BNUS ANNUAL REPORT-2018

BANGLADESH
NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY
BUET, DHAKA, BANGLADESH
Edited By:

Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

April 2019

1|PageCONTENTS
PART-I: SAFETY IN RMG SECTOR: PERFORMANCE AND
PROGRESS OF DIFE AFTER RANA PLAZA
3
PART-II: CAN RANA PLAZA HAPPEN AGAIN IN BANGLADESH? 18
PART-III: FIRE EVACUATION SAFETY IN BANGLADESH READY
MADE GARMENT (RMG) FACTORIES: A COMPARISON OF
STANDARDS AND NON-COMPLIANCE ISSUES OF MEANS OFESCAPE
26
PART-IV: INTERPRETATION OF GEOTECHNICAL PARAMETERSFROM CPT AND SPT FOR THE RECLAIMED AREAS OF DHAKA,43
BANGLADESH
PART‐V: INTERPRETATION OF SOIL STRATIGRAPHY AND
GEOTECHNICAL PARAMETERS FROM CPTU AT BHOLA, BANGLADESH 57
PART-VI: ASSESSMENT OF FLOOD RISK IN THE EASTERN PART OF
JAMUNA FLOODPLAIN
67
PART-VII: VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT OF EDUCATIONALFACILITIES DUE TO CYCLONE AND STORM SURGE AT
KALAPARA UPAZILA, PATUAKHALI BANGLADESH
82
PART-VIII: DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF UNREINFORCED
102
MASONRY BUILDING
PART-IX: SEISMIC LOSS ESTIMATION FOR WARD 14 OF
MYMENSINGH, BANGLADESH
120
PART-X: VULNERABILITY OF READY MADE GARMENTS
FACTORY BUILDINGS IN BANGLADESH: AN ASSESSMENTUNDER VERTICAL AND EARTHQUAKE LOADS
143
PART-XI: ASSESSMENT OF PREDOMINANT FREQUENCIES INDHAKA CITY, BANGLADESH USING AMBIENT VIBRATION:IMPLICATIONS FOR EARTHQUAKE HAZARDS
172
PART-XII: SHAHEED SUHRAWARDY MEDICAL COLLEGE AND
199
HOSPITAL FIRE INCIDENCE: 14-02-2019
PART-XIII: RIVERBANK EROSION IN LOWER PADMA USINGREMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUES AND TERRESTRIAL LASERSCANNING
205
PART-XIV: CHURIHATTA, CHAWKBAZAR FIRE INCIDENCE:
20-02-2019
216

2|PagePART-I

SAFETY IN RMG SECTOR:PERFORMANCE AND PROGRESS OF DIFE
AFTER RANA PLAZABANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Tasnim Tarannum
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

3|Page1. Introduction
Safety has become an issue of major concern with the increase of population and rapid
industrialization. According to ILO, every year 317 million accidents and more than 2.3
million deaths occur in workplaces worldwide as a result of occupational accidents.
Substandard occupational safety practices can be attributed to an annual economic burden of
4 percent of global Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (ILO, 2017). Research works havealready recognized the significance of safety interventions in order to ensure workplacesafety and decrease injury rates (Ashford, 1976; Smitha et.al., 2001; Locke et.al., 2007;
Cohen, 2013).
Most countries address occupational safety in two forms- through the establishment of safety
association and formulation of safety laws and regulations. In USA, the establishment of the
Occupational Health and Safety Association (OSHA) lead to the reduction of work-related
deaths and injuries by more than 65 percent (OSHA, 2016). In 1919, following the end ofFirst World War, International Labor Organization (ILO) was established as a result of
growing labor and social movements. Japan adopted Industrial Safety and Health Law(ISHL) in 1972 which sharply decreased the number of work-related deaths in the country(Reich and Frumkin, 1988). China, being the fifth largest trading nation in the world,
experiences industrial hazards frequently. Chinese government adopted the Work Safety Law(2002) which focuses on factory-wise safety management system, training aspects androutine inspection of production activities (Walker, 2015). European Union (EU) directives
set minimum requirements to ensure safety and health at workplaces and the Member States
must comply with these standards through the implementation of national legislations. ILO
works in coordination with the governments, employers and representatives of 187-member
states in order to ensure safe and decent work for both men and women (ILO, 2017).
Bangladesh has been an active member state of the ILO since 22 June, 1972 and has ratified
35 ILO Conventions including seven fundamental conventions (ILO, 2017).
Working condition in RMG factories in Bangladesh has been low as most factories do notcomply with the existing labor laws and international labor standards (Ahamed, 2012). Ready
Made Garments (RMG) sector is the largest exporting industry of Bangladesh which
experienced phenomenal growth during the last 25 years.
This sector contributes for 75% of foreign currency earning and 13% of GDP growth of
Bangladesh (Firoz, 2011). Despite its phenomenal success in terms of remittance earning andemployment generation, this sector experienced some worst industrial accidents in the
4|Pagehistory. One of the deadliest accidents include the fire incident at Tazreen Fashions ofAshulia, Dhaka in November 24, 2012, which resulted in the deaths of 111 workers andinjuries of more than 300 workers (Chowdhury and Tanim, 2016). Since the Tazreen
Fashions Factory fire, at least 142 RMG factory fire accidents occurred up to April, 2017leading to the death of 1,148 workers (Solidarity Center, 2017). The collapse of Rana Plaza in2013 is considered to be one of the deadliest accidental structural failures in history which
created a worldwide concern for workplace safety in Bangladesh (ILO, 2016). The building
collapsed on 24 April, 2013 due to poor structural condition, with a death toll of 1,129 lives
and approximately 2,500 injured (Alam and Hossain, 2013; Butler and Hammadi, 2013).
Lack of compliance to the workplaces safety issues is considered to be largely responsible forits collapse (Ansary and Barua, 2015).
Despite the tremendous growth of RMG sector in Bangladesh, the capacity of regulatory
bodies, especially the labor inspectorate was not growing in the same pace. Department ofInspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) was established in 1972 to implement thelabor laws of the country. But with its limited manpower, infrastructure and logistic support,
DIFE was falling behind to meet the needs of huge number of factories and commercial
establishments (GoB, 2016). Major industrial accidents like Rana Plaza collapse and Tazreen
fire reflected the need for a complete renovation of the labor inspection system of Bangladesh(GoB, 2015). In this background, DIFE undergone an extensive upgrade in 2014. This paper
explores the initiatives taken after Rana Plaza collapse with special focus on workplacesafety. The purpose of this paper is to provide an update of the progression made by DIFE
after its initiation in 2014, including the next steps for ensuring workplace safety in
Bangladesh. The objectives of this article are- (1) to summarize the workplace initiatives andadministrative reform that has been done so far by DIFE to determine how far theoccupational safety agenda has progressed since 2014; (2) to identify the gaps in the systemand outline the next steps for moving forward in order to make DIFE achieve its vision andobjectives from the perspective of workplace safety in RMG sector.

