SM Mizanur Rahman :At least six people died and over 200 others received injuries following panic as a strong 6.7-magnitude earthquake rocked capital Dhaka and other parts of the country at 5:07 am on Monday. The reports of deaths came from Dhaka, Rajshahi, Bogra, Lalmonirhat, Panchagarh and Jamalpur districts. At least 29 people, most of them students of Dhaka University, were taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) with injuries as they jumped out from second and third floors of their hostels in panic.The epicenter of the earthquake was 29km (18miles) west of Imphal and 33km (21miles) northwest of Mayang Imphal, the capital of Manipur state in India near the Myanmar border and 352km (219miles) north east of Dhaka, Bangladesh. The depth of the quake was 55 kilometers (about 34 miles), says the US Geological Survey.The US Geological Survey says earthquake near Imphal, India occurred as the result of strike slip faulting in the complex plate boundary region between India and the Eurasia plate in Southeast Asia. Focal mechanisms for the event indicate slip occurred on either a right-lateral fault plane dipping moderately to the east-northeast, or on a left-lateral fault dipping steeply to the south-southeast, it added.As buildings started shaking at about 5:07am, just before Fazr prayers azan, thousands of sleeping people waked up and started rushing here and there and at one stage many desperately tried to get out of their homes.Being panicked all the six people died of heart attack in Dhaka city, Rajshahi, Bogra, Lalmonirhat, Panchagarh and Jamalpur districts. The victims have been identified as Atiqur Rahman, 24, son of Md Mainuddin, at Purbo Jurain in city’s Kadamtoli area, Khalilur Rahman, 33, a cook of Sheikh Mujibur Rahman Hall at Rajshahi University in Rajshahi, Ahmed Ali, 50, a farmer of village Durjoypur under Nandigram upazilas of Bogra, Nur Islam, 42, at Patgram municipality of Lalmonirhat, Sona Mia, 38, of Gaokura village in Islampur upazila of Jamalpur, and Tahmina Begum, 55, of Panchagarh.Two residential buildings tilted in separate areas of Dhaka city as the earthquake rocked the country, including the capital. The worst-hit was a six-storied building in Shanir Akhra area, Fire Service and Civil Defence sources said.The building leaned over and was resting against an adjacent nine-storied building. “Fire fighters are working there. The adjacent building has shown several cracks,” said the sources. Besides, many other buildings were also developed cracks in the city and elsewhere.Besides, a newly constructed six-storey building at Aga Sadeq Road at Muslim Sweeper Colony in old Dhaka and two other seven-storey buildings at Tongi in Gazipur district were tilted following the impact of the earthquake. The residents of the buildings were evacuated from the buildings.Apart from people, some students of Dhaka University, Rajshahi University, Jagannnat University and other public universities received injuries when they were rushing out of their respective dormitories for safety.As reported, many students also jumped from second to fifth floors of their respective dormitories and received serious injuries. Thousands of nervous people also hurried out of their homes in fear of aftershocks in capital Dhaka, Rajshahi, Lalmonirhat, Barisal, Sylhtet Brahmanbaria and Chapainawabganj.As the quake created strong shaking and rocking throughout buildings, hanging objects were seen swing violently. Dining utensils clattered and clinked and small, light and unstable objects fell down or overturned during the earthquake. Liquids spilled from filled open containers. “I was making ablution for Fazr prayers when the strong earthquake rattled my home. I came out in a panic,” said Nazrul Islam, a residence of Uttara in the city. Masud Hasan Talulkder, a residence of West Aricpur at Tongi in Gazipir district Said, “I rushed out into the street from my house when our building started to tremble just before Fazr prayers’ azan. I had never experienced anything like this earlier.” The Fire Service and Civil Defence control room also received information that crack developed in two more buildings in the capital’s Old Dhaka and Jagannnat University campus on the aftermath of the earthquake.In Sylhet, at least 34 people, including four of a family, were admitted to MAG Osmani Medical College Hospital with injuries.Commissioner of Sylhet Metropolitan Police Kamrul Hasan said four of a family were injured when a wall of a 10-storey building in Jindabazar area of the city collapsed due to the earthquake.
