BSS
  24 Nov 2025, 19:26

RAJUK identifies 300 risky buildings in capital

DHAKA, Nov 24, 2025 (BSS) – Rajdhani Unnayan Kartripakkha (RAJUK) today said it so far identified around 300 small and large buildings which are vulnerable to earthquakes.

“Three hundred buildings, large and small ones, have been identified as vulnerable,” RAJUK Chairman Engineer Riazul Islam told a meeting of quake experts and engineers on post-earthquake activities at Institute of Engineers Bangladesh (IEB) here.

RAJUK’S chief town planner M Ashraful Islam told BSS over the phone a primary survey of theirs across the capital found the 300 buildings as vulnerable, witnessing their “cracks and tilts”.

He said eight RAJUK teams were engaged to carry out the primary survey works after the tremor with magnitude of 5.7 on Richter scale jolted the capital on Friday and three subsequent ones on the next day.

Housing and Public Works Adviser Adilur Rahman Khan, environment adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan joined the meeting at the IEB and gave their policy directives to minimize the tremor damage.

Earthquake disaster management experts Professor Mehedi Ahmed Ansari and Prof Tanvir Manjur of Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) presented papers on quake preparedness and post quake management.

"Along with the preparation of the people, coordinated efforts of all government agencies are essential to reduce earthquake risk." Adilur Rahman Khan said.

Rizwana Hasan called for enhanced public quake awareness and suggested RAJUK to carry out a thorough assessment of vulnerable buildings.

Housing and Works secretary M Nazrul Islam directed RAJUK to strengthen field-level supervision to oversee the construction of buildings and strictly follow the 'zero tolerance' policy against corruption.

The RAJUK chairman sought all stakeholders including building developers and owners support alongside the government agencies as “we have to work in a coordinated manner to deal post-earthquake situation in the capital”.

“Coordinated work is must for dealing the post-earthquake situation,” he said.

Representatives of different government offices, emergency service providers, professional organizations, experts and researchers from universities including BUET and Dhaka University, REHAB and the two city corporations joined the meeting.