2. Background of Department of Inspection for Factory andEstablishments (DIFE)
2.1. Formation of DIFE: In 2010, the service sector was accounted for the largest share of
employment (35.4%) within the non-agricultural sector, followed by the manufacturingindustry (12.4%) (Labor Force Survey, 2010). According to Economic Census (2013), thetotal number of economic units was 3,708,144 in 2010 which increased to 8,075,704 in 2013
5|Page(BBS, 2013). This rapid expansion of manufacturing and service industry led to an increasein the number of factories and the number of workers engaged in the sector. Although theChief Inspector of Factory and Establishments office was playing a vital role in ensuring
legal rights, safe and hygienic work place for the huge number of working people, existing
manpower, infrastructure and logistic support were poor compared to the total number offactories, and commercial establishments.
After the tragic incident of Rana Plaza collapse, the need for fundamental changes related tosafety, inspection and compliance became crucial in order to safeguard the lives of four
million garments workers and retain the confidence of global buyers (ILO, 2015). This
resulted in several national and international commitments and initiatives directed towards
reforming the RMG sector of Bangladesh and improving workplace safety in garments
factories. Some of the major initiatives include National Tripartite Plan of Action on Fire
Safety and Structural Integrity, European Union Sustainability Compact and United States
Trade Representative (USTR) Plan of Action. Many of these initiatives had influence inshaping the roles and responsibilities of DIFE.
In this context, the government of Bangladesh took an initiative to upgrade the directorate
into a “department” with greater operational and management authority. Ministry of Laborand Employment issued the government order of upgradation of Chief Inspector of Factories
and Establishment office to Department of the Inspection for Factories and Establishments(DIFE) in 15 January, 2014 sanctioning 679 new staff positions and 392 new inspectors. The
post of Chief Inspector (Deputy Secretary) was upgraded to Inspector General (Additional
Secretary) to provide DIFE with stronger leadership. Besides, the number of district offices
were increased from 7 to 23, and budget allocation for DIFE was increased more than threefold in FY 2013-14 and 2015-16 as shown in Figure 1 (GoB, 2016).
The adopted vision of DIFE is to ensure a better working environment for workers. In the oldstructure, there was little inter-agency cooperation by the DIFE office (GoB, 2015). But now
DIFE collaborates with various government and private agencies along with internationalorganizations like ILO to facilitate the policy, planning, measures and directions to enhancesafety in RMG sector (GoB, 2016).

6|PageDIFE Budget
Allocation

5
4
3
2
1
0

4.1
3.02
0.36

0.41

0.44

0.47

0.62

0.65

0.71

0.97
USD in Million

Fiscal Year
Figure 1. Budget allocation for DIFE from FY 2006‐2016 (Source: GoB, 2016)

2.2. Organizational Framework of DIFE: The official headquarter of DIFE is located at
Kawran Bazar, BFDC Bhaban, Dhaka which is supervised by the Inspector General(Additional Secretary). The organogram of DIFE headquarter is shown in Figure 2. Apartfrom the headquarter, there are 23 district offices located all over Bangladesh, each of which
are chaired by one Deputy Inspector General (DIG). Government of Bangladesh has alreadytaken an initiative to expand the existing number of district offices. A development project
named as “Modernization and Strengthening of DIFE and Establishment of 5 Zonal and 4
Regional offices” has been undertaken in Gazipur, Narayanganj, Kushtia, Faridpur, Comilla,
Barisal, Mymensingh, Maulvibazar and Rangpur in January, 2013.
The Safety Section of DIFE, operating under the supervision of one DIG and two AssistantInspector Generals (AIG), coordinates the activities of Review Panel and Remediation
Coordination Cell (RCC) and performs other functions such as factory assessment, approvalof Corrective Action Plan (CAP), and review of factory compliance reports. Health Sectionof DIFE is responsible for ensuring safe workplaces, identification of work-related diseases,
protection of occupational health and maternity benefits. The General Section prepares
inspection plan, supervises the inspection activities and resolves labor disputes. The Law
Sub-Section under Administrative and Development Section manages and takes necessary
initiatives to resolve the ongoing cases related to Ministry and Department. The responsibilityof Statistics and Research Sub-Section is to collect and preserve the list of factories andestablishments all over the country. According to this Sub-Section, the number of registeredfactories and establishments is 26,953, among which 4,667 are RMG factories. The
Information and Public Relation Sub-Section works on raising awareness among workers andemployers through different programmes, television documentaries, social media and strives
to protect information right. Lastly, the Accounts Sub-Section is responsible for budget
preparation of the department including maintenance cost, procurement of equipment etc.
With the assistance of ILO, the library of DIFE has been upgraded into a resource center
along with infrastructural development. Apart from these four divisions, the district offices
have an additional division named as Shops and Establishments Section (GoB, 2015-16).
In order to mobilize the activities of different divisions of DIFE, 18 working committees havebeen formed within 2016 period. The committees include Database and Website Management
Committee, Social Media Admin Panel, Crisis Management Committee, Monitoring,
7|PageTraining, Inspection Reporting, Transparency and Accountability, LI Policy, Helpline
Management Committee etc. DIFE has also formed an Occupational Safety and Health Unit
consisting of 26 members which is headed by the Inspector General (CPD, 2016).
Headquarter of DIFE
Inspector General (Additional
Additional Inspector General (Joint

Health Section

Safety Section

GeneralSection Joint
Inspector
General Deputy Inspector
General Assistant Inspector
General (Health) Joint
Inspector
General Deputy Inspector
General AssistantInspector General(Safety) Joint
Inspector
General Deputy Inspector
General Assistant Inspector
General (General)

Administration andDevelopment Section

 Joint
Inspector
General Deputy Inspector
GeneralLaw Sub-Section
 Law Officer

District Offices (23)
Deputy Inspector General

HealthSection

SafetySectionGeneralSection AssistantInspector
General(Health) Labor
Inspector(Health) AssistantInspector
General(Safety) Labor
Inspector(Safety) AssistantInspector
General(General) Labor
Inspector(General)Shops and
Establishments

Statistics
Research
SectionandSub-

 Statistics
andResearch Officer

Information
andPublic Relation SubSection

 Information and Public
Relation Officer AssistantInspector General(General) Labor Inspector(General)Accounts
SectionAccounts Officer

Library
 Librarian

Figure 2. Organizational framework of DIFE headquarter (Source: DIFE, 2017)8|PageSub-

3. Activities and Progress of DIFE for Improving Safety in RMG

3.1. Inspection of Factories: Factory inspection, being an essential part of laboradministration system, can assist national authorities to identify the loopholes in theapplication of national labor laws (ILO, 2017). Regular labor inspection has been prioritizedin countries like USA, Japan, and in EU, where the inspectors have formal police power andregular, programmed workplace inspections are carried out annually (OSHA, 2015). In
Bangladesh, Apart from National Initiatives (NI), Accord and Alliance comprised ofEuropean and North American retailers are also conducting inspection of their enlisted
factories. So far, Accord has completed 80% and the Alliance completed 90% of theinspection and remediation (The Daily Star, 2018). As seen from Figure 3, preliminary
assessment of 3,780 factories has been conducted by three initiatives up to September, 2015.
No. offactories
assessed

2000

1549

1505
890

1000

164
0
National Initiative

AccordAlliance

Both Accord andAlliance

Initiative

Figure 3. Preliminary assessment of factories by three initiatives up to Sept., 2015 (Source: DIFE,

Review Panel is responsible for visiting the factories in question, reviewing the evidence andmaking decision regarding the future operation of the factory. It is chaired by the Inspector
General of DIFE and has the authority to close down factories according to labor laws. Till
December, 2017, out of 145 factories that have been referred to Review Panel, 37 factories
have been closed, 36 factories have been partially closed and 66 factories have been allowed
to operate with some recommendations. Under NI, a total of 147 factories are asked to initiate
Detailed Engineering Assessments (DEA) and primarily 13 engineering firms have been
appointed to perform DEA (ILO, 2018). Table 1 shows the actions taken by Review Panel
until December, 2017.
Table 1. Factories referred to Review Panel and actions taken (as of December, 2017)
DecisionNI
No. of No.

