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Orange Earthquake alert in Bangladesh

 

Orange Earthquake Alert in Bangladesh

Summary

On 12/13/2009 2:41:58 PM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 5.2 and depth 31.3km has struck an very highly populated area in the Chittagong Province (population: 14.7 million) in Bangladesh. GDACS estimates the likelihood for need of international humanitarian intervention to be medium (Orange alert).

This earthquake can have a medium humanitarian impact since the affected region is very highly populated and has low resilience for natural disasters.

The earthquake 32km from the city of Chittagong. The nearest populated places are Dhurung (15km), Napura (17km), Silkop (14km), Chhota Hatia (20km), Bailchari (10km), Jaldi (15km), Khankhanabad (8km), Banigram (12km), Charati (18km), Gahira (10km), Chandpur (17km), Burumchhara (16km). It is a hilly region with a maximum altitude of 959 m.

Humanitarian Impact impact 
Population resilience vul 
Tsunami probability tsunami 
Landslide probability slope 
Nuclear radiation probability radiation 

Caution: this information is based on risk models. Whether international humanitarian aid is needed must be decided by an expert.

This report was automatically updated by a computer on: 12/13/2009 5:06:50 PM UTC (2 hours 24 minutes after the event)

Downloads: Word report, PDF report

Explanation of alert calculation: Show

Google map Population map
poplegendPopulation Density near epicenter (people/km2). Image area: 6x4 decimal degrees (approx. 650x450km2).
population map

Earthquake epicentre: best estimate eq_logo    previous estimates: eq_icon

Earthquake Event

Geological map
geological map

Characteristics for this report

Information source World Data Centre for Seismology, Denver (NEIC)
Link to source event report (us2009qdan)
Magnitude 5.2 M
Depth 31.3 km
Location

Geographic coordinates (latitude/longitude): 22.0393, 91.8404
Bangladesh , Chittagong Province (population: 14746629).
Seismic region: Bangladesh.

The earthquake happened in Bangladesh , Chittagong Province (population: 14746629). , 32km from the city of Chittagong. The nearest populated places are Dhurung (15km), Napura (17km), Silkop (14km), Chhota Hatia (20km), Bailchari (10km), Jaldi (15km), Khankhanabad (8km), Banigram (12km), Charati (18km), Gahira (10km), Chandpur (17km), Burumchhara (16km).

It is a hilly region with a maximum altitude of 959 m.

Time time 12/13/2009 2:41:58 PM (UTC, Universal Standard Time)
12/13/2009 8:49:20 PM (Estimated local solar time)
Sun, 12/13/2009 15:41 CET (Brussels, Paris, Rome)
Sun, 12/13/2009 09:41 EST (New York, Washington)
Sun, 12/13/2009 06:41 PST (San Francisco, Los Angeles)
Sun, 12/13/2009 22:41 AWST (Australian Western Standard Time)

Previous reports for this earthquake.

Earthquake reportTsunami reportEvent Date/TimeLat/LonMagnitudeDepth (km)SourcePublication Date/TimeDelay
7096412/13/2009 2:41:58 PM UTC22.02, 91.84510GEOFON12/13/2009 2:52:19 PM UTC10min
7096512/13/2009 2:42:02 PM UTC21.99, 91.95.142GEOFON12/13/2009 2:57:49 PM UTC15min
7096612/13/2009 2:41:59 PM UTC22.0928, 91.95745.328.4NEIC (us2009qdan)12/13/2009 3:01:15 PM UTC19min
7096712/13/2009 2:41:58 PM UTC22.01, 91.845.110GEOFON12/13/2009 3:05:17 PM UTC23min
7096812/13/2009 2:42:02 PM UTC22.01, 91.95.137GEOFON12/13/2009 3:14:08 PM UTC32min
7097612/13/2009 2:41:05 PM UTC22.11, 91.915.310EMSC12/13/2009 4:35:33 PM UTC114min
7098012/13/2009 2:41:58 PM UTC22.0393, 91.84045.231.3NEIC (us2009qdan)12/13/2009 5:06:50 PM UTC144min

Earthquake Impact Details

Potentially affected People

The population in the area of this earthquake if 838 people/kmē. (Data source).

The earthquake occurred at 20h local time. At this time a day, more people are at home and therefore more vulnerable to collapsing residential buildings. During traffic hours, people can be affected by collapsing bridges and other road infrastructure.

Population Data
Radius (km) Population Density (people/kmē)
1
2
5 4731  60 
10 123376  392 
20 676509  538 
50 6587368  838 
100 11445040  364 
200 38173970  303 

Damage

The affected region has low level of urban area (0%) and a high level of cultivated area (15.6%). In urban areas more damage can be expected than in cultivated or natural areas. (Data source)

Radius (km)urban areascultivated areasother
200 0.01% 15.61% 84.36%
100 0.04% 14.22% 85.73%
50 0.14% 25.29% 74.56%
10 0% 27.08% 72.91%

Resilience and Vulnerability

Resilience is the capacity of the population to cope with a hazard. Since much of investments in earthquake preparedness and available funds for quick response is related to household income, the GDP per capita can be used as a rough indicator of resilience.

Bangladesh has a GDP per capita of 361 PPP$ (Parity Purchasing Power Dollar, about 1 Euro) and is therefore part of the low level income countries. Therefore, the earthquake happened in an area of low resilience.

Based on the combination of 9 indicators, ECHO attributes Bangladesh a high vulnerability.

ECHO Intervention Priority Ranking for Bangladesh
vulnerabilitylevel
Overall situation
Human Development hdi
Human Poverty hpi
Exposure to Major Disasters
Natural Disasters natdis
Conflicts conflicts
Humanitarian effects of population movement
Refugees refugees
Internally Displaced People idps
Health and Nutrition
Undernourishment food
Mortality rates under5
Donor contributions
Official Development assistance ODA
Source ECHO
Key: bad Bad - medium Medium - good Good - nodata No data

Exposure

Both conditions for survival and conditions for delivering aid strongly depend on the current weather and temperature. The following graphs show the current and forecast weather.

Current weather conditions and forecasts at earthquake location (lat: 22.0393 - long: 91.8404) (Data source).

Temperature chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.
Precipitation chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.
Cloud cover chart currently not available. Try to refresh page.

More detailed observations at closest weather station (Patenga): WeatherByWeb - NOAA

Probability of Secondary effects

slopelevel Landslides: The maximum slope in the area of the earthquake is 31.744% and the maximum altitude is 959 m. Since this is a medium slope, the risk of earthquake induced landslides is medium. Note, however, that the slope data is not reliable on a local scale, while landslides depend very much on local topography, soil and meteorological conditions. More...

Critical infrastructure

The following critical infrastructure is nearby and could be affected by the earthquake:

The distance to nuclear installations is evaluated based on a 1999 UN dataset containing the location of nuclear plants in the world. If plants are near and the earthquake magnitude is above 6.5, the alert is set to orange. Note that the location of plants is approximate with errors of up to 100km.

Getting there and away

The nearest civilian airport (Patenga) is at 24km from the epicenter. Other airports are: Coxs Bazar (67km), Patenga (24km), Barisal (179km), Comilla (169km)

Ports nearby are: Maungdaw (143km), Elephant Point (98km), Cox's Bazaar (66km), Chittagong (31km)

Disclaimer

While we try everything to ensure accuracy, this information is purely indicative and should not be used for any decision making without alternate sources of information. The JRC is not responsible for any damage or loss resulting from the use of the information presented on this website.

 

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