The government plans to replace the country’s dilapidated buildings by earthquake-resistant ones, said State Minister for Disaster Management and Relief Md Enamur Rahman on Wednesday.
The design of the buildings will be done with Japan’s assistance in such a way that will be resistant to 7.5 magnitude earthquake, the state minister said at a dialogue titled ‘How Ready We Are in Disaster Management’ organised by Bangladesh Secretariat Reporters’ Forum (BSRF) at the Media Centre in the Secretariat.
He said, “We will test the ones that have already been built, if there are any weaknesses then they will be strengthened.”
The new buildings that will be constructed from now on will be built according to the Bangladesh National Building Code (BNDC), he said.
He also said the buildings declared as heritage by the Department of Archeology are not included in the list.
At the same time, steps have been taken to set up shelters and lightning arresters to reduce the loss of life due to lightning, he said.
“We have now taken the initiative and decided to launch an awareness campaign and an early warning system to reduce deaths from lightning strikes.”
Mobile app will be able to warn about lightning 40 minutes before.
A Lightning Centre and Lightning Arrester will be set up for those who live in open spaces.
“We’ve set up 40 centres on trial basis and the main work will be started after getting the approval of the Development Project Proposal (DPP).”
The state minister said an allocation of Tk 10,900 crore has been sought from the Disaster Management and Relief Ministry in the upcoming budget.
President Tapan Biswas presided over the dialogue with Masudul Hoque, General Secretary of BSRF.
Source: United News of Bangladesh