DHAKA, Oct 4 (Reuters) - Bangladesh is trying to collect equipment and train 60,000 volunteers to join in rescue operations should a strong earthquake hit the country, the disaster management minister said on Sunday.
Fears of a destructive earthquake have increased because the country has been rattled by series of mild to moderate tremors over the past months. Five fault-lines run through the country.
"An earthquake of 7.5 magnitude might kill nearly 100,000 people pulling down some 70,000 vulnerable buildings in the Bangladesh capital Dhaka alone," minister Abdur Razzaque told reporters.
He was speaking after meeting experts and disaster management officials. Meteorologists have asked the government to boost earthquake preparedness.
"Relevant authorities have also been asked to take measures to strengthen the vulnerable buildings," Razzaque said, without giving details.
Dhaka, a city of more than 11 million people, has some 350,000 medium and high-rise buildings, a large number of which were built flouting building rules, a disaster management official said.
Bangladesh is hit by deadly storms and floods almost every year. Cyclone Sidr killed 3,500 people and affected millions in November 2007, after devastating twin floods the previous year.
An earthquake of moderate strength killed more than 20 people in southeastern Chittagong in 1997.
(Reporting by Nizam Ahmed)
An aerial view of the damage after a landslide caused by a powerful earthquake in Limo Koto Timur village in Padang , Indonesia's West Sumatra province, October 4, 2009. Rescuers and ...