AccordAlliance

Total

of No. of No.

of No. of No.

of No. of No.

offactoriebuilding

factoriebuilding

factoriebuilding

factoriebuilding

s

s

s

s

s

s

s

s

Referred 42

18

47

23

56

27

145

68

to
9|Pagereview
panel
Partially

16

7

8

5

12

5

36

17

3

3

26

10

8

5

37

18

Allowed 23

8

12

7

31

12

66

27

0

1

1

5

5

6

6

closedClosedoperationPending0

decision(Source: DIFE, 2017)

3.2. Initiation of Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC): After the expiry of the tenure of
Accord and Alliance in 2018, two new bodies named as “transitional Accord” and “Safety
Monitoring Organization” will act as safety supervisors in RMG sector (The Daily Star,2018). An organized national framework is needed to oversee the workplace safety issues,monitor progress in enhancing safety and manage the remediation process for garment
factories. In this background, the Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC) has been launched in
15 May, 2017 with the plan of creating a long-term, coordinated approach for factoryinspection and safety progress monitoring (ILO, 2017). The core body of RCC is supported
by five government organizations including DIFE, Fire Service and Civil Defense (FSCD),RAJUK/ Chittagong Development Authority, Public Works Department and Chief ElectricalInspector’s Department. Three officers from each organization monitor remediation activities
at field level and core body meeting is held on every two months. Up to February, 2018, fivecore body meetings have been held and one factory has been visited on 12 February, 2018
(DIFE, 2018).
3.3. Formulation of Task Force: Three task forces have been formulated for structural,electrical and fire under RCC. Task force is comprised of IG, DIFE as Convener, andrepresentatives from FSCD, RAJUK/CDA and BUET as members. These taskforces monitor
the progress of Corrective Action Plan (CAP) and Detail Engineering Assessment (DEA) innational initiative factories. Total 28 task force meetings have been held until 13 February,
2018 with 19 meetings for structural, 8 meetings for fire and 1 meeting for electrical. Table 2
lists the decisions made on task force meeting.

10 | P a g e

Table 2. Decisions made on Task Force meeting (up to 13 February, 2018)
Task

Total

force

required

DEA Number

of

DEA/CAP Number

submitted

of

DEA/

CAP reviewed

Structural

147

59

40

Fire

745

15

08

Electrical

745

20

01

(Data Source: DIFE, 2018)
The manual for the preparation of CAP has already been devised and uploaded in DIFE
website. A number of DIFE inspectors are also being trained on CAP development (GoB,
2016). Up to January, 2018, all NI factories have prepared their CAPs based on the findingsof inspection reports (ILO, 2018). Progress of CAP up to February, 2018 has been shown in
Figure 4, which denotes that progress in fire CAP is comparatively lower than that ofstructural and electrical CAPs. Total progress is also higher for owned buildings (33%)

Percentage

compared to the rented buildings (19%).
50

35

33
19

22

33

30

19

17

Owned Building
Rented Building

0
Structural CAP Electrical CAP

Fire CAP

Total

Type of CAP
Figure 4. Progress of CAP among NI factories (Data Source: DIFE, February, 2018)

3.4. Approval of Factory Layout: The Labor Law stipulates that factory layouts shall beapproved by DIFE. In order to get approval, the factory authority needs to submit necessary
documents such as copies of layout, trade license, soil test report, load bearing capacity
certificate, structural design prepared by any recognized engineer/engineering agency,
building construction certificate and approved building design by local authority to the
Deputy Inspector General (DIG). DIG will assign inspectors to submit the inspection reportand may approve the design after reviewing the report. The process of registration andissuing of license of factories and establishments is quite similar to the factory layout
approval process (DIFE, 2017).

3.5. Recruitment and Qualification of Labor Inspectors: Government has increased
manpower from 314 to 993, out of which 575 are inspectors and 284 inspectors are working
in DIFE (CPD, 2016). In 2017, the number of inspectors has been increased up to 330 (DIFE
11 | P a g e

Interview, 2017). In order to ensure the effectiveness of inspection services, the recruitment
process of AIG (Assistant Inspector General) and LI (Labor Inspector) is done throughBangladesh Civil Service (BCS) examination. For the AIG (safety and general section),
minimum educational requirement is B.Sc. in engineering and the AIG under health section
must be a doctor. In case of the LIs, minimum graduation is required in any field of science(DIFE interview, 2017).

3.6. Training and Capacity Building of the Labor Inspectors: As part of the reform of
DIFE, ILO is working closely with DIFE to improve the capacity of labor inspectors (ILO,
2016). A comprehensive series of capacity building activities, ranging from basic training of
newly recruited labor inspectorates to specific training focused on labor law, fire safetyassessment etc. have been taking place since January, 2014. DIFE has collaborated with awide range of partners to provide training including ILO, GIZ, FSCD, BUET and BGMEA(GoB, 2015). The three-and-a-half-year long ILO programme on “Improving Working
Conditions in the Ready-Made Garment Sector” launched in October, 2013 is working withan aim of significantly improving the capacity of inspection system in Bangladesh. Training
courses under this programme covered a wide range of subjects, including accident
investigation, labor inspection strategies, international labor standards, Bangladesh Labor
Laws, labor-market related policies and programmes etc. to improve the professional skills of
the labor inspectors.
3.7. Preparation of District Database: DIFE has taken initiatives to prepare a database
containing the list of factories in different districts of the country. Already this list has been
prepared for 23 among 64 districts. Figure 5 shows the type of factories in different districts
according to the database. In the database, the factories have been classified into more than
100 types of sectors. These sectors have been categorized into 13 broad categories andrepresented in Figure 5. From the figure it can be seen that, most of the factories fall undergarments and textiles category in all six districts, with the highest percentage belonging toNarsingdi (98.71%) followed by Dhaka (75.10%).

12 | P a g e

Others
100%

Ceramics

90%

Accessories and cosmetics

80%

Brickfield, minerals and power

Percentage

70%
Chemical60%
Pharmaceuticals

50%
40%

Steel and engineering

30%

Plastic and polybag

20%

Leather and footwear

10%

Electronics and workshop

0%Paper industry
Food related industry

Name of district

Garments, cotton, textile, knitting,dying

Figure 5. Distribution of factories according to type of sector in different districts(Prepared by Author, Data Source: DIFE, 2017)
3.8. Ensuring Transparency, Accountability and Workers’ Participation: The launch of
DIFE website and a publicly accessible data base containing the basic information of 4,808
RMG factories can be remarked as a step forwards towards ensuring transparency (ILO,
2014). According to DIFE, already 2,961 assessment summary reports have been publishedin the website among which 1,707 reports are prepared by NI, 712 by Accord and 542 by
Alliance (DIFE, 2017). But the database is often inaccessible due to technical issues andrequires necessary upgrade to be effective. The planned establishment of an accountability
unit within DIFE is another major step. Any decision regarding the closing of factories aretaken in the presence of stakeholders from BGMEA, BKMEA, BUET and otherorganizations in order to ensure impartiality. With the assistance of ILO, DIFE has launcheda toll-free helpline number for the RMG workers in March, 2015. Through the number,anyone can complain to the government with a view to improving the working conditions
which will be addressed by concerned authorities. DIFE has also established an email accountto receive complaints or grievances of workers (GoB, 2015).

13 | P a g e

4. Factory Verification: Are Factories Closed by DIFE Really Closed?

DIFE closes down factories that fail to improve the remediation by the deadline. Then hardly
any assessment is done to verify whether those factories are still operating. In order todetermine the current status of the closed factories, a survey has been conducted among 37
factories covering 10 areas of Dhaka- Gulshan, Jatrabari, Malibagh, Mirpur, Motijheel, Old
Dhaka, Tejgaon, Mohammadpur, Dhanmondi and Badda under the supervision of authors.
Interestingly, almost 49% of the “closed” factories are still running. Among them, 83%
factories are operating with a new unit name whereas the rest are working with their original
names. As seen from Figure 6, the number of factories that are still operational are high in
Mirpur, Jatrbabari, Tejgaon, and Mohammadpur.

