Bangladesh 5.5-magnitude earthquake – what we know so far

At least five people were killed and many others were hurt in Bangladesh’s immediate vicinity of Dhaka, the government said on Friday.

What we currently know is as follows.

What transpired?

Bangladesh was struck by a magnitude 5.5 earthquake at 10:38 a.m. (04:38 GMT), according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). 26 seconds of shaking was experienced.

Shadman Sakif Islam, a resident of Dhaka, claimed that as the earthquake started to spread, “a massive shake” started to appear as a result of “small ripples” he noticed in his coffee.

He continued, “My chair and the table started shaking wildly, and I was stuck there for ten to fifteen seconds without thinking about what was happening.”

He continued, “I’ve never felt this way in my entire life; I felt like going on a boat and going through massive waves one after another.”

Where did the earthquake strike in Bangladesh?

Near Narsingdi, which is 33 kilometers (16 miles) from Dhaka, the tremor was felt. The quake’s aftermath caused extensive damage to numerous buildings in Dhaka.

According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the epicentre was in Madhabdi, in Narsingdi.

More than 325 kilometers (roughly 200 miles) away from the epicentre, the tremors could be felt in the nearby Indian city of Kolkata. There haven’t been any reports of injuries there.

Narsingdi’s textile-related industry and craft are well-known.

What are the casualties’ details known to us?

At least five people have died and roughly 100 have been hurt, according to government figures.

Higher death toll figures have not been confirmed, but local media has reported them.

At least six people died in the capital on Friday, according to DBC Television, three of whom were killed when a building’s roof and wall collapsed, and three people who were struck by falling railings.

In Bangladesh, how common are earthquakes?

Bangladesh is seismically vulnerable because it is close to the Indian, Eurasian, and Burmese tectonic plates and is therefore seismically vulnerable. However, earthquakes do not occur frequently in Bangladesh.

According to the German Research Center for Geosciences (GFZ), an earthquake of magnitude 5.8 occurred near Sylhet in northeastern Bangladesh in 2023. No serious injuries or harm from the earthquake were reported.

A magnitude 6. 1 earthquake struck the Indian-Myanmar border in 2021. Chittagong and Cox, Bangladesh, both felt tremors. In Bangladesh, there haven’t been any confirmed deaths.

The scale’s magnitude is determined using a logarithmic scale, which means that for every whole-number increase on the scale, the magnitude increases by a factor of 10 for each digit increase.