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Immediate enforcement of the Bangladesh National Building Code 1993 and identification of vulnerable structures are essential to reduce the risk of damage during the earthquake, said speakers at a briefing session on earthquake management on Saturday at the LGED Bhaban.
   They also underscored the need for awareness building among the people and general preparedness to face and cope with earthquakes.
   Addressing, as the chief guest, the inaugural session on ‘Earthquake Management and Application of Building Code’, food and disaster management minister Chowdhury Kamal Ibne Yousuf said 23 per cent of the buildings of Dhaka city will be affected in an earthquake which has an intensity of 7 on the Richter scale as they have been constructed without following the national building code.
   There is a Building Code but it has to be enforced and strict action should be taken against those who violate it, he said.
   The briefing session was jointly organised by the Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and Disaster Management Bureau (DMB).
   Vice-chancellor of BRAC University, Professor Jamilur Reza Chowdhury, addressed the inaugural session as special guest while chief engineer of LGED, Shahidul Hassan, presided over the inaugural session.
   Among others, director-general of DMB, Rafiqul Mohamed, and superintendent engineer of LGED, Md Lokman Hakim, addressed the session.
   ‘Our success in mitigating the effects of cyclone and tidal bores has been proved and is well-known. But our preparedness to face earthquakes is very inadequate because we have not experienced any severe tremor since 1897,’ said Kamal.
   ‘For proper management of earthquake it is necessary to review and evaluate the human resources, infrastructural resources, technical resources, financial resources and flow of information,’ Kamal said.
   There has to be a central command unit during earthquakes and it has to be set up now, he added.
   Jamilur Reza said spreading of mass awareness of earthquakes and their dangers in the country has gained momentum in the last 10 years.
   ‘High-rise buildings in the big cities should be constructed according to the rules and requirements of the Building Code to ensure resistance against tremors,’ he said.
   He further said the Building Code has been formulated for the architects, civil engineers and professionals engaged in the construction industry. If these people become genuinely committed to following the letter and spirit of the code, the people will be spared the worst effects of earthquakes, he said.
   Rofiqul said strict adherence to the Building Code formulated by the government is essential to construct safe high-rise buildings in the earthquake-prone areas of Bangladesh.
   Shahidul said persons engaged in the construction of buildings and bridges should come forward with suggestions to lessen the adverse effects of earthquakes. They need to be motivated in this respect, he added.
   Earlier the Dhaka City Corporation had identified 687 buildings in the city as especially vulnerable but no initiative to demolish them has been taken yet, and the people living in them are likely to become the first victims of earthquakes.
   After the collapse of a century-old, rickety building in Shankhari Bazaar on June 9, 2004, in which 19 people were killed, the government seemed to take the issue seriously and formed several committees.
   But the committees, as is usually the case, are sluggish and have not come up with effective solutions or suggestions so far.

The Communist Party of Bangladesh on Saturday called upon the government to immediately solve the water-logging problem in the Dhaka-Narayanganj-Demra dam area.
   Leaders of the party termed the DND dam area a death trap and said encroachment had put 20 lakh people in the area in peril.
   The CPB formed a seven-kilometre human wall from 5:00pm to 6:00pm from Jatrabari to the local Shaeed Minar.
   The CPB president, Monzurul Ahsan Khan, demanded permanent solution to the problem and removal of encroachment.
   CPB central leaders joined the human wall in the Shaheed Minar area and staged a brief rally.
   The CPB general secretary, Mujahidul Islam Selim, presidium member Shahidullah Chowdhury, MM Akash, central leader Ruhin Hossain Prince and others spoke at the rally. The party activists and local dwellers joined the human wall with banners, festoons and placards.