No. of factories

6
4
2

5
4
3

3
2

3
2

2

2

1

22

3

2

No. of factories (open)

1
No. of factories(closed)0

Area

Figure 6. Area wise comparison of running and closed factories in Dhaka among factories closed by
DIFE (Data Source: Field Survey, 2018)

5. Challenges and Way Forward

Despite the steady improvements being made and the number of measures taken to improve
occupational safety in Bangladesh RMG sector, there is a huge workload on DIFE to deliverconcrete and reportable results within a short period of time (GoB, 2015). Major challenges
faced by DIFE include the lengthy recruitment process of the inspectors, lack of professional
training institutes, lack of adequate labor inspectors, procurement of equipment, lack ofmonitoring activities and coordination among different stakeholders. Database management
and regular update of database is another key challenge for DIFE. There is no dedicatedmember or staff at DIFE responsible for the data collection, compilation and upgradation
process. Currently the data compilation and record-keeping take place based on a paper-based
system which has certain limitations. Technological upgradation, procurement of newcomputers, and more recruitment of staff in the Statistics Cell are required for theestablishment of a more modernized and efficient system of data collection and management.
In order to make visible progress and facilitate inspection process, priority should be given
14 | P a g e

towards increasing the number of labor inspectors. According to BBS, district offices must be
established in 64 districts in order to cover 80 lakh economic units of the country. Therefore,
more district offices are needed to be established to conduct inspection in a systematicmanner. Overall, DIFE holds substantial potential in creating a safe workplace in RMG
industries of Bangladesh. More attention is required in the field of manpower, capacity
building, technical advancement and monitoring of closed factories to properly execute thenational and international commitments directed towards safety compliance.
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journal of public health, 78(7), 809-816.
Smitha, M. W., Kirk, K. A., Oestenstad, K. R., Brown, K. C., & Lee, S. D. (2001). Effect ofstate workplace safety laws on occupational injury rates. Journal of occupational andenvironmental medicine, 43(12).
Solidarity Center. (2017). Bangladesh Garment and Textile Factory Safety Incidents Since
Tazreen Fashion Factory Fire, November 24, 2012. Accessed 23rd April, 2018 from
16 | P a g ehttps://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/04/Bangladesh.FireChart.April-2017.pdf
The Daily Star. (April 22, 2018). Two Temporary Bodies to Ease Accord, AllianceDeparture. Accessed 23rd April, 2018 from https://www.thedailystar.net/business/twotemporary-bodies-ease-accord-alliance
Walker, C. (2015). Occupational health and safety in China. International Union
Rights, 22(4), 8-13

17 | P a g e

PART-IICAN RANA PLAZA HAPPEN AGAIN IN
BANGLADESH?

BANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Uttama Barua
JWF Wiersma
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

18 | P a g e

1. Introduction
The Ready‐Made Garment (RMG) industry in Bangladesh has been facing challenges to ensure workplacesafety and better working conditions for the millions of garment workers. One of the deadliest fire accidents in
RMG sector Bangladesh is Tazreen Fashion fire on November 24, 2012, which resulted in death of 112 workers.
Since Tazreen Fashion Factory fire to 22 April 2017, about 133 fire incidents have occurred in the sector
leading to at least 38 deaths and 815 injuries (Solidarity Center, 2017). In 2005, the building of Spectrum
factory collapsed causing death of 64 garment workers and injury of 80. In 2006, 22 workers died due tocollapse of the Phoenix Garments building. In 2012 due to partial collapse of Siams Superior Ltd. factorybuilding in Chittagong Export Processing Zone (CEPZ), five workers received minor injuries. In February 2013,
factory building of Envoy Garments Ltd. in Ashulia, Dhaka at least 100 garment workers were injured in astampede triggered by a false fire alarm and consequent collapse of stair railing. Just months after this
accident, Rana Plaza collapsed on 24 April 2013. All these accidents represent poor workplace safety conditionin Bangladesh RMG factories. After Rana Plaza accident different diversified national and international
initiatives have been taken to improve workplace safety condition in this sector. Five years after the accident
the question is now whether these initiatives could truly succeed to ensure workplace safety or can accidents
like Rana Plaza collapse happen again.

2. Ins and outs of Rana Plaza collapse
The factory building of Rana Plaza was located in Savar, Dhaka. It housed five garment factories employing
around 5,000 people, more than 300 shops, and a bank. It was a 9‐storied industrial building with a single
basement. Local Municipality (Savar) gave permission to the owner of Rana Plaza to construct a five storey
commercial building with one basement in 2005. Though the foundation of the building was for five storey,
later the owner was allowed to extend the building up to nine storey without considering the structural design.
Moreover, the building was converted from commercial to industrial use, and power generators were placedat the higher floors. As a result of such violations in building construction, on 23 April 2013, a day prior to thefateful day, cracks developed on some pillars and on few floors of the building following a jolt. Afterinspection, industrial police requested the building authorities to close the building and to suspend operationsof the factories on that day. However, the building owner and top‐management of the garment factories
ignored the warning and forced the workers to work in the next morning on 24th April, 2013. As aconsequence, the collapse resulted in the high death toll of 1,134 and more than 2500 people were badly
injured at the end of the rescue operation on 14 May 2013. It was the most fatal industrial accident in RMG
sector in Bangladesh, and one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the world, which was the result of thereluctant attitude of the stakeholders towards the compliance issues. This tragic accident received global
attention and brought forward diverse issues concerning millions of stakeholders in the RMG sector of
Bangladesh (Ansary & Barua, 2015).

3. Initiatives after Rana Plaza collapse
Considering the potential of RMG industry in Bangladesh, several and diverse national and international
commitments and initiatives resulted as part of the reform and restructuring of the RMG sector after Rana

19 | P a g e

Plaza accident. The National Tripartite Plan of Action (NTPA) on Fire Safety was first outlined on March 2013
after Tazreen Fashion fire accident. Upon NTPA, tripartite partners (GoB, RMG workers, and RMG employers)
signed a Joint Statement on May, 2013.Afterwards, without altering the content, the NTPA on Fire Safety wasmerged with the Joint Statement to form the NTPA on Fire Safety and Structural Integrity in the RMG Sector of
Bangladesh in July 2013. It included 25 commitments divided into three categories: legislation and policy,
administration, and practical activities. To ensure and monitor its implementation the National Tripartite
Committee (NTC) was established at the same time under NTPA commitment. The committee is chaired by
Labour Secretary and includes Government agencies, employers (Bangladesh Employer's Federation (BEF),
Bangladesh Garment Manufactures & Exporters Association (BGMEA) and Bangladesh Knitwear Manufacturers& Exporters Association (BKMEA)), and trade unions. Based on NTPA, the EU, GoB and ILO issued anagreement of time‐bound actions, “The Sustainability Compact: Compact for Continuous Improvements inLabour Rights and Factory Safety in the Ready‐Made Garment and Knitwear Industry in Bangladesh” in July
2013 to promote improved labour standards and responsible business conduct in the RMG and knitwear
industry in Bangladesh. A total of twenty‐nine activities were listed in the EU Sustainability Compact. In
addition, the United States Trade Representative (USTR) requested GoB to implement a sixteen‐point action
plan within one year in order to reinstate Bangladesh’s GSP status in the US market. The USTR Action Plan
endorsed the EU Sustainability Compact particularly for trade union related activities (Moazzem & Islam,2015).
In addition to these initiatives, two different factory inspection programmes were established to make work
place safer in Bangladesh where ILO fulfils the role of neutral chair. They are: the Bangladesh Accord on Fireand Building Safety in Bangladesh (the Accord), and the Alliance for Bangladesh (the Alliance). The Accord was
initiated by over 190 apparel companies from over 20 countries in Europe, North America, Asia and Australia;
two global trade unions, IndustriALL and UNI Global; and eight Bangladeshi trade unions on May 15th 2013. It
is a five‐year independent and legally binding agreement designed to build a safe and healthy Bangladeshi
RMG Industry (Bangladesh Accord, 2015). The Alliance officially launched its local operation in Dhaka on
December 9, 2013, which is also a five‐year independent and legally binding agreement initiated by a group of
North American apparel companies and retailers and brands (26 North American retailers and brands) todevelop and launch the Bangladesh Worker Safety Initiative (Alliance for Bangladesh, 2013).
The targets and objectives of these initiatives are the same and they share some common courses of action
aiming at improvement of workplace safety to safeguard the lives of over four million RMG workers and toretain the confidence of global buyers following the Rana Plaza accident (Barua & Ansary, 2017; Moazzem &Islam, 2015). Among the common actions considered in these initiatives, improving fire, electrical andstructural safety of RMG factory buildings is significant to ensure a safe working environment for all in the
sector preventing further accidents.

