Members of the Fire Service and Civil Defence, the official rescue agency in Bangladesh, fear that they themselves may get trapped under the rubble of their office buildings if a strong earthquake hits, let alone rescuing anyone.
The force’s headquarters, located in Bangshal of Old Dhaka, was built in 1979 and has never gone through any repairing or replenishment since, resulting in severe wearing out.
After the shockwaves of the Nepal tremor jolted Bangladesh in April last year, the fire service started keeping the life-saving equipment outside, apparently from a realisation that the equipment may get buried if their risky building collapses.
In fact, the condition of most of the 307 fire service offices across the country is more or less the same. The 13 offices in the capital city are nearly as old as the headquarters and equally vulnerable to earthquakes.
“We are supposed to rescue people. But if a major earthquake – as scientists have predicted – hits, we may need help because our office buildings are very risky,” said Md Akram Hossain, deputy assistant director of Fire Service and Civil Defence.
A project to shift the force’s headquarters in a new facility in Mirpur is already under way but that too would not be complete before 2018.
Strength or weakness?
On papers, the Fire Service is a 8,000-strong force under the Home Ministry. But when put against the nearly 170 million population in Bangladesh, it does not sound strong enough.
This means that there is just one fire fighter for every 21,000 people. However, considering that as many as 2,500 of these 8,000 are drivers, office staff members and administrative officials – not professional rescuers – the ratio looks even more ominous: just one for every 30,000 people.
For Dhaka, which is said to have a population of over 15 million, there are only 600 rescuers. The ratio here is one rescuer for every 25,000 people.
One of the key pieces of the rescue machinery that the Fire Service has is the rescue van – a big truck loaded with all kinds of necessary tools such as lighting units, cranes, fork lifts, crow bars, multipurpose saw, electric chainsaw, power cutter, stretcher, manila rope, etc.
Alarmingly, the force has just four such rescue vans for the entire Dhaka division – the capital city and rest of Dhaka district and 11 others. So, the ratio in this case is just four rescue vans for around 25 million people.
What is more alarming is that these rescue vans are often rendered useless even during regular fire mishaps because they are too big for the narrow roads and streets of Dhaka.
In case there is a big earthquake, there is every chance that most of the roads and streets in the city will be blocked by debris of collapsed structures.
Maj AKM Shakil Newaz, Fire Service director for operations and maintenance, said: “Actually, we have the tools and machinery to conduct rescue operations but we do not have any backups. If any equipment fails during an operation, we have no alternatives.”
According to the department’s headquarters, the government has recently approved Tk198 crore for buying additional machinery and tools for rescue operations.
Rana Plaza lesson
After the Rana Plaza factory building collapse in 2013, in which more than a thousand people were killed and around two thousand maimed, the Fire Service had to bring in reinforcements from its units around the country.
However, if a strong earthquake hits, it is likely that the entire country will bear the brunt. So, the Fire Service members of the Dhaka division will be left on their own to manage the disaster of one of the most densely populated and unplanned cities in the world.
It took rescuers – army and volunteers alongside a full-strength Fire Service – three weeks to complete the Rana Plaza rescue operation and it was just one eight-storey factory building.
A Dhaka Tribune investigation has recently found that the disaster management authorities do not even have a rough idea about how many risky buildings are there in the capital city alone.
According to Relief and Disaster Management Minister Mofazzal Hossain Chowdhury, there are 72,000 risky buildings in the city although the Housing and Public Works Ministry says the number is impractical.
Even if just 10% of that figure is accurate and considering that the Rana Plaza rescue operation took 21 days, the Fire Service members will have to continue rescue operations for an indefinite period of time if a big earthquake hits.
Fortunately, Bangladesh has never been through any earthquake disasters and so Rana Plaza happens to be the only experience for the local rescuers, and it is not a good one.
Fire Service Deputy Assistant Director Md Akram Hossain said: “The Rana Plaza case was different because the floors formed the shape of a sandwich after the building collapsed.
“But that does not usually happen during earthquakes. During earthquakes, one building leans over another. So, it might be easier for us to do our jobs.”
Advices and steps
So, how should Bangladesh prepare for a strong earthquake?
Maj Shakil says: “At this point, making people aware and training them on how they can keep themselves safe during a disaster is the best available option. In addition, it is also mandatory to include other agencies in the rescue operations.”
By other agencies, Maj Shakil referred to the city corporations, hospitals, Wasa, Desa, gas transmission authorities, police and defence.
“The city corporation is responsible for creating a community rescue team and check the status of buildings and roads. Hospitals are responsible for providing medical treatment and ambulance services. The job of police is to ensure security. Utility agencies’ job is to ensure power and gas, and more importantly, water supply to the victims,” he said.
Akram said as the lead stakeholder in the rescue operations, the Fire Service needs to know the capacity of the other agencies in order to better coordinate efforts, but at this point it does not.
“We also need to provide training to the students of schools, colleges and universities and include disaster management in the curriculum,” Maj Shakil said.
Currently, The Fire Service is running a project to train up 62,000 people aged over 18 so that they can work as volunteers.