Tremor jolts country
A 4.6 magnitude earthquake jolted the city and other parts of the country yesterday morning but there were no reports of casualties or property damage.
City dwellers at 8:56am experienced the tremor that lasted for about 30 seconds. According to the web portal of the United States earthquake information centre, the epicentre of the earthquake was 23.61 km west-southwest of the capital at a depth of 15.7 km.
Prof Syed Humayun Akhter of the geology department, Dhaka University, said the earthquake had originated in Madhupur fault line stretching over 100 km from near Sherpur through Mymensingh, Tangail, Manikganj to Keraniganj.
"Madhupur fault is very active. In 1885, a seven magnitude earthquake occurred at Madhupur fault," he said.
Madhupur fault line is very close to Dhaka, posing threats to people living in this unplanned city. Proper precautionary measures have not been taken in the constructions of high-rise buildings in Dhaka, which makes it the riskiest among all the cities in the world, Humayun said.
The web portal also shows that there were 12 earthquakes across the globe yesterday ranging from 2.7 to 4.9 magnitude, of which Bangladesh suffered the fifth strongest.
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