4. Actions regarding structural safety of RMG factory buildings
Considering work‐place safety as one of the most important challenges to sustain RMG industry in Bangladesh,actions regarding structural, fire and electrical safety assessment of all active export‐oriented RMG factories
were addressed in all the action plans. The supporting actions included upgrading and strengthening of the

20 | P a g e

Chief Inspector of Factories and Establishment office to a “department”, recruitment of additional labour, fireand building inspectors, arrangement of training programs to increase capacity of the inspectors, developmentof plan in consultation with the ILO to conduct effective inspections, initiation of remedial actions or close or
relocate factories as appropriate, and creation of a publicly accessible database of all RMG/knitwear factories
as a platform for reporting labour, fire and building inspections. All of these actions are either fully or partiallycompleted (Barua & Ansary, 2017).
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and two private engineering firms TUV SUD
Bangladesh (Pvt.) Ltd and Veritas Engineering & Consultant on behalf of the NTC, the Accord, and the Alliance
are responsible for conducting the assessments of the structural integrity and fire safety of RMG factorybuildings. A Review Panel along with a review mechanism was established under DIFE to handle urgent safetyissues in garment factories. Finally, in November 2013, assessments of the structural integrity and fire safety of
RMG factory buildings officially commenced, led by engineers from BUET. The BGMEA and BKMEA agreed toshare necessary documents related to factory design and layout with the Committee to facilitate a smoothassessment process.
To undertake the structural assessment of factory buildings with common approach, Guidelines forAssessment of Structural Integrity and Fire and Safety including harmonized standards were developed by thetechnical experts (structural engineers, fire safety experts, etc.) from the BUET on behalf of the NTC, theAccord, and the Alliance in 2013 (NTPA, 2013). In 2014, Accord and Alliance consolidated national rules andregulation related to fire and electrical, and building integrity (Bangladesh National Building Code Act,
Bangladesh Labour Act 2006, and others) and prepared a comprehensive document. In case of insufficiency inlocal rules, the initiatives took support from international rules/guideline which further strengthened overall
safety standards
A Remediation Coordination Cell (RCC)was formed in 2017 comprising of four teams to take over charge intransition phase be public agency. The teams include: the core body, field monitoring committee (to monitor
remediation activities in field level), task force, and case handler and co‐case handler. The activities of the cell
include oversee the progress of remediation related activities (of factories initially under national initiative andlater other factories under Accord and Alliance) and Detailed Engineering Assessment (DEA).
The safety assessment and remediation process for the factory buildings under national initiative is composedof six main steps.
Firstly, preliminary assessment reports are prepared after each preliminary inspection including thefindings and required recommendations for the building owner and users according to the assessment
results. Whether DEA recommended or not is also included in the assessment report. Issues triggering DEA
are: concerns with structural issues, i.e. extensions, lateral system, flat plate punching capacity andslender columns, and state of documentation and approvals.



Secondly, if any factory is assessed as vulnerable, then they are referred to the review panel to order the
closure and evacuation of the factories until undertaking additional strength testing or taking immediate
remedial measures. Assessment alone is not enough to ensure a safe working environment for all in the
sector. The weak factory buildings are required to be strengthened to ensure resilience. So, after

21 | P a g e

inspection of each factory, the inspection reports are shared with factory owners, the active brands andworker representatives. Then factory owner and the brands are tasked to develop a detail Corrective
Action Plan (CAP) as per recommendation and to submit for approval with a clear timeline and a financial
plan. Additionally, they propose firm for DEA (from the DEA firms short‐listed by the DIFE Task Force)
within a maximum of two weeks.
Thirdly, the outline of the CAP is approved within two weeks through joint meeting between Factory
Technical Team and the Initial Assessment Team.



Fourthly, the approved firm conducts DEA and prepares report containing detail remediation schemewithin six to twelve weeks and submit it for review and comments by the DIFE Task Force. DEA of thebuildings involve soil investigation, other non‐destructive tests and 3D building modeling. Fifthly, the DIFE
Task Force review the DEA along with remediation scheme and send comments to the factory ownerwithin two weeks after receiving the DEA report.



Fifthly, after revision of DEA and remediation scheme by the approved firm, it is submitted to DIFE Task
Force for final approval within maximum two weeks.

Finally, after approval of CAP, remediation work is initiated under supervision of RCC. After successful
completion of remediation work approved by the task force, safety clearance certificate is provided to thefactory to continue business as usual. If the factory owners do not start remediation work after 3rd
escalation then DIFE or BGMEA would take legal action to cancel license of the factory.

5. Progress of inspection initiative
As per DIFE website, assessment of 3582 RMG factories have been completed till March 2016, including NTC
1549, Accord 1204, Alliance 656, and common by Accord and Alliance 164 (DIFE, 2016). A total 150 factories
were referred to Review Panel, out of which 39 factories were closed, 42 factories were partially closed, and
69 factories were allowed to operate, whereas decisions for five factories are pending. Among 1549 factories
assessed under NTC, 24 are highly vulnerable (open 12, closed 10 and relocated 2), 219 are moderately
vulnerable, 560 are low vulnerable, 449 are structurally safe, 282 are vulnerable for fire and electrical issues
and owners of 15 factories did not allow to enter and assess their factories. Among these factories 745
factories are under follow‐up.
Till January 2018, 83% overall remediation works have been carried out in garment factories under the Accord.
Among these factories, a total of 138 factories have completed initial remediation works (Bangladesh Accord,2018). Furthermore, till November 2017, 85% overall remediation works have been carried out in garment
factories under the Alliance. Among these factories, a total of 234 factories have completed initial remediation
works (Alliance for Bangladesh, 2018). The assessment reports and CAPs for the factories under Accord andAlliance have been made public through their websites. Both initiatives made timely review of remediation
activities and based on the progress put necessary pressure for timely completion of remaining works. In
extreme cases where the factories were unable to comply, business ties with those factories ended. On theother hand, factories which successfully completed the remediation works received “letter of recognition”
from the initiatives. In contrast, 33% and 19% remediation works have been carried out in garment factories

22 | P a g e

under NTC in case of owned and rented factories respectively. Factories which successfully completed theremediation works or are found to be okay after the DEA, received a “Business As Usual Certificate” from DIFE.

