The Independent, 2 August 2003
Kaptai dam in danger
Our Correspondent, Rangamati
Aug 1: Three tremors jolted the Rangamati and Barkal upazila this morning damaging more than one hundred houses and creating cracks in over a 10 kilometre area.
The first tremor was felt at the Rangamati district headquarters and its adjoining areas at around 9.30 am which lasted some seconds.
Two other quakes also shook Barkal Upazila in the district last night. The first one was felt at 12 midnight last night and the other at 2.51 am.
Sources said that cracks developed in the administrative building of Barkal. Cracks on the surface of the land of Barkal upazila in a 10 km area also appeared after last night’s tremor.
About one hundred kutcha houses were damaged or destroyed at Aimachari, Kalabunia, Bushanchara, Ambagan, Baghachari areas of the upazila.
A large number of people of those areas became homeless as their houses collapsed. They took shelter in the Kalabunia High School building. Many others are staying under the open sky.
Details of the damage caused by the tremors were not available until the writing of this report.
Nazimuddin Shyamol adds from Chittagong: People of the lake city Rangamati and its adjoining areas are now in panic. Experts fear that the lone hydroelectric power plant built on the Kaptai dam at Kaptai in the district might be destroyed if any hidden crack caused by earthquake still remained under the dam.
Several camps of the BDR and police were damaged in the earthquake at Ambagan, Bangaltila, Latifachara and Kalabunia under Barkal upazila a few days back.
Hundreds of people of Barkal upazila left their residences due to fear of continuous shaking of earth in the area recently. Crack of the earth in about a 10-kilometre area was seen in the hill at Barkal in Rangamati district. Ainul Islam, a homeless victim of the earthquake that jolted Rangamati district recently, told The Independent that except some journalists nobody dare to go to the spot of the earthquake.
Several other establishments, including the Aimachara Health Complex and Barkal upazila building also collapsed during the earthquake that hit the district on Sunday last.
Official sources said that the Police stations at Bangaltila, Ambagan, Latifachara and Kalabunia that collapsed in the earthquake would be shifted immediately. However, the BDR camps would not be shifted from their original locations for security reasons, they added.
A team of experts of the Action Aid Bangladesh, a renowned donor organisation of the country led by Dr M Shahidul Islam, a professor of the Geography Department of Chittagong University, visited the recently-hit earthquake affected areas at Barkal Upazila in Rangamati district today.
Along with Deputy Commissioner of Rangamati Dr Zafar Ahmed Khan, meteorologist Mominul Islam and a group of journalists from different national dailies also visited the devastated areas of the district.
After visiting the spot, Dr Shahidul Islam said at a press briefing today that three hill districts, particularly Rangamati district, are in the high-risk earthquake zone. He said several cracks have developed in the Barkal area, which anybody could see with naked eyes.
But, many cracks might have ceveloped under the hills and the Kaptai dam, Dr Islam said fearing that the hidden cracks might destroy the lone hydroelectric plant of the country at Kaptai. He urged the government to take special measures immediately to assess the impact of the earthquake on the Kaptai dam and the hydropower plant at Kaptai.
Dr Jafar Ahamed Khan informed the newsmen that he had already requested the Minister of Disaster Management, Relief and Rehabilitation to form a high powered team for the earthquake.
He hoped that the team would be formed very soon and they would visit the affected areas. Dr Khan also urged the government to take immediate steps for surveying the affected areas and measure the intensity of the earthquakes.
BSS adds: Experts have recommended shifting of the Kalabunia Bazar and BDR camp in Barkal upazila of the district to a safer place as cracks have developed in the area due to the recent earthquake.
While talking to BSS in Dhaka over telephone this afternoon, the Deputy Commissioner of Rangamati said that three mild tremors were felt in Barkal upazila during the last eight hours till 9.20 am today with no casualty.
Quoting Mohamad Elias Ali, Upazila Nirbahi Officer (UNO) of Barkal Upazila, Dr. Zafar Ahmed Khan said that the first tremor was felt at 2 am, followed by the second one at 4.14 am and the third one at 9.20 am today.
There is no report of any injury or damage so far, he said adding that the people in area were still in panic as they were apprehending more tremors in the district. If needed, the district administration would take all out efforts to shift 2,000 people living in Barkal upazila to safer places, the DC said.
The government is also distributing relief materials among the quake-affected people in the area, he said.