Giving a firsthand idea on what happens during an earthquake, a Jica expert team yesterday conducted a 40-minute drill in the capital’s Motijheel government colony on evacuations and post-quake response.
Simulating a massive tremor, sirens howled and smoke bellowed as four fire brigade units from Ramna evacuated residents of two four-storey buildings and herded them at safe zones.
The team also provided videos on the scenario created after major earthquakes hit Japan and China and a brief training on how people were rescued from collapsed buildings.
The drill was conducted under a project, “Capacity Development on Natural Disaster-Resistant Techniques of Construction and Retrofitting for Public Buildings”, implemented by Public Works Department with technical support of Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica).
According to Bangladesh’s earthquake experts, the country’s geographic location is in a high-risk seismic zone but it does not have adequate capacity to deal with such a natural calamity.
Jica Communication Specialist Eriko Kobayashi said the Japanese team would conduct more drills in other government colonies in the capital.
-With The Daily Star input
