The powerful earthquake in Nepal is a ‘wake up’ call for Bangladesh to assess its preparation and vulnerability to deal with the natural disaster, seismology experts said on Sunday.

Professor Dr Mehedi Ahmed Ansary of the Department of Civil Engineering at the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) said, ‘Nepal earthquake is a wake-up call for Bangladesh as it enters the cycle of seismic activity... We should strengthen our preparedness to face any major earthquake.’

Bangladesh has to learn the experiences of Nepal earthquake to introspect what measures can be taken to minimize the losses and lives in case of such similar calamities, he added.

After 81 years, Nepal experienced a powerful earthquake yesterday, which devastated Capital Kathmandu killing several thousands of people and damaging huge buildings and other infrastructures, Professor Mehedi said generally, a major quake occurs after long time spanning from 50 years to 100 years.

Analyzing the quake history of Bangladesh, he said a major earthquake may hit the country any time as no strong tremor occurred in this region since 1950.

Professor Mehedi said the country was shaken by seven major earthquakes - Cachar earthquake of 7.5 magnitude in 1869, Bengal earthquake of 7 magnitude in 1885, great Indian earthquake of 8.7 magnitude, Srimangal earthquake of 7.6 in 1918, Dhubri earthquake of 7.1 in 1930, Bihar-Nepal earthquake of 8.3 magnitude in 1934 and Assam earthquake of 8.5 magnitude in 1950.

The existences of such major quakes in the past meant that quakes of the same magnitudes could happen again in the country in future, he added.

Professor Mehedi said most buildings in Dhaka city are not built by maintaining the proper building code and engineering method which are major concerns for disaster in the event of a major earthquake.