An earthquake in Bangladesh? Huh?

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Blogger Dougo

So, I am sitting on the couch, trying to ignore the pile of homework books that need marking before tomorrow and I pick up my laptop to read the write-up on the AFL prelim final between St Kilda and Hawthorn. Having just watched the game at a mate's place next door, I thought it might be nice to hear what the critics have to say about a very one-sided game of football. Next thing I feel is the sofa shake. Not a huge shake, just a wobble. It went on for about three or four seconds and then that was it. Just long enough for me look around and see the reflection in our photos moving from side to side.

We jumped up and ran next door to see if our neighbours felt it as well. No, we were not going crazy there was definitely a tremor. Now, I knew coming to Bangladesh that they are constantly having to deal with floods during the monsoon season and cyclones year round. When Cyclone Sidra hit last year, hundreds of thousands were left homeless in the delta regions. High winds lashed Dhaka and knocked over a few trees, but that's all we felt. But earthquakes?

A quick Google search and we find out that a 5.6 quake shook all of Dhaka in July. What?! How did we not know this? How did no one tell us this? Crikey.

So we figure it's all over. Our 5 story apartment block is still standing and the shakes haven't happened again. I return to the couch and back to my football reports. No sooner do I put the computer back on my lap as the sofa shakes again. This time for 10 seconds. I shout out to Bec and she doesn't answer. Huh? Our neighbours run in to us this time and Bec runs out from the bathroom. We go out to the balcony to check to see if other people have reacted on the streets. Nothing. No one but us seems to have felt the swaying of their world.

Another web search and I read that if a big one does hit, then up to 30 percent of the buildings in Dhaka would be destroyed...great. The quakes in China come to mind and how shoddy building practices led to hundreds of kids being crushed to death in schools built for peanuts. How would our apartment building hold up?

Everything is stable again. It was my first experience of an earthquake and it was a mixture of excitement and utter fear. The heart was definitely racing. I just hope a tremor is all I and the rest of the people in this country ever feel. The consequences of a 'big one' are too scary to imagine.

A few hours later I find this on the web:

4.8 Magnitude Earthquake Jolts Bangladesh 2008-09-20 20:18:41 Xinhua

An earthquake measuring 4.8 magnitude on the Richter scale jolted Bangladesh Saturday afternoon at around 6:00 local time (1200 GMT). No casualties or damage have been reported so far.

Weather Office of the Bangladesh government said the epicenter was about 76 km east of capital Dhaka.

Witnesses said the earthquake were felt three times and many people rushed out of buildings in panic in the city.

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