Earthquake and Dhaka City - An Approach to Manage the Impact

Abstract

Dhaka city, the soul of Bangladesh is highly vulnerable to the earthquake disaster due to high density of population, unplanned infrastructure and close proximity with India and Myanmar’s active seismic area, poor economic condition, poor emergency preparation and recovery capability. A major earthquake might kill about 88,000 people and demolish 72,000 buildings and damage 86,000 others and economic loss due to damage of structures will be from US $ 650 million to US $ 1,075 million in the capital Dhaka [9]. The government organizations and strategies and community based organizations is important for the management of devastating impact of earthquake in Dhaka city. By introducing proper policy and planning for disaster management, community awareness build up and training, proper implementation of national building code, well coordination among government organizations and infrastructures and nongovernment organizations, enrichment of well equipped rescue team can limit the impact in a manageable boundary. The policy issues regarding disaster like earthquake could be handled mostly at the national level but planning and implementation issues are to be handled at the local community level. The earthquake hazards can never be resisted but the severe damages of earthquake disaster in Dhaka city can be reduced by increasing capacity as it reduces the risk and vulnerability. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.3329/jsf.v9i1-2.14649 J. Sci. Foundation, 9(1&2): 65-75, June-December 2011