6. Way forward
The assessment initiative has reached its target. Yet there also are factories that have not been included in theprocess due to unwillingness of the factory owners, and incomplete and improper list of factories provided by
BGMEA and BKMEA. Moreover, there remain a number of factories which are not member of any
organizations such as BGMEA and BKMEA. So, the list of factories needs to be updated and verified including
the remaining factories to ensure quick completion of the assessment. Additionally, the safety concerns ofbackward linkage activities of RMG enterprises (e.g. textiles, accessories, etc.) had been excluded frommonitoring and inspection which also need to be taken into consideration.
Due to limited capacity in terms of human resources, technical issues and database management, the processof remediation under national initiative is getting hampered. Additionally, due to non‐co‐operation of rented/
shared building owners, remediation works cannot be progressed.
The assessment initiatives for workplace safety in the Bangladesh RMG sector have led to importantorganizational learning for Bangladesh as well as for other apparel manufacturing countries. Furthermore,both the initiatives of Accord and Alliance have entered into a transition phase after five years’ operation
which are going to end in 2018. Considering the status of remediation works of the remaining factories under
this initiative, both the initiatives will extend their timeline to complete the works. Accord is willing to extend
their operation beyond the limited time frame but Alliance is not willing to extend their contract. So, the key
issue is now to institutionalize this learning to develop and continue an effective monitoring and inspection
mechanism in the future even after completion of the assessments.
Another challenge is the huge amount of money required by the factory owners, which are insolvent but
willing to remedy factory safety. For that purpose, the RMG factory owners have requested for theestablishment of long‐term loan instruments. In response to such request, different organizations, e.g.,
International Finance Corporation (IFC) US, Agence Française de Dévelopment (AFD), the Accord, the Alliance,
and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) provided loans to the local banks. These banks will
disseminate the loans to the factory owners to improve their structural, electrical and fire safety
infrastructure. The GoB has vowed to set up a specialized bank for the garment industry to provide easy loans.
Though it is potentially an effective initiative, but the challenge lies in the fact that these financial supports are
not sufficient compared to the requirement. Although the lenders have provided Bangladesh Bank (BB) withalmost zero percentage interest, BB and other private Banks while disbursing the fund (around 300 million
USD) to the RMG factories are asking an interest rate of 7 to 9%. Also, Public Works Department (PWD) underBangladesh Government is entrusted to find out the deficiency of those RMG factories, which is hindering theprocess of fund disbursement. So far, only two RMG factories have received fund from this source.

23 | P a g e

7. Can RANA Plaza Happen Again?
From the above discussion it can be said that even though the assessment initiative has largely reached its
target of inspection and remediation of factories, there is still a long way forward to reach the goal of
workplace safety in Bangladesh RMG factories. In addition to these limitations, there are many cases where
factory owners are doing wrong deeds to get positive report from the assessment. We have one recent
experience with a factory during training of the DIFE inspectors regarding factory assessment and follow up.
This particular factory located at Dhaka has been assessed under National initiative in December 2013.
Basically, there are two buildings under the factory: one is a 6‐storied and the other is an 8‐storied building
having a basement. Two factories namely AL and PR are located there. The ground floor of the two buildings
are housing several shops and go‐downs, the basement of the 8‐storied building has been used as the fabricstore for one of the factories (factory A). This factory is occupying both buildings up to 3rd floor (connectedinternally) and up to 5th floor of the 6‐storied building, while the other factory (factory B) is occupying 4th to
7th floor of the 8‐storied building. In early 2015, factory A moved under Accord. While applying for the Accord,
they have only used the 8‐storied building which has larger columns and smaller spans and can be consideredsafe. The 6‐storied building which has smaller columns and larger cantilevers is not fully safe but has not beenassessed under Accord. During a recent visit to the factory, the DIFE inspectors have found several cracks inthe top floor beams of the 6‐storied factory, which we have had already observed during our 2013 visit and forwhich we required the factory to make remediation. The owner of factory A has intentionally kept the 6‐
storied building outside the Accord assessment. So, as a result, the safe 8‐storied building has been assessedand certified by Accord, while the 6‐storied building under the same factory has never been assessed byAccord. But when DIFE inspectors were checking the factories, the owners told them that the whole factory isunder Accord and has been fully assessed.
This is just a case among many. If these conditions cannot be taken care of then it is sure that Rana Plaza canhappen again.

References
Alliance for Bangladesh. (2013). “About the Alliance”.

Retrieved 28 March, 2018, fromhttp://www.bangladeshworkersafety.org/about/about-the-alliance
Alliancefor

Bangladesh.

(2018).

“Alliance

statistic”.

Retrieved

28

March,

2018,

from

http://www.bangladeshworkersafety.org/progress-impact/alliance-statistics
Ansary, M. A., & Barua, U. (2015). “Workplace safety compliance of RMG industry in Bangladesh: Structuralassessment of RMG factory buildings”. International Journal of Disaster Risk Reduction, 14, 424-437.
Bangladesh

Accord.

(2015).

“AbouttheAccord”.

Retrieved

28

March,

2018,

from

http://bangladeshaccord.org/
Banglades'h Accord. (2018). “Progress”. Retrieved April 1, 2018, from http://bangladeshaccord.org/progress/
Barua, U., & Ansary, M. A. (2017). “Workplace safety in Bangladesh ready-made garment sector: 3 years after
the Rana Plaza collapse”. International Journal of Occupational Safety and Ergonomics, 23(4), 578583.
DIFE. (2016). “Status of Building Assessment”. Retrieved 24 March, 2018, from http://database.dife.gov.bd/

24 | P a g e

Moazzem, K. G., & Islam, A. (2015). “Moving Beyond the Shadow of the Rana Plaza Tragedy: In Search of a
Closure and Restructuring Strategy: Fourth Monitoring Report”. Dhaka, Bangladesh: Centre for
Policy Dialogue (CPD).
NTPA. (2013). “Guidelines of Building Assessment (Structural & Fire) for Existing RMG Factory Buildings in
Bangladesh”. Dhaka, Bangladesh: National Tripartite Plan of Action on Fire Safety and Structural
Integrity.
Solidarity Center. (2016). “Bangladesh Garment and Textile Factory Safety Incidents Since Tazreen Fashion
FactoryFire,

November

24,

2012”.

Retrieved

5

April,

2017,

from

https://www.solidaritycenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/Bangladesh.Garment-Textile-FactoryFire-Incidents-since-Tazreen.04.16.pdf

25 | P a g e

PART-III

FIRE EVACUATION SAFETY IN
BANGLADESH READY MADE GARMENT(RMG) FACTORIES: A COMPARISON OF
STANDARDS AND NON-COMPLIANCE
ISSUES OF MEANS OF ESCAPEBANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Uttama Barua
JWF Wiersma
Maruf Billah
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

