Quake: No action against Sylhet risky buildings yet

There is no preparation to reduce the damage caused by a major earthquake in Sylhet although experts have feared that after multiple tremors jolted the city recently.

Fearing huge damage in a major earthquake, they suggest high-risk buildings in Sylhet be demolished and each multi-storey building be tested for earthquake tolerance.

Sylhet City Corporation identified risky buildings in the city at different times but no action was taken against them. Regular activities are still going on in these buildings, which doubled the risk.

Due to the 3.8-magnitude quake that jolted Sylhet on 7 June, cracks developed in a building of Raja GC School in Bandar Bazar area. The next day, engineers visited the spot and said the school building was not earthquake-resistant.

Earlier, at least five earthquakes jolted Sylhet between 10am and 2pm on 29 May and the next morning, another quake shook it. The epicentre of all the tremors was in Jaintapur area. 

On 30 May, the city corporation released a list of 25 risky buildings in the city. On the same day, it ordered the closure of seven buildings for 10 days. Additionally, it initiated a survey of all the buildings in the city.  

In a survey conducted by experts from Shahjalal University in 2016, the SCC identified 32 buildings in the city as earthquake-prone.  The list included many houses, shopping malls, educational institutions, hotels, public and private establishments.

However, the corporation took the initiative to demolish these buildings five years ago after giving a notice for closure. Later that demolition work got stuck for unknown reasons. All the buildings have become riskier during the period. 

According to another survey in 2019, there are 25 risky buildings in the city.  These include Collectorate Building-3 on the north side of the Deputy Commissioner's office, Cooperative Bank Bhaban, old office of Women Affairs Officer and Surma Market in Jail Road, City Super Market in Bandar Bazar, Mitali Mansion in Zindabazar and Hotel Ajmer at Dargah gate and Madhuban Super Market in Bandar Bazar.

Following the 29 and 30 May earthquakes, the city corporation ordered the closure of Surma Market, City Super Market, Madhuban Super Market, Cooperative Market, Mitali Mansion and Raja Mansion Market for 10 days.

When asked why the initiative to demolish risky buildings got stuck five years ago, Nur Azizur Rahman, chief engineer of the city corporation, said the demolition work had started then. Later, experts advised renovating the buildings without demolishing them.  Additionally, there are some complexities related to the case.

There are about 70,000 holdings in Sylhet. However, there are many more multi-storey buildings beyond the city corporation's account.  The SCC will again conduct a survey on multi-storey buildings, he added.

Nur Aziz also said as experts' advice, the SCC will take the initiative soon to check whether the city's multi-storey buildings are earthquake-tolerant. It is not possible to demolish all the risky buildings.  However, the corporation will put up warning signboards in front of buildings that are not earthquake-resistant.

According to a survey done a decade ago by an expert team from Bangladesh, Japan and Sri Lanka on 6,000 buildings in Sylhet, most of the commercial buildings in Sylhet are unplanned and highly risky. Most buildings collapse if a 7-magnitude earthquake on the Richter scale shakes the city. That may change the map of Sylhet.   

According to the study, Shahjalal Uposhohor, Akhalia, Bagbari, Madina Market and other areas of the city will suffer the most due to unplanned construction of houses.  Besides, there are many unplanned and risky educational institutions in the city.

Professor Zahir bin Alam of the Department of Environmental Sciences at Shahjalal University of Science and Technology (SUST) who was a member of the study team, said there was no initiative or preparation to reduce the damage although Sylhet was at high risk of earthquakes. 

He said the soil test is a must for constructing a new building.  The building should be single-storey or multi-storey depending on the type of soil. Construction of multi-storey buildings must be prohibited by filling water bodies.  

Buildings need to be constructed using earthquake resistant design and quality construction materials and the old weak ones need to be renovated.  If not possible, it should be broken.  Under no circumstances can a building be constructed in violation of the building code, Prof Zahir said.