EARTHQUAKE IN

BANGLADESH
Prof. Dr. Mushtaq Ahmed
Department of Civil & Environmental Engineering
Shahjalal University of Science & Technology Sylhet, Bangladesh

Bangladesh is one of the most earthquake

prone countries in the world. Specialists are
expecting a severe earthquake in this area in
near future, which will cause a serious
human casualty, damages of infrastructure
and other losses. Probability of earthquake in
Sylhet, the most important city of northeastern area, is higher than any other cities
of the country.

The tectonic evaluation of Bangladesh

can be explained as a result of collision
of the north moving Indo- Australian
plate with the Eurasian plate. The
whole Indian subcontinent is situated on
the junction of these two plates.
Boundary line between these plates is
very near to Bangladesh.

There are several fault zones active in & around

Sylhet, which are also sources of earthquake.
These are:

Assam fault zone

Probable magnitude in
Bangladesh (in Richter scale)
8.0

Tripura fault zone

7.0

Sub Dauki fault zone

7.3

Bogra fault zone

7.0

Location

Source: Bolt (1987)

Study of ADPC

Five Earthquake Scenarios

Earthquake Fault Zones

Seismotectonic
lineaments
capable of
producing
damaging
earthquakes
(Source:
Banglapedia)

Magnitude, EMS intensities of some major historical

earthquakes affecting Sylhet
Name of
earthquake

Date

Magnitude
(in Richter
scale)

Intensity
in Sylhet
(in EMS
scale)

Location
of
epicenter

Epicentral distance
(in km)
from
Sylhet

From
Dhaka

Jainta,
Assam,
India

90

250

Cachar
earthquake

10 January,
1869

7.5

VIII

Bengal
earthquake

14 July,
1885

7.0

Bogra,
Bangladesh

235

170

Great Indian 12 June,

earthquake 1897

8.7

IX

Assam
basin, India

150

230

Srimongal
earthquake

8 July,
1918

7.6

VII

Srimongal,
Bangladesh

70

150

Dhubri
earthquake

2 July,
1930

VI

Dhubri,
Assam,
India

195

250

7.1

Isoseismal map of Cachar Earthquake

1869 (after Sabri, 2001)

The isoseismal map of great Indian

earthquake of 1897

Seismic
Zoning Map
of Bangladesh
(Source:
BNBC)

Some recent earthquakes affecting

Chittagong (Chowdhury, 2005)

Bandarban EQ: magnitude 5.6, November 21,

1997, Epicenter- southern Mizoram, India
Moheshkhali EQ: magnitude 5.1, July 22, 1999,
Epicenter- Moheshkhali
Barkal (Rangamati) EQ: magnitude 5.5, July 27,
2003, Epicenter- 5.7 kilometres SW of Daluchari,
Chittagong
Roninpara EQ: magnitude 5.2, November 7, 2007,
Epicenter- 2 kms WSW of Roninpara, Chittagong

Crack on earth, Rangamati earthquake, 2003

Seismic Zones
Zone 3 = 0.25g
Zone 2 = 0.15g
Zone 1 = 0.075g

Modified Seismic Zoning Map of

Bangladesh

existing physical
vulnerabilities

Some findings of a survey in ward 7

of Sylhet city
Parameters

% of houses

1 storied buildings

2 storied buildings

3 and above storied

buildings

73.34 %

18.34 %

8.32 %

Age of the
houses

0-9 years

10-19 years

20 and above years

63.65 %

17.93 %

18.42 %

Have life
lines

Gas

Electricity

Telephone

84 %

93 %

45 %

Residential

Shop

Office, School,
Mosque etc.

94.60 %

4.60 %

0.8 %

Story

Building use
pattern

Some findings of a survey in ward 7

Parameters

Shape of the
house

% of houses

Rectangular,
square and
box

L shape

U shape

Other shapes

76.41 %

15.43 %

3.55 %

6.61 %

3 brick wall

5 brick wall

10 brick wall

Tin/ bamboo
wall

5.86 %

87.48 %

0.24 %

6.24 %

Foot

Wall

Raft

Without
foundation

47.66 %

42.97 %

0.53 %

8.84 %

<5

5 to <10

10 to <15

15 to <20

3.55 %

61.1 %

27.1 %

7.92 %

Wall type

Foundation
type
Width of the
adjacent
road

Fragility curve for different building types based on EMS intensity

(developed by Arya, 2000 and calibrated by Ansary, 2003).
No
Types
.
1 EMSB1

EMSB2

3
4

EMSC
EMSD

EMSF

Description

1- storied brick masonry of fired bricks with cement or lime mortar; roof is
either of GI sheet or other materials
2-storied or taller brick masonry of fired bricks with cement or lime mortar;
roof is generally made of RCC slab. Some weak and old reinforced concrete
frame.
Reinforced concrete frame with low ductility; designed for vertical load only.
Reinforced concrete frame with moderate ductility; designed for both vertical
and horizontal loads.
Mainly bamboo, wooden and steel structures.