26 | P a g e

1. Introduction
Workplace safety is very important to ensure business sustainability and thus to survive in the global
competitive market (Jilcha & Kitaw, 2017; Jilcha, Kitaw, & Beshah, 2016). The working efficiency ofan employee dominantly relies on how they believe that safety is to be valued in the organization(Griffin & Neal, 2000). Safety performance motivates them to work harder and work with efficiency
and to take ownership of responsibility for safety performance (O'Dea & Flin, 2001). Due to non‐compliance with workplace safety, occupational hazards lead to permanent disabilities, death andeconomic loss every year in different industries all over the world (Dağdeviren & Yüksel, 2008;
Jaiswal, 2012). Among different occupational hazards, fire is one of the major concerns for ready‐made garments industries. There are four keys to fire safety: fire prevention, early warning of thefire, containment of the fire, and safe exits (Bangladesh Accord, 2014b). Among them, safe exits or
evacuation can be ensured by providing proper means of egress, which reduces the impact of
uncontrolled fire (Hall & Watts, 2008; Sekizawa, 2005). Thus, compliant means of egress is one of themost important components to ensure safe fire evacuation.
In Bangladesh, Ready Made Garment (RMG) industry is one of the most important export‐oriented
sectors (Ahmed, Greenleaf, & Sacks, 2014; Ahmed & Hossain, 2009; Ansary & Barua, 2015; Wadud,Huda, & Ahmed, 2014). Apart from its contribution in export earnings, it is also an important player
in the economy in terms of employment generation, poverty alleviation and empowering of women(Haider, 2007; Khosla, 2009; Rahman & Hossain, 2010). Though it is one of the most importantsectors of Bangladesh, the safety issues are not up to a standard yet (Ahamed, 2013; Clean Clothes
Campaign, 2012; Muhammad, 2011). Such lack of workplace safety has resulted in different
occupational disasters in RMG factories in Bangladesh (Ahmed & Hossain, 2009). One of the mostdeadly fire accidents in this sector is Tazreen Fashion fire on November 24, 2012, which resulted in
the death of 112 workers. Since Tazreen Fashion Factory fire to 22 April 2017, about 133 fireincidents have occurred in the sector leading to at least 38 deaths and 815 injuries (Solidarity Center,2017). These tragic accidents received global attention and brought forward diverse issues
concerning millions of workers, employers, brands, and consumers.
To improve workplace safety and thus reduce fire accidents in Bangladesh RMG sector several
initiatives have been taken since 2013 after the Tazreen Fashion fire accident. Among them, National
Tripartite Plan of Action (NTPA) on Fire Safety was first outlined in March 2013. After Rana Plaza
collapse, it was converted to form the NTPA on Fire Safety and Structural Integrity in the RMG Sectorof Bangladesh in July 2013 (Barua & Ansary, 2017). One of the most significant activities outlined in
the plan was to assess the fire safety of all active export‐oriented RMG and knitwear factories andinitiate remedial actions accordingly. As part of this plan, the National Tripartite Committee (NTC)27 | P a g e

agreed on an initial assessment of buildings housing RMG factories. Additionally, two different
factory inspection programmes were established: the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in
Bangladesh (the Accord), and the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety (the Alliance), where ILO
assumed the role of the neutral chair (Alliance for Bangladesh, 2013; Bangladesh Accord, 2015).
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and two private engineering firms TUV
SUD Bangladesh (Pvt.) Ltd. and Veritas Engineering & Consultant on behalf of NTC were responsible
for conducting the assessments.
Though these three assessment initiatives/programs are all for the RMG factories, there aredifferences in the fire safety standards based on which compliance or non‐compliance is decided
under different programs. In practice, factory buildings are obliged to follow Bangladesh National
Building Code (BNBC) of 1993 (BNBC, 1993) to ensure fire safety. The original 1993 BNBC is in theprocess to be amended in which some issues for fire safety has been upgraded (BNBC, 2018). On theother hand, to carry out the assessment with a common approach, Guidelines for Assessment ofStructural Integrity and Fire and Safety was developed in 2013 under NTPA which is again one stepahead of both the BNBC standards (NTPA, 2013). Likewise in 2014, the Accord and the Alliancedeveloped their assessment guide with similar issues which is again superior to previously statedstandards (Alliance for Bangladesh, 2014; Bangladesh Accord, 2014a). Thus, a difference inconsideration for issues can be observed. Such situations may create confusion among the factoryowners regarding which standard to follow. Additionally, after assessment under three programs,comparison of assessment results of the factory buildings to understand non‐compliance issues are
difficult. Such comparison may also create meaningless outcomes due to the difference in standards.
Several studies were carried out on Bangladesh RMG industry. Barua and Ansary (2017); Samaddar(2016); Ansary and Barua (2015); Tania and Sultana (2014); Akhter, Salahuddin, Iqbal, Malek, andJahan (2010); Ahmed and Hossain (2009); and Mahmud and Kabeer (2003) studied different
workplace safety issues in Bangladesh garment industry. Wadud et al. (2014) developed fire risk
index (FRI) for soft parameters (management practices) in Bangladesh garment industry. Ahmad andKamruzzaman (2015) analyzed the availability of fire‐fighting equipment in selected knitting garment
factories in Bangladesh. Wadud and Huda (2017) developed fire risk index (FRI), considering hard(structural) and soft (management practices) parameters for the Bangladesh garment industry. Noneof these studies compared the standards and analyzed non‐compliance issues related to fire safety
in Bangladesh RMG factories.
In this background, objectives of this research are: firstly, to compare different standards of meansof escape for RMG factories to ensure safe fire evacuation, and secondly, to find out the non‐compliance issues of means of escape in the factories with respect to different standards. This28 | P a g e

research will enable to find out and understand the differences among the standards and the non‐compliance issues related to means of escape for safe fire evacuation in Bangladesh RMG sector.

2. Methodology
2.1 Comparison of standards related to means of escape for fire safety in
Bangladesh
To understand difference among the issues related to means of escape, four standards werecompared: Accord and Alliance 2014 (Part 6: Means of Egress), NTPA 2013 (Section 2.9: Means ofEscape), BNBC 1993 (Part 4: Chapter 3: Means of Escape), and BNBC 2018 (Draft) (Part 4: Chapter 3:
Means of Egress). To maintain a systematic comparison, the arrangement of Accord and Alliancestandard was followed where 115 issues were organized under twenty‐one broad headings. They
are: fire separation of means of egress; walking surfaces in means of egress; impediments to meansof egress; reliability; occupant load; egress width; number of exits and means of egress;
arrangement of exits or means of egress; doors; stairway; ramps, corridors and ramped aisle; signs;
sign illumination; egress illumination; handrails and guards; travel distance; exit enclosure;smokeproof enclosure; exit passageway; exit termination; and exit discharge. After comparison, theissues were organized in a tabular format. In cases where the variation of standards could beobserved, they were represented according to their superiority where a higher standard isrepresented by most superior and lower standard represent less superior.

2.2 Analysis of non‐compliance issues related to means of escape for fire safety
Until March 2016, assessment of 3582 RMG factories have been completed (NTC 1549, Accord 1204,
Alliance 656, and common by Accord and Alliance 164) (DIFE, 2016). As these assessments havebeen done under national and international initiatives, so for the purpose of this study theseassessed reports have been considered. Again, considering detailing of assessment reports, factories
assessed by Alliance have been utilized. In the website of Alliance, assessment reports are available(Alliance for Bangladesh, 2018). Among 656 assessed factories, 500 factories are active. Therefore,
these active factories have been considered for this analysis. From this set 217 factories have been
selected for this study. The factories have been selected through random stratified sampling method
considering four quarters each from 2013 to 2017, e.g. January to March, April to June, July to
September, and October to December, assuming 95 percent confidence level and 5 percent
confidence interval, fire assessment reports of these selected factories have been collected from thewebsite of Alliance.
The reports were analyzed based on the findings from the comparison of standards. The focus of theanalysis was whether the factories comply with the standards or not, and if not with which
standard(s) they do not comply with. Additionally, the basic information of the factories including
29 | P a g e

factory name, location, number of storey, ownership status, year of construction and occupancy,
were also been collected from reports. After that, the analysis findings were input in SPSS 21 and thedata were analyzed through descriptive statistics.
For the convenience of discussion, all the broadheads have been divided into two groups. They are:condition of means of egress components (including fire separation of means of egress; egress
width; doors; stairway; ramps, corridors, ramped aisle; handrails and guards; exit passageway; exit
termination; and exit discharge), and condition of means of egress (including number of exits andmeans of egress; arrangement of exits or means of egress; travel distance; exit enclosure; smoke
proof enclosure; walking surfaces in means of egress; impediments to means of egress; reliability;egress illumination; occupant load; signs; and sign illumination).

