Earthquake Jolts Bangladesh

This morning a massive earthquake was felt across Bangladesh and some part of India at around 10:38 am (BST). So far, at least ten people are confirmed to be dead and few hundreds of people are injured who are currently being treated at the hospitals. Things are a bit chaotic over here and people are still in shock.

According to the United States Geological Survey (USGS) report, this was a M 5.5 earthquake in Richter scale at a depth of 10 km. It occurred in central Bangladesh and the epicenter was Madhabdi which is located around 14 km west-southwest of Narsingdi district and about 25 km from the capital city Dhaka. Quite interestingly, Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) reported this quake to be of M 5.7.

If you are following this blog, you may have noticed by now that I left New York earlier and am currently staying in Dhaka for past couple of months. I am yet to decide when to go back to New York as I am trying to wrap up some important family matters.

Now, this morning when the quake took place, I was still on my bed. The violent movement literally woke me up from my sleep which I was not quite ready for. I mean, no one goes to bed expecting to wake up by earthquake. I almost ran out of our apartment with my kids and then the tremor stopped. Our apartment is at fifth floor, so I was thinking of going to the roof instead of taking the stairs to go the ground. I am not even sure if that was the best idea or not.

In any case, check out these videos from Al Jazeera, AP to better understand what exactly has happened this morning. I am in my early 40s and I have never felt or experienced such violent quake in my life. When I think about it, it still gives me a chill.

Update (Nov 22, 4:13pm BST): Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD) has confirmed that another minor earthquake of M 3.3 was felt today at around 10:36 am (BST). The epicenter of this quake Palash upazila of Narsingdi district.

Update (Nov 22, 6:34pm BST): Another round of earthquake just shook the entire Bangladesh at around 6:06 pm local time. Both the BMD and USGS reported this to be of M 4.3 quake and identified the epicenter to was in Narsingdi district. Even though BMD initially reported the epicenter to be in Badda region within the Capital but later on they corrected their statement. This particular incident took place when I was playing with my kids. I rushed towards the main door of our apartment and waited to see if I can feel any other additional tremor but luckily that did not happen.