No one could have known that the sound of stray dogs howling a little before 5 o’clock yesterday morning portended the strongest earthquake to be felt in Dhaka in a year, reportedly more intensely felt than the catastrophic earthquake that hit Nepal in April last year.
Jolted out of their beds just before dawn, Dhaka’s panicked inhabitants raced down the stairs of their multi-storey residences and jumped from balconies and rooftops in search of safety.
Five people died in Bangladesh after suffering strokes or heart attacks brought on by fear, a university student remains in critical condition after leaping from a dormitory balcony and at least 32 others were reported injured in yesterday’s earthquake.
Dhaka was feeling the effect of an earthquake originating 352km away in Manipur, across the border with India, where six were reported killed and over 70 injured.
According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the earthquake measured 6.6 on the Richter scale at its epicentre 29 kilometres west of Imphal, Manipur’s capital.
The United States Geological Survey pegged the tremor at 6.7 on the Richter scale.
The Press Trust of India news agency said buildings had collapsed near the epicentre at Tamenglong and the electricity supply had been cut in parts of Manipur, where AFP reported that “people were crying and praying in the streets and in open spaces.”
In Dhaka, the quake left three residential buildings tilted to one side at Bangshal Road, Shakhari Bazar and Shonir Akhra.
Scared to death
The deceased are Atikur Rahman, 23, of Jurain, Kholilur Rahman, the main cook of Rajshahi University’s Bangabandhu Hall, Sona Mia, 38, of Jamalpur’s Islampur, grocer Nur Islam Kundu of Lalmonirhat and Tahmina Begum, 55, of Panchagarh.
Atikur fell ill while rushing out of his residence when the earthquake struck around 5:05am yesterday. He was declared dead at Dhaka Medical College Hospital around 5:45am.
“He might have died of a cardiac arrest caused by fear,” Riaz Morshed, resident surgeon of the DMCH emergency unit, said.
Kholilur died of cardiac arrest during the earthquake in Rajshahi, Motihar police station Officer-in-Charge Humayun Kabir told the Dhaka Tribune.
Patgram Upazila Nirbahi Officer Nur Kutubul Alam said Nur Islam died in Lalmonirhat of cardiac arrest.
In Jamalpur, Sona Mia is reported to have felt dizzy during the earthquake before collapsing. His elder brother Mrinal Sheikh said Sona Mia was rushed to the upazila health complex where the on-duty doctor declared him dead.
Tahmina Begum also collapsed from fear during the quake and could not be revived.
Gripped by fear
Nayem Hassan, a doctor at Mitford Hospital in the capital, told the Dhaka Tribune that at least five people had been admitted to the hospital with injuries sustained during the earthquake.
Scores were reported injured due to the panicked stampedes that followed the tremor that residents said caused high rises to sway.
At least sixteen Dhaka University students were injured as they rushed out of dormitory buildings and jumped off balconies.
A third-year student of Shahid Sargeant Zahurul Huq Hall is in critical condition at DMCH. He was injured severely after jumping from the fourth-floor balcony a five-storey dormitory building during the earthquake.
Two residents of Mohsin Hall and three residents of Kabi Jasimuddin Hall were injured after they jumped off the roofs of their dormitory buildings.
Three students of Shahidullah Hall, three of Amar Ekushey Hall, two of Surja Sen Hall, two of Bangabandhu Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall and one each of Muktijoddha Ziaur Rahman Hall and AF Rahman Hall were injured in the commotion.
‘We thought the building would crumble’
Reports coming in the aftermath of the earthquake suggest yesterday’s earthquake intensity was greater than the devastating quake that rocked Nepal last year, although the duration was certainly shorter.
Shahbaz Hossain, a resident of Dhaka’s Green Road said the tremors felt during yesterday’s earthquake was “more dreadful” than last year’s Nepal quake.
Our Chittagong correspondent reports that residents of the port city were also panicked by the strong tremors felt yesterday.
“We live on the 11th floor of an apartment building. Everybody was in a panicked state … We thought the building would crumble,” Anwarul Karim, a resident of Chittagong’s Mirzapool area, said.
Over 200 students were in Jahangirnagar University’s Al Beruni Hall (Extension) when the earthquake struck, leaving over 30 fault lines in the floors and walls of the dormitory hall. No one was reported injured, a university source said.
Our correspondent found a massive 20-foot fault in the northern wall of the Captain Mahiuddin Jahangir block of the dormitory.
Several large cracks were found both inside and outside the eastern, western and southern walls of the dormitory’s TV room, with additional cracks found in the guest room, dining room, staff rooms and dormitory mosque.
Students of Chittagong University’s Alaol Hall were also frightened by the intensely felt tremors, where an earthquake in 2011 had left large cracks in 48 pillars of the dormitory building.
Intensely felt
Seismologists and officials said anecdotal evidence is all there is to go on when describing earthquake intensity, not to be mistaken for earthquake magnitude.
Bangladesh Meteorological Department officials said magnitude can be measured with instrumentation but intensity is determined from reports of the responses and experiences of those in an earthquake.
“Our technology measures the magnitude of an earthquake on the Richter scale but not intensity,” said Rubayet Kabir, a senior meteorologist of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department.
It is difficult to say with certainty how intense an earthquake is.
Professor Maksud Kamal of Dhaka University’s Disaster Science and Management Department told the Dhaka Tribune that the only way to measure the intensity of an earthquake is to rely on observations of physical damage and a subjective assessment of fear experienced by the public.
Echoing this, Professor Mehedi Hasan Ansari of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said: “According to what has been shown in the media and based on conversations with people, I would say the intensity of yesterday’s earthquake at its epicentre [near Imphal] was VIII while in Dhaka it was V on the Mercalli Scale.
Regarding causalities in yesterday’s earthquake, both academics said: “This is the result of a lack of awareness.”
Professor Maksud warned that many old and badly built buildings in Dhaka and around the country were at serious risk of collapse in the event of a major earthquake.
“The country does not have the capacity to rescue people trapped under debris if a strong quake jolts the city,” he said.