Fifty-three per cent consumers in the metropolitan cities and 12 per cent consumers in district headquarters are aware of their rights, said the Consumer Association of Bangladesh after a two-month survey.
   The survey on consumer rights and awareness was conducted in Dhaka and 15 district headquarters on consumers aged between 15 and 70 years during April–May.
   The report said 55 per cent of consumers in Dhaka and 37 per cent of district headquarters know of laws on consumer rights.
   Professor Yousuf Harun of biochemistry at Dhaka University read out the report in the association office on Saturday.
   Professor SM Imamul Haque and the association’s general secretary Quazi Faruk also spoke.
   The report said consumers think that prices of rice, pulses, salt, vegetable, fish and meat increased by 10 to 50 per cent in a year. The consumers blamed the government for the increase, the report said.
   Fifteen per cent of the consumers returned adulterated and substandard goods to shops; but no one took legal action against it, the report said.
   It also said 36 to 43 per cent of the city consumers and 51 to 59 per cent of district headquarters consumers bought the goods examining the BSTI seal on the products.
   The report said 52 per cent of the city consumers and 19 per cent of consumers in district headquarters became influenced by advertisements.
   The rate is higher in city, it said. It identified that there is a huge lack of awareness of rights and responsibilities among the consumers.
   The recommendations put forth in the programme included strict laws to check food adulteration, enactment of consumer protection act and its implementation and making organisations such as the Dhaka City Corporation, Institute of Public Health, and the Bangladesh Standards and Testing Institution more effective.

Five hundred and sixty-six children died, and 277 others were raped in the past two months across the country, according to a report published by the Children’s Express, a newly formed child news agency, on Saturday.
   More than 1,100 incidents of child abuse took place during the period, says the report prepared on the basis of news items published in 12 national and 195 local newspapers in May and June.
   During the period, the report says 151 children were kidnapped, 417 killed in accidents, 107 trafficked, and 103 committed suicide, and 17 others were the victims of acid attacks.
   A child journalist read out the report at an exchange of views with the editors of national dailies at the National Press Club.
   The report says many incidents of child abuse, occurring in remote areas every day, remain unpublished. ‘That’s why child abusers are taking the advantage of carrying out brutal torture on children, and no scope is available to bring the perpetrators to justice.’
   Stressing on publishing more reports and articles on children, speakers urged children to get involved in writing.
   Acknowledging that child issues are not covered sufficiently, the Bangladesh Observer editor, Iqbal Sobhan Chowdhury, said there is a need of publishing a specialised newspaper on children.
   Channel-I news editor, Shah Alamgir, supported his view, saying that a children magazine would be financially viable.
   The daily Independent joint editor, Zakaria Siraji, urged the benevolent citizens to come forward for establishing such media entity.
   In reply to child journalists’ question about why children are not allowed to write news on them, the Sangbad executive editor, Manzurl Ahsan Bulbul, indicated practical difficulties in this regard, and advised children to have ‘good basic education’ to become good journalist.
   The Unicef assistant communication officer, Rezwanul Alam, said Children’s Express, launched two months ago in cooperation with Mass-Line Media Centre, took the initiatives to train 640 children as journalist to write on issues including child rights, child labour, acid attack, and child education.
   The project will continue until December, and Unicef plans to launch a Children Television Foundation by next month, he added.
   The Children’s Express from its reporters has received 40 reports, a number of which had already been published in newspapers.

A mobile court on Saturday issued an arrest warrant against the manager of the Salimullah Hall canteen at Dhaka University for serving adulterated food to the residents.
   The court comprising of the Dhaka metropolitan magistrate, Jahangir Alam, raided the canteen and found the kitchen filthy and the utensils dirty.
   It also found rotten food in the kitchen.
   Sensing the arrival of the court, the manager fled from the place.
   Residents of the hall applauded the drive and requested to continue such drives at the canteens of other halls.
   They said the food served at all the canteens and the eateries on the campus were substandard.
   The court also raided the cafeteria of the Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology and fined its management Tk 800.
   It recovered rotten spices and synthetic additives from the kitchen.
   The court assured the students that it would continue its drive at the eateries at the hostels of different educational institutions in the capital.

The inquiry committee, formed to investigate the July 17-18 incidents at Fazilatunnesa Mujib Hall of Dhaka University, submits its report today.
   The report will be discussed at an emergency meeting of the syndicate after submission.
   The seven-member inquiry committee had recorded statements of 21 residents of the hall, 10 house tutors, the just-resigned provost, and the pro vice-chancellor.
   A day ahead of the submission of the report, a committee member, Mahbubur Rahman, withdrew himself from the committee on Friday night.
   The reason behind the withdrawal could not be known immediately, but another committee member termed it ‘political decision’. Mahbub, provost of Jasimuddin Hall, is a stalwart of the pro-opposition, Blue Panel.
   The house tutors who resigned for ‘misbehaviour’ by the residents agreed to rejoin their duties after having talks with the vice-chancellor, SMA Faiz.
   The university authorities are asking the residents for seeking unconditional apology to the house tutors. But the residents said they are ready to apologise, if the house tutors admit that their remarks to the press about them were wrong.

