Active Seismic Structures, Energy Infrastructures, and Earthquake Disaster Response Strategy - Bangladesh Perspective

Bangladesh is situated at the juncture of the three tectonic plates and the active interaction of these plates resulted in several major active faults in and around Bangladesh, especially along its northern and eastern margins. Some of these faults are regional scale, and capable of generating moderate to great earthquakes. The rate of plate motion, presence of seismogenic gaps in the active faults, and the time since the last rupture of these faults indicate a high probability of impending earthquakes. The country and its neighboring surroundings have experienced high-magnitude earthquakes in the past and caused substantial damage of the infrastructures and lives. Although the possibility of damages arising from a seismic hazard is on the rise due to the dynamic and intensified development of engineering and energy infrasfructures, human casualties may decline because of a better understanding of the earthquake mechanism, possible area of seismic hazard, recurrence interval, and the improvement of the monitoring system capabilities. However, due to the lack of a comprehensive seismic zonation map and site-specific probabilistic seismic hazard maps, the human casualty, and property losses, specifically, energy infrastructure will be disastrous. Therefore, the professionals, scientific and technological community of the country should cooperate and make joint efforts to overcome all the scientific and technological hurdles to seismic disaster management of Bangladesh. By considering the importance of the energy sector in the country's rapid economic growth, an in-depth seismic vulnerability assessment of the energy infrasfructures is needed to be performed immediately.