25/1, West Pirmoholla

Building Type EMSD

21, West Pirmoholla

Building Type EMSB1

36/10, Nurani
Building Type EMSB2

Pirmoholla Bazar
Building Type EMSC

13, West Pirmoholla

Building Type EMSF

Estimated damage of different types of

buildings at EMS intensity IX
Building
Type
EMSB1

No. of
Building
506

Damage
Ratio
0.70

No. of Damaged
Building
354

EMSB2

10

0.73

EMSC

626

0.47

294

EMSD

0.22

EMSF

93

0.12

11

Total

1238

666

Estimated damage of different types of buildings at

EMS intensity IX : 666 out of 1238

Human Casualty and Injury

Ksb=Db*[M1b*M2b*M3b*M4b]
M1b are occupant density rate of building type b.
M2b is the occupancy of buildings at the time of the earthquake. M2b
is 0.62, 0.42 and 0.8 for morning, noon and midnight respectively
(Coburn and Spence, 1992).
M3b is proportion of occupants who are trapped by the collapse of
buildings, which depends on the type of buildings.
M4b depends upon type of casualty (death or injury).
Type of buildings

EMSB1
EMSC
EMSB2
EMSD
EMSF

Value of M3b at
intensities:
VIII IX
X
and 10% 20% 40%
20% 40% 80%
5% 10% 20%
3% 5% 10%

Type of buildings

EMSB1
EMSB2, EMSC
and EMSD
EMSF

Value of M4b for

estimating:
Killed
injured
20%
30%
40%
50%

10 %

(Coburn et al., 1992)

10%

1000
900
800
700
600
500
400
300
200
100
0

Number of fatality

VIII

EMS intensity
IX

IX

Midni ght

Noon

Morni ng

Midni ght

Noon

Morni ng

Noon

Midni ght

Number of injury

Morni ng

No. of fatali ti es and injuri es

Fatalities and injuries due to earthquake of different intensities

Time of occurrence Number of fatality

in the day

Number of injury

Morning

241

323

Noon

163

218

Midnight

310

416

The total floor space of damaged

buildings of ward no. 7 was estimated as
566766 sft, where EMS intensity was
considered as IX.

Per capita economic loss is Tk. 27074.81.

Considering the population of Sylhet as
600000, overall economic loss for the
entire City can be estimated as Tk. 16.25
Billion (app.).

Correlation between Damage Ratio & PGA values for pipeline diameter
(After Chen et al., 2002).

Direct monetary losses due to a scenario event

equivalent to 1918 Srimangal earthquake

Damage Grade

Water pipe
damage point

Physical
Damage

Water pipeline
repair cost per
point

Loss in
US $
Million

204

US $ 250

0.051

Assessment of
school buildings
by RVS method
of FEMA 154

Calculated performance scores of the studied schools and colleges

No. of
Stories
1&2
3
4
Total

Performance Score(PS)
PS40
40<PS70 70<PS100
0 (0)
1 (3.2)
30 (96.8)
0 (0)
3 (23.1)
10 (76.9)
1 (11.1)
5 (55.6)
3 (33.3)
1(1.87)
8(15.1)
44(83.2)

Total
31 (100)
13 (100)
9 (100)
53(100)

Results of the Preliminary Assessment when distance to fault is within 9 km

to 15 km

No. of High Risk

Stories
Group
2
0 (0)
3
1 (7.69)
4
3 (33.3)
Total
4 (7.55)

Moderate
Risk Group
5 (16.13)
3 (23.1)
2 (22.2)
10 (18.9)

Low Risk
Group
26 (83.8)
9 (69.2)
4 (44.4)
39 (73.6)

Assessment of school buildings by

Turkish method

Total
31 (100)
13 (100)
9 (100)
53 (100)

Direct Economic Loss (millions of dollars) in

Sylhet City Corporation Area : Scenarios 1-5

Assessment by ADPC

With a view to bringing in control and

ensuring a uniform standard of building
construction practice in the country, the
Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC)
was prepared in 1993 under the aegis of the
Ministry of Housing and Public Works. BNBC
is a 1000 page detailed document specifying
safe and acceptable practices in all aspects of
building design and construction for various
uses or occupancy.

Government promulgated
Building Code as legally binding
on all concerned by S.R.O. No. 84Law/2006 dated 22 May 2006
published in the Bangladesh
Gazette on 15 November 2006.
A study project has been taken by
Housing and Building Research
Institute to update the present
Building Code.

Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) has ten

distinct parts addressing different aspects of building
construction and building services.
Part 1 : Scope and Definitions
Part 2 : Administration and Enforcement
Part 3 : General Building Requirements, Control and
Regulation
Part 4 : Fire Protection
Part 5 : Building Materials
Part 6 : Structural Design
Part 7 : Construction Practices and Safety
Part 8 : Building Services
Part 9 : Alteration, Addition to and Change of Use of
Existing Buildings
Part 10 : Signs and Outdoor Display

earthquake safety (mock drill) training

Instrumentation, monitoring, survey works

Instrumentation, monitoring, survey works

Earthquake
Microzonation map of
Dhaka

Seismic microzonation map of Sylhet

24.93N

N
Diameter=300mm
Diameter= 200mm
Diamter=150mm
24.9N

Diameter=100mm
1.56g

0.90g

0.45g
24.87N

0.35g
0

1.5

kilometers
91.83E

91.86E

91.89E

91.92E

THANK YOU