The left-leaning Bangladesh Chhatra Union on Saturday accused the United States Peace Corps of espionage and demanded that its operation should be banned in Bangladesh.
   The student organisation staged demonstration on the Dhaka University campus in protest against the Peace Corps activities.
   Leaders of the union dubbed the Peace Corps as a collaborator of the Central Intelligence Agency and accused them of attempting to influence the national policies of Bangladesh.
   ‘The group is working to establish imperialism here and we do not need them,’ said the Chhatra Union president, Baki Billah.
   The general secretary, Shamsul Alam, the organising secretary, Khan Asaduzzman, and the Dhaka University unit general secretary Manabendra Dev, also spoke.

A mob beat up three suspected muggers and recovered Tk 37,000 in cash that they looted from one of the two of their victims in the capital’s Malibagh area in broad daylight on Saturday.
   The police said a gang of five muggers snatched Tk 44,000 from two traders, Jahir and Hossain, stopping them near the Malibagh level crossing while they were on their way to Shyambazar to purchase items for their shops at about 12:00pm.
   Local people, responding to shouts of the victims, chased the muggers and caught three of them, Al Amin, 22, Ismail, 20, and Rubel, 25, and recovered the money from their possession.
   Their other associates managed to run away with the rest of the money.
   The mob beat them up severely until the police rescued them.
   The police also recovered a knife from their possession.

A letter sent to the Dhaka University Teachers’ Association president, AAMS Arefin Siddique, on Saturday threatened to kill him unless he pays Tk 50,000 to the sender in 10 days.
   Arefin received the letter, signed by one Quddus of Gazipur, in the afternoon.
   The letter reads, ‘Prof Arefin you must pay us Tk 50,000 within 10 days. Otherwise, you’ll be bombed to death anywhere in the capital like Ahsanullah Master.’
   The letter also carried a mobile number, 0176579083. Arefin claimed that the writings in the letter were similar to those in letters sent to earlier. The Ramna police failed to confirm the incident.

Joint forces of army and BDR have recovered 32 landmines, 211 sophisticated weapons and 29,000 rounds of ammunition and military equipment from deep forests of Nakhyangchari upazila under Bandarban over the last 10 months.
   BDR officials said at present these areas had turned into hideouts of arms cache from where sophisticated lethal weapons recovery had become an everyday event.
   BDR personnel told the news agency that the army and BDR had recovered 211 sophisticated deadly weapons and 29,000 rounds of bullets over the past 10 months in separate drives from October 4 last year till July 27.
   During the operations members of security forces arrested four top criminals including the chief commander of a separatist group of Myanmar.
   Sources said army-BDR joint and special drives were led by Nakhyangchari-40 battalion commander of the Bandarban regional army under the supervision of the area commander of Chittagong army.
   The recovered arms and ammunition were displayed for journalists at the Nakhyangchari sadar upazila on Thursday.
   The arms and ammunition include 37 AK-47 rifles, US-made four M-16 rifles, one G-3 rifle, eight LMGs, eight SMGs, ten .303 rifles, one automatic rifle, 79 home-made guns and shotguns, one rifle, seven hand launchers, seven booby traps used in war, 32 mines, one high hand launcher, two two-inch mortars and two 60 MM mortars.
   Besides, 14,254 bullets of AK-47 rifles, 6,443 bullets of M-16 rifles, 2,000 bullets of .303 rifles, 2,000 bullets of LMG, 1,374 bullets of SMG, 516 bullets of other types of rifles and 4,100 bullets of pistols were also displayed.
   Military equipment displayed on Thursday includes 45 walky-talkies of different varieties, seven powerful binoculars, and three night vision telescopic sights, two rifle barrels, four .303 rifle barrels, 16 belts of rifle and 234 magazines of different types of arms.
   Apart from these, during drives the police recovered plenty of documents, chemicals and materials left by the criminals.
   BDR officials said the arms and ammunition recovered by army-BDR joint forces might be only a whit of the total amounts used by criminals. But they are optimistic about nabbing criminals and recovering all illegal arms and ammunition from the inaccessible hilly areas.
   Sources said very often special drives had to face serious setback as the 55-kilometre border area of Nakhyangchari is unprotected and it is geographically inaccessible and impenetrable. Despite that the security forces will turn it into their advantages, said BDR officials.
   Government sources said Myanmar insurgents had buried these illegal weapons surreptitiously in different hideouts of the hilly areas prior to the year 1990 and those arms were retrieved during special drives. The drives are still on.

