2 mild earthquake within 5 minutes jolts Sylhet region

Two earthquakes occurred in Sylhet and Moulvibazar on Wednesday night, just five minutes apart. The Earthquake Monitoring and Research Centre of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).

Both earthquakes were of minor magnitude. Rubaiyat Kabir, officer-in-charge of the earthquake monitoring centre, stated that such tremors are felt in this region almost every month and that there is no cause for concerns regarding these events.

According to the earthquake monitoring centre, the first earthquake occurred at 2:50:31 am local time on Thursday. Its epicentre was in Beanibazar, Sylhet and it registered a magnitude of 3.5 on the Richter scale.

Within five minutes, at 2:55:14 am, a second earthquake struck. Its epicentre was in Barlekha upazila in Moulvibazar and it measured 3.3 on the Richter scale.

Rubaiyat Kabir told Prothom Alo on Thursday morning that minor earthquakes are frequently felt in these areas of Sylhet and nearby Tripura in India. He emphasised that there is nothing to fear about.

For context, on 21 November, Friday and the following Saturday, four earthquakes were felt in and around Dhaka within approximately 31 hours.

Among them, the earthquake on Friday morning, with a magnitude of 5.7 on the Richter scale, had its epicentre in Madhabdi, Narsingdi, roughly 25 kilometres from Dhaka.

The epicentre was located about 10 kilometres below the earth’s surface. This earthquake resulted in 10 fatalities and over 600 people injured.