Panic as quake jolts Bangladesh

An earthquake today sparked panic across Bangladesh with some 40 workers reported injured in a stampede while trying to escape from their factories.

The quake was recorded with a magnitude of 7.5 on the Richter scale with its epicentre in Nepal.

The private Samoy TV reported that 30 workers were wounded at a readymade garments factory in suburban Savar while eight people were wounded at a unit in central Comilla, as they rushed together to the staircases in panic.

The tremors also caused cracks in a building at a public university.

Officials could not be reached immediately to ascertain if anyone was critically wounded during the tremor, the reports said.

Witnesses and reports said panic spread in the Dhaka as people hurriedly rushed out of their houses and offices while the high-rise buildings shook as the tremors jolted most parts of the country twice within a few seconds.

Five geological fault lines run through Bangladesh, exposing the country to the risk of a major quake.

Dhaka alone has some 70,000 vulnerable buildings.

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