At least 25 people, including the officer-in-charge of Sonadanga police, were injured in a clash between rival groups of the Bangladesh Nationalist Party in the city on Saturday.
   The police said the clash took place between the supporters of Tayeb-Lobby and Monju-Mona groups during the council of Jatiyatabadi Samajik Sangskritik Sangstha, the BNP’s cultural wing, at the Zia Hall auditorium in the morning.
   Windowpanes and furniture of the auditorium were also damaged during the hour-long clash that ensued after the supporters of city BNP general secretary Nazrul Islam Monju and district BNP general secretary Shafiqul Alam Mona had protested non-inclusion of the names of their bosses in the council’s invitation cards.
   The supporters of Khulna mayor Sheikh Tayebur Rahman and Ali Asgar Lobby also protested ‘chaos’ by the opponents in the council locking into clash.

An adivasi housewife was raped allegedly by a policeman at the Kakanhat outpost under Godagari upazila on July 27.
   The victim had appealed to the Bangladesh National Lawyers’ Association in Rajshahi seeking justice.
   The victim said earlier Benedict Murmu, 35, son of Balako Murmu, Simon, 48, son of Surali, Farian Hasda, 30, son of German Hasda, Moses Soren, 30, son of Stiphen Soren, and Moses Tudu, 30, son of Poulus Tudu, raped her on July 25.
   On July 27, the victim informed her brother Satish of the incident who took her to the Kakanhat police outpost. Sub-inspector Shamsul took the victim inside a room of the police outpost and raped her, she said.

Eight people, including five policemen, were charged with snatching cash and silver ornaments from two employees of a jewellery shop at Tantibazar in Old Town on July 20.
   The investigation officer of the case submitted the charge sheet before a speedy trial court on Saturday.
   The accused are assistant sub-inspector Mohammad Khalilullah, nayek Mohammad Abdul Bari, police constables Korban Ali, Saiduzzaman and Rafiqul Islam, and three civilians, Shahadat Hossain, Jasimuddin and Mohammad Ripon.
   Of them, Rafiqul Islam has been absconding while the others are detained.
   Accepting the charge-sheet, the magistrate Shafiqul Islam fixed August 9 for framing charges against the accused.
   The police also submitted an application praying for issuance of warrant against Rafiqul Islam and to attach his property.
   On July 20, a police team of Kotwali police station, led by ASI Khalilullah, snatched the silver ornaments, weighing about 1,100 tolas, from the employees of City Silver House and also Tk 28,000 in cash from them.
   Mohammad Sohel Rana filed a case against the five policemen with Kotwali police station under the Speedy Trial Act on same day.
   The police arrested four of the accused early July 21 and recovered Tk 25,100 from them. Later, the police recovered the ornaments from a restaurant at Tantibazar and arrested three others who took away the bag, containing the ornaments.

Ganamukti O Jatiya Sampad Rakkha Sammilita Andalan, a combine of the 18 political parties and organisations, on Saturday demanded immediate expulsion of Niko Resources from Bangladesh.
   The combine leaders at a protest rally at Muktangan in the capital alleged that the ‘BNP-Jamaat’ alliance government had made the country a den of the criminals.
   Successive governments are responsible for the unequal production and sharing contact with the foreign companies for gas explorations, they said.
   When the Tangratila gas field under blow-out and huge amount of natural resources were burning, the prime minister and the leader of the opposition were busy making foreign tours, the left leaders alleged.
   The combine leader and Bangladesher Samajtantrik Dal convenor Khallequzzaman demanded immediate cancellation of all the agreements signed with Niko and realisation of compensation for the two successive blow-outs on January 7 and June 24 in Tengratila gas field.
   Terming the Niko Resources as an unfit company Khalequzzaman said the company has got works without proper competition.
   The rally was followed by a protest procession, when the procession reached at Paltan crossing police intercepted the procession.

Mohammad Ripon Khan, an accused in the killing of Dhaka City Ward Commissioner Newton and a leader of the district unit of Jatiyatabadi Juba Dal, was arrested by the Rapid Action Battalion from Ghior upazila in Manikganj Friday midnight.
   A RAB-4 team arrested Ripon, an assistant secretary of the Juba Dal district unit, from a shop near Tora toll plaza while he, along with his associates, was attending a feast around midnight.