The New Nation - Internet Edition

Mahbubur Rahman Khan

Frequent mild tremors indicate that a strong earthquake may take place in the country at any moment, experts say.

As many as seven mild to moderate tremors which have taken place in the country this year strongly indicates the possibility of a strong and destructive earthquake at any moment.

Sources at the Department of Meteorology said the earthquake of 4.2 in magnitude on the Richter scale that had happened on March 20 at Madhupur in Tangail district, panicked people of the region. After that another earthquake, having 3.1 in maginitude took place in May. Since then several earthquakes took place at different places like Tanore of Rajshahi, Haluaghat of Mymensingh and in Rangamati. Finally, a series of earthquakes shattered different parts of the country, including Dhaka. The magnitude of the quakes was recorded at 4.8 on the Richter Scale and the epicenter of the earthquakes was Brahmanbaria.

When Arjumand Habib, Director General of Department of Meteorology was asked about the reasons behind the frequent earthquakes in the country, he said mild to moderate earthquakes took place in the country since the faults developed in the crust of the earth of Tripura of India is still active.

The earthquakes usually take place due to the collision between interactive plates of the earth. Faults are created because of the movement of these plates. The displacement of a fault releases huge energy, which in turn lead to the earthquake.

Afia Akter, Director General of Seismic Survey Department said frequent earthquakes is an indication that an earthquake may take place at any time. She, however said, it could not be said surely that a huge earthquake will take place. "Drawing any conclusion in this regard needs further monitoring and experiments," she added.

Though the faults of Madhupur is highlighted as a cause, an intensive analysis of data is needed, she further said.

Professor Mehedi Alam Ansari of Bangladesh University of Engineering Technology (BUET) who is also an expert on earthquake, told The New Nation that people should remain cautious about tremors as 12 quakes took place during the last two and half years and of them seven happened this year alone.

He said sometimes power seeps out through small quakes as a result the possibility of massive earthquake is diminished. Sometime reverse also happen where small quakes preserves power for massive earthquake. "Therefore, we have to be cautious from right now," he further said.