent plea the other day to go for tremor preparedness will more likely meet a similar fate as there is still no government agency to work in this regard.
That the country is yet to come up with a central command and control system for a coordinated rescue operation in the event of any major earthquake disaster is most unfortunate. It has not yet been officially spelt out who will command, control and coordinate search and rescue operations of different government agencies in the event of any earthquake disaster. There is no emergency operation centre in the capital city for meeting the exigencies when such a disaster occurs. The fire service department divided Dhaka city into four zones with its available workforce, logistics and 13 fire stations. It urgently needs more stations in the capital. The Fire Service and Civil Defence has 300 stations across the country.
Except the Armed Forces Division (AFD), all other 17 government agencies had not prepared their respective contingency plans for an earthquake-related rescue operation. The government departments were asked to prepare the contingency plan more than a decade ago and also the National Plan for Disaster Management thereafter during 2010-15. None of these had been prepared yet. The AFD made its contingency plan a decade ago dividing Dhaka city into eight zones for earthquake disaster management.
It is important to ensure enforcement of the national building code immediately and introduction of automatic shutdown of gas and electricity supply lines in the event of an earthquake. This will, at least, help reduce the impact of the disaster and the number of causalities. It is also crucial to have a central command and also second and third alternatives for an effective and efficient rescue operation. Bangladesh should learn management lessons from Nepal, incorporate chapters on earthquake- and fire-related hazards in academic curriculum, prepare local database on the number of inhabitants and location of safe buildings with the help of ward/union councillors. However, the emphasis has to be put on exercising caution against marking any certain building as vulnerable without a well-founded assessment.
It is to be noted here that there are three active fault lines of the tectonic plates in Modhupur and Dauki and also along the country's eastern boundary zone. These may trigger a major earthquake anytime with the epicentre within Bangladesh territory. The government buildings constructed recently by the Public Works Department were comparatively safer to absorb the shock of any earthquake up to a moderate level, but the old ones are risky. Housing and infrastructure constructed on soft soil by filling marshy lands, stand most vulnerable to any major earthquake. All this has to be considered before a well thought-out preparedness plan is finally put in place.