At least 10 people, including two children, were killed and more than 600 injured after a 5.7-magnitude earthquake ripped through the densely populated capital and nearby districts, including Narsingdi and Narayanganj, on Friday.
According to the Bangladesh Meteorological Department, the quake struck at 10:38am with its epicentre in Madhabdi, Narsingdi – just 13 kilometres from Dhaka – and lasted 26 seconds.
The US Geological Survey recorded the magnitude slightly lower at 5.5, placing the epicentre roughly 14 kilometres southwest of Narsingdi.
This was the strongest earthquake felt in Bangladesh in recent memory, which experts say should serve as a wake-up call for authorities to strengthen disaster preparedness – particularly in the densely populated capital with its extremely fragile infrastructure.
Friday’s tremor sparked widespread panic as residents rushed out of swaying buildings and crowded the streets. Several makeshift structures collapsed, buildings tilted and cracks appeared in walls across multiple areas, adding to the damage.
The deceased include Rafiul Islam, 20; Abdur Rahim, 48; and his son, Meherab Hossain Rimon, 12; and Maksud, 50, from Dhaka; Fatema, a 10-month-old infant from Narayanganj; and Omar, 10, along with his father Ujjal, 40; Md Nasiruddin, 60; Md Forkan, 40; and Kajem Ali Bhuiyan, 75, from Narsingdi.
Hospitals across Dhaka, Gazipur and Narsingdi treated large numbers of injured residents, many of whom were hurt in panic while trying to escape shaking buildings. At Dhaka University, several students were injured as they rushed out of dormitories and crowded stairwells.
Health Adviser Nurjahan Begum, visiting victims at Dhaka Medical College Hospital, told reporters that the number of injured should have been much lower given the earthquake’s magnitude, but many were hurt while rushing out of their homes in panic.
Because the quake struck on a Friday – the weekly holiday – many victims were out shopping or resting at home.
Rafiul Islam, a student at Sir Salimullah Medical College, had stepped out with his mother, Nusrat Begum, to buy meat from a butcher’s stall in Kasaituli in Old Dhaka.
The quake hit suddenly, causing a rooftop railing to snap and collapse onto people below. Rafiul died after being taken to Sir Salimullah Medical College Mitford Hospital, while his mother remains under treatment with serious injuries.
Maksud, a security guard from Lakshmipur, was killed in Dhaka’s Mugda area when a railing from an under-construction building collapsed on him.
In Narayanganj’s Rupganj, the newborn girl named Fatema was killed when a roadside wall collapsed during the quake. Her mother, Kulsum Begum, and a neighbour were injured.
Chief Adviser Muhammad Yunus expressed condolences for the victims and instructed all relevant government agencies to strengthen rescue and relief efforts in the affected areas.
He said the government is maintaining close oversight and working to compile a full assessment of the damage.
According to initial assessments, at least 14 buildings in Dhaka have tilted or developed major cracks, while more than a hundred structures – including the Deputy Commissioner’s Office and the Circuit House – have been damaged in Narsingdi. One building was affected in Chattogram and around 50 in Narayanganj.
Dhaka District Relief and Rehabilitation Officer Md Salah Uddin-Al-Wadud said residents of the affected buildings in Dhaka have already taken shelter at the homes of relatives nearby.
“From our observations, there is no immediate need for the government to arrange additional shelter facilities for them,” he told TIMES of Bangladesh.
At Jahangirnagar University, the earthquake caused structural cracks in multiple buildings, including the newly constructed Shaheed Tajuddin Ahmad Hall, where visible cracks appeared on one floor.
The Narsingdi district administration said in a statement that several production transformers at the Ghorashal Thermal Power Plant collapsed due to the earthquake.
A fire also broke out at the substation following the tremor. Firefighters rushed to the scene, extinguished the blaze and shut the substation down.
Urea production at the Ghorashal Palash Fertiliser Factory has also been temporarily halted because machinery automatically shut down due to the vibration.
More than 200 garment workers in Gazipur were injured after the earthquake.
The mass panic was intensified by what workers described as the callous negligence of factory management, who had locked the emergency and main exit gates, effectively trapping the entire workforce.
Massive earthquake could strike anytime
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary, professor at the Department of Civil Engineering at Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology, said large earthquakes in Bangladesh occur roughly every 100–125 years.
“Since the country has not had a major quake since 1930, a massive one could strike anytime. Today’s quake may be a foreshock,” he told TIMES.
He warned that a 7-magnitude earthquake within 100 kilometres of Dhaka could kill or injure 1–3 lakh people and collapse about 35 per cent of the city’s 21 lakh buildings.
Ansary urged immediate building inspections with colour-coded safety ratings and stressed the need for a national training institute for engineers and architects.
Md Abul Kalam Azad, assistant professor at the Institute of Disaster Management and Vulnerability Studies, University of Dhaka, told TIMES, “In reality, we have almost no preparedness.
“The limited resources we do have are not being used properly. Furthermore, routes in the capital to reach different places face multiple complications during emergency response.”
The Times of Bangladesh attempted to contact Adviser for Housing and Public Works Adilur Rahman Khan through phone calls and WhatsApp messages to ask whether the department has an updated list or estimate of risky buildings across the country.
However, his phone was switched off, and WhatsApp messages did not show the delivered sign.
Power restored after six plants trip offline
All power plants that went offline on Friday following the earthquake were re-synchronised to the national grid by evening, restoring stability to the system.
The quake had caused at least six power stations to shut down simultaneously, cutting roughly 1,100MW from the grid.
Earlier in the day, the Bangladesh Power Development Board (BPDB) said efforts were underway to restore electricity as quickly as possible.
Meanwhile, the under-construction 2,400MW Rooppur Nuclear Power Plant in Pabna remains entirely safe and unaffected by the tremor, officials from the Ministry of Science and Technology confirmed. They said no structural or internal damage was found in either of the plant’s two units.
[Narsingdi, Narayanganj and Gazipur district correspondents, and the Chattogram Bureau of TIMES of Bangladesh contributed to this report.]
