NARSINGDI — At least four people were killed and more than 100 injured in Narsingdi district when a powerful earthquake struck Bangladesh on Friday, the district administration said.
The casualties occurred in Narsingdi Sadar and Polash upazilas, according to a press release signed by District Commissioner Mohammad Anwar Hossain.
The release said the earthquake struck the area between Sadar and Polash upazilas of Narsingdi at 10:38 a.m. According to initial information, more than 100 people across the district were injured while rushing down from tall buildings in panic, and four people have died so far.
At a place called Gabtali in Chinishpur Union of Sadar upazila, four people were injured when materials from an under-construction building fell on them. Two of them with serious head injuries were sent to Dhaka Medical College Hospital for treatment. Of those sent, doctors on duty at Dhaka Medical College declared Hafez Omar, 8, dead, while the condition of his father, Delwar Hossain Ujjwal, was described as critical.
Separately, an elderly man, Kazem Ali Bhuiyan, 75, of Malita Paschimpara village in Charsindur Union of Polash upazila, was buried under a mud house and later died on the way to the district hospital.
The release also said that Nasiruddin, 60, son of Siru Mia, a resident of Islampara Nayapara village in Danga Union of Polash upazila, jumped from a road in panic while running back from his crop field during the earthquake and died, according to local sources. As he died at the scene, his close relatives did not take his body to the hospital.
In Shibpur upazila’s Joynagar Union, Forkan, about 40, of Ajkitala (Purbapara) village fell from a tree during the earthquake. He was taken to Narsingdi district hospital and then referred to Dhaka Medical College, but died on the way.
Apart from the casualties, a fire broke out at a substation of the Ghorashal thermal power plant. Firefighters quickly arrived at the scene and brought the blaze under control. A large number of production transformers (PTs) at the substation also collapsed due to the tremor.
Urea production at the Ghorashal Polash Fertilizer factory was temporarily halted because of the earthquake. The engine machinery stopped due to vibrations during the tremor and is undergoing checking operations, sources familiar with the matter said.
The release said that cracks have appeared in more than 100 buildings, including the district commissioner’s office and circuit house. The district administration has opened a control room to monitor the overall situation and gather information related to the earthquake damage and disaster, it said.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report