Friday was a holiday, and Dhaka residents were in a relaxed mood. But at 10:38am, a 5.7-magnitude earthquake jolted the capital and almost the entire country.
The 26-second tremor shattered the city’s calm, triggering widespread panic. Reports of injuries and deaths began to emerge, and the number continued to rise throughout the day.
As of 9pm, 10 people had been reported dead across the country and more than 300 injured. Among the dead, three were from Old Dhaka, one from Mughda, five from Narsingdi, and one from Narayanganj.
The epicentre was in Madhabdi of Narsingdi, close to Dhaka, but its impact was felt nationwide. Dhaka has not experienced a quake of this scale in recent years, and Friday’s tremor has once again exposed the city’s fragility. Several buildings collapsed or developed major cracks.
A five-storey building collapsed on Link Road in Badda. Multiple buildings on Rampura TV Road toppled onto one another. A six-storey house in Uttara Sector 11 developed a major crack on its second floor. Cracks were also reported in front of the National Institute of Traumatology and Orthopaedic Rehabilitation (Pangu Hospital). An eight-storey building in Sutrapur’s Swamibagh leaned onto another structure. A seven-storey building in Dhanmondi’s Abedkhali Road also collapsed.
Dhaka’s unplanned housing system once again came under scrutiny.
Urban planners say unplanned development, substandard construction materials and lack of maintenance are the key reasons behind the proliferation of risky buildings.
Bangladesh Institute of Planners (BIP) President and Jahangirnagar University Professor Adil Muhammad Khan said that risky buildings result from “unplanned housing, poor-quality materials and lack of proper compliance.”
“Buildings are being constructed on lowlands and wetlands where they shouldn’t be. The soil is weak, but the city keeps expanding. Developers use low-quality materials to cut costs while authorities, including Rajuk, often fail to ensure oversight,” he said.
He added that a corruption-driven construction ecosystem has taken root, leaving tenants most vulnerable. “Many owners don’t live in their own buildings. They use poor materials but collect rent. Tenants face the danger in any disaster.”
He said the building owner is legally responsible for ensuring safety and maintenance. “Under the law, even the owner cannot live in a risky building. The burden of compliance lies entirely with the owner.”
On enforcement, he said governance failures allow violators to escape accountability. “No meaningful action is taken against those who build illegally. The message is clear—you can break the rules without consequences.”
He added that vested interests, including influential business groups and brokers within Rajuk, manipulate rules to approve high-risk buildings. “After a collapse, we should tighten compliance and hold the corrupt accountable. But the opposite is happening.”
Friday’s earthquake, he said, was a warning. “It shows a major earthquake is possible. Many ignored the warnings before, but after this jolt, every Dhaka resident can feel that danger is near.”
He urged tenants to demand building assessments and structural strengthening, and called for a white paper exposing decades of corruption behind Dhaka’s unplanned urbanization.
According to Rajuk, the first list of risky buildings was prepared in 2010 and updated in 2016. There are now 321 extremely risky buildings in Dhaka, mostly in Old Dhaka. Rajuk also identified 30 risky buildings across 21 educational institutions in 2024.
A Rajuk survey conducted under the Urban Resilience Project between 2018 and 2022 found that around 865,000 buildings in Dhaka could collapse if a 6.9-magnitude earthquake struck the Madhupur Fault near Tangail. Such a scenario could result in 210,000 deaths and 229,000 injuries if it occurred during the day.
The estimated economic loss would be $25 billion, with another $44 billion required for reconstruction.
Historical data also show that earthquakes of magnitude 4 or higher have been recorded near Dhaka at least twice in the last 15 years, according to Earthquaketrack. The strongest in recent memory was the 5.1-magnitude quake in Narayanganj in September 2010. Major quakes along the Madhupur Fault occurred in 1822 and 1918, while a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck Manikganj in 1885.
