Bangladesh Earthquake Claims Lives and Injures Hundreds

A significant earthquake struck Bangladesh on Friday morning, registering a magnitude of 5.5 on the Richter scale. The tremor has resulted in the deaths of at least five individuals, including a child, and has left over 450 others injured, according to multiple sources including local media and officials from the Bangladesh Fire Service.

The epicentre of the earthquake was located in the Narsingdi district, approximately 30 kilometres (about 18.6 miles) from the capital city, Dhaka. The earthquake occurred at around 10:38 a.m. local time, with a reported depth of 10 kilometres (6 miles), as per the United States Geological Survey (USGS).

In Dhaka, buildings swayed violently during the quake, prompting many residents to flee their homes and offices. Eyewitness accounts describe a chaotic scene, particularly at Dhaka University, where at least ten students were injured in a stampede as they attempted to evacuate.

Syeda Rizwana Hasan, an environmental adviser to the government, remarked, "We have never experienced an earthquake this powerful in the last five years."

Tragically, three of the fatalities occurred when debris from a five-storey building in the Armanitola area of Dhaka fell onto pedestrians. Deputy Police Commissioner Mallik Ahsan Uddin Sami confirmed these casualties, stating that the victims were at a local butcher's shop at the time.

The Director of the Department's Monitoring Division, Nitai Chandra De Sarkar, reported that 461 injuries had been documented across the country, with 252 injuries occurring in the Gazipur district, which is situated to the north of Dhaka. Many of these injuries were sustained by garment factory workers who rushed to exit their workplaces during the quake, resulting in further panic and stampedes.

Local resident Bengali Sadman Sakib shared his experience with Reuters, describing the tremors as unprecedented in his lifetime. He stated, "I have never felt such tremor in my 30 years of life. We were at the office when the furniture started shaking."

Another individual, Abdullah, a student who was asleep during the incident, described the experience as unsettling, saying, "The whole building was shaking."

Tremors from the earthquake were felt in eastern Indian states bordering Bangladesh, including West Bengal, although no significant damage has been reported in those areas.

The earthquake also briefly interrupted a cricket match between Ireland and Bangladesh, with players and spectators taking precautions as the ground shook.

Heinrich Malan, the head coach of the Irish cricket team, expressed concern for those affected, stating, "It's never a nice feeling and you're trying to understand what is happening in the moment around you, but also the bigger impacts about where the earthquake struck."

Experts have warned that Bangladesh, home to around 170 million people, is ill-prepared for high-magnitude earthquakes, particularly in densely populated areas like Dhaka, which has approximately 2.1 million buildings. The USGS notes that while northern and southeastern regions of Bangladesh are seismically active due to tectonic plate interactions, the central part of the country is less prone to significant earthquakes. Since 1950, only 14 earthquakes measuring 5.5 or higher have occurred within a 250-kilometre radius of the recent tremor.