Three women died in Bogra, Pabna and Tangail districts after a powerful 7.8-earthquake jolted the country yesterday afternoon.
In Bogra, a woman named Morsheda Begum, 55, was killed after a mud-wall collapsed on her during the earthquake in Unahoto Singra village under Dupchanchia upazila.
In Pabna, panic-stricken Rokeya Khatun, 67, resident of Shahid Siddique Road in the town, died of cardiac arrest while trying to come out of her residence in a hurry. She is a retired teacher of the Gopalpur Primary School and a secretary the local unit of the Awami League.
In Tangail, Morina Begum, 22, a resident of Sayedpur of Mirzapur upazila, got panicked and fainted when she saw her house shaking during the tremor. She was taken to the Kumudini Hospital where the on-duty doctors declared her dead.
One of the strongest to have hit the country in recent times, the quake – that came in two phases – lasted for about two minutes or so in the capital city. The people in many areas in and outside Dhaka, mostly out of panic, rushed out of their homes and offices.
In Comilla, at least 58 female garment workers were injured in the EPZ area in the city as they scrambled to come out of the four-storey building of Kadena Sports Wear Ltd, director of the factory M Abdul Majed said. They were taken to Comilla Medical College Hospital.
In Savar, more than 100 garment workers were injured in a stampede in the multi-storied building of Al-Muslim Group at Karnapara as they tried to rush out of the building in panic. They were taken to the Savar Upazila Health Complex and Enam Medical College Hospital.
Over 60 other panic-stricken people were injured in Narayanganj, Chapainawabganj, Brahmanbaria and Rajshahi districts as well.
At least five buildings were damaged in Dhaka city in the twin jolts that shook most parts of the country from 12:12pm to 12:40pm yesterday.
Enayet Hossain, officer-in-charge of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Headquarters, said: “We have learned that six buildings have become risky after the earthquake.”
He said that three of these buildings, including one of a garment factory, are located at Majar Road in Mirpur; and the other three are in old Dhaka.
One of the buildings in Old Dhaka is located in Bangabazar; one is an eight-storey building near the police outpost at Nawabpur Road in Old Dhaka which developed cracks; and the last one is six-storey building at Ershad Road in Lalbagh’s Islambagh which tilted.
The fire service official said all these buildings were immediately evacuated and the residents in the nearby structures were advised to move away for safety.
Meanwhile, outside Dhaka, five buildings – three in Sagarpara, Malipara and Kadirganj of Rajshahi city and two in Borobazar and Rupsha of Khulna city – caved in because of the tremor.
Our Natore correspondent said that the building of a private clinic tilted and two rooms in a school developed cracks in the quake.
District and upazila administrations have ordered the concerned authorities to stop all the activities until engineers certified the safety of these risky structures.
According to witnesses in Natore, the three-storey building of Ekota Clinic and Diagnostic Centre in the town’s Chokrampur area developed several cracks and got tilted to one side.
Our correspondent in Sunamganj reported that several crop protection embankments in the haor – marshland – areas were destryoed in the jolt.