Earthquake preparedness in Bangladesh

The country does have a natural disaster preparedness plan, and in the event of floods or cyclones, the authorities have performed adequately. But planning for earthquakes is almost entirely absent from the thinking on disaster preparedness, and the lesson from the recent catastrophe is that this must change. Earthquake preparedness must be made a top priority.

There are several steps that the government should put in place, both short term and long term, in order to minimise the threat to life and property that results from earthquakes.

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In the first instance, earthquake first responders, such as the fire department and civil defence are presently under the home ministry, where they have a peripheral existence, and they must be brought under the disaster management ministry, and coordinated with the other disaster management bodies.

Second, investment must be made in human resources and equipment, so that first responders are sufficiently trained, financed, and equipped to be able to handle a huge crisis.

Finally, it should be understood that a piecemeal and ad hoc approach won't suffice. There must be in place a comprehensive plan and policy to tackle the problem.

However, in the long run we should be concerned more with prevention than with response. Nothing can prevent earthquakes of course, but much can be done to minimise the resulting damage.

We are talking about enforcing building codes when it comes to construction. For the most part, buildings are constructed with no engineering input whatsoever, and building permission is granted with no thought to the making the building earthquake-safe.

The building safety code needs to be rewritten as a legislative act, with stiff provisions to make it enforceable. It is time to take this issue seriously. If existing strictures need to be remodeled or demolished to ensure public safety, we should be prepared to do so.

The expense of ensuring compliance with regulations and making buildings safer pales in comparison with the expense, both in terms of life and economic cost, if we continue down the same path as we have been.