3. Results and discussion
3.1 Description of the dataset
Among the factories considered in this research, about 73 percent are located in Dhaka (Mirpur,
Gazipur, Narayanganj, Tongi, Ashulia, Dhaka Export Processing Zone, and other areas in Dhaka), andrest are located in Chittagong (Nasirabad Industrial Area, Chittagong Export Processing Zone,
Karnaphuli Export Processing Zone, different industrial areas, and other areas in Chittagong). Figure
1 shows the percentage of factory buildings considered in this research with respect to location.
Among the factory buildings, about 82 percent are owned and rest are rented. Figure 2 shows thepercentage of factory buildings considered in this research with respect to their year of construction.
From the figure, it can be observed that most of the assessed buildings have been constructed in the
period of 2001 to 2015, which are mostly new constructions.

30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Location of the factory buildings

Figure 1: Percentage of factory buildings with respect to location
30 | P a g e

35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
Before1980

1980 to
1985

1986 to1990

1991 to1995

1996 to2000

2001 to
2005

2006 to2010

2011 to After 2015 Unknown2015

Year of construction

Figure 2: Percentage of factory buildings with respect to year of construction

Figure 3 shows the percentage of factory buildings considered in this research with respect to their
number of storeys, which shows that most of the buildings are six storied. Figure 4 shows thepercentage of factory buildings with respect to their number of occupants. Around 60 percent of thefactory buildings considered in this research have number of occupants below 2000.

20%
15%
10%
5%
0%
1

2

3

4

5

6

7

8

9

10

> 10

Number of storey

Figure 3: Percentage of factory buildings with respect to number of storey

31 | P a g e

35%
30%
25%
20%
15%
10%
5%
0%

Number of occupants

Figure 4: Percentage of factory buildings with respect to number of occupants

3.2 Means of egress for fire: Comparison of standards
In BNBC (1993), the way of means of egress is defined to consist of three parts, e.g. the exit access,the exit, and the exit discharge, which is consistent with other standards. As in BNBC (1993), thecomponents of exit should include “…a) A doorway, corridor or passage leading to an exterior orinterior staircase, smoke proof and fireproof enclosure, ramp, balcony, fire escape or combination
thereof, having direct access to the street, the roof of a building or any designated refuge area which
affords safety from fire or smoke from the area of incidence; b) A horizontal exit from the affectedbuilding to an adjoining building or an area of refuge at the same level which provides safety fromfire and smoke from the area of incidence and the areas communicating therewith…”. This isconfirmed in Accord and Alliance (2014) as well as in NTPA (2013). In BNBC (draft 2018), the words
have just been rephrased keeping the main idea same. Furthermore, in BNBC (1993), it is stated that
lifts, escalators and moving walks shall not be regarded as components of means of escape(confirmed by other standards). In addition to these, in NTPA (2013) the roof of the building is
prohibited to be designated as a refuge area, whereas in some contexts of fire incidents roof of abuilding can use as a component. Thus, from review of the definition of means of egress in different
standards, it can be said that the BNBC (1993) is been considered as the basis by other standards but
Accord and Alliance (2014) provide a definition in simple phases whereas, in BNBC (draft 2018), it ismore elaborate and defined.
From the comparison and analysis of standards it could be observed that among 115 issues, 37
issues of BNBC (1993) are followed by other standards (about 27% of all issues). BNBC (draft 2018)provides 11 superior issues than others. NTPA (2013) specifies 11 issues higher than others which
are also followed by Accord and Alliance (2014). But most significantly, Accord and Alliance (2014)32 | P a g e

provide 56 issues which are superior to others (about 48% of all issues). Thus it can be said thatamong four issues compared, most of the issues for means of egress for fire are superior in Accord
and Alliance (2014). In the following sections, detailed findings from comparison of the standards
and the non‐compliance issues are discussed.

3.3 Components of means of egress for fire: Comparison of standards and non‐compliance3.3.1 Exit doors
As an exit component, doors should have minimum fire separation rating. Regarding this issue,
Accord and Alliance (2014) provide higher standard (one‐hour fire rating), than NTPA (2013), which
specifies that rating of fire door shall not be less than that of the minimum fire resistance rating of
the walls of the smoke proof enclosure. Among analyzed factory buildings, around 58 percent
buildings do not have required fire rated exit doors as stated in either NTPA (2013) or Accord andAlliance (2014). Some of the inconsistencies found in these buildings regarding exit doors include: nodoor installed at all in the path of egress, no fire door, some fire doors, some fire doors with nocredible certificate, or some fire door but not required rating.
For total capacity, minimum width and minimum width of new exit doors, BNBC (1993) specified
standards are followed by other standards. But in case of the minimum width of existing exit doors,
NTPA (2013) provides higher standard compared to Accord and Alliance (2014) “...For existing RMG
buildings a performance‐based determination of the width of the doorway shall be adopted, but inno case, the width of the doorway shall be less than 0.9m...”. But considering limitation forreconstruction Accord and Alliance (2014) standard is more suitable. Most of the factory buildings
analyzed in this research have door widths more that the requirement.
In case of door type, BNBC (1993) specified standard is followed by other standards with slight
modification in Accord and Alliance (2014). About 66.5 percent buildings do not comply with eitherof these standards regarding door type having glass or steel sliding, roll or collapsible steel, glass or
steel swing, and glass or wooden side hinged door.
In case of consistency of space outside exit doors, BNBC (1993) is followed by other standards.
According to BNBC (1993), a space of width not less than the width of the doorway shall bemaintained immediately outside the doorway, and shall be at the same level as that of the floor thedoor serves. The standard also states that, doors shall not swing out over stairs or ramps. But forallowable swing direction Accord and Alliance (2014) and BNBC (draft 2018) adds that exit doors
shall swing in the direction of egress travel. Around 9 percent buildings do not comply with any ofthese issues.

33 | P a g e

All of the standards state that all doors should be openable in the direction of egress. Accord andAlliance (2014) prohibits any kind of hasps, locks, slide bolts, and other locking devices to be installedin exit doors, whereas BNBC (1993) prohibits use of locking devices only with detachable key.
Moreover, NTPA (2013) states that locks of any of the doors should be kept unlocked during theoperational hour and should be checked regularly which is also supported by Accord and Alliance(2014). About 62.7 percent buildings have locking features installed in the doors but in most of thefactories they are kept open during the operation period.
Conditions for re‐entry provision for stair doors have been specified only in Accord and Alliance(2014) which is very important to ensure safe fire evacuation considering from where the fire would
generate or spread. About 28.6 percent buildings do not have required re‐entry provisions, e.g. nore‐entry provision, not enough, or re‐entry provision provided but doors remain locked.
3.3.2 Stairway
Exit stairway shall be protected by a smokeproof enclosure serving occupants located more than 23
m above the ground as per BNBC (1993) which is also supported by BNBC (draft 2018). But all thestairways should have fire rated enclosure and are required to keep free from smoke for safe fireevacuation. Thus NTPA (2013) stated that “...all exit stairways serving occupants located above theground floor shall be smoke proof with fire‐resistant walls and door...”, which is supported by Accord
and Alliance (2014). For exterior stairway, BNBC (draft 2018) only stated that “...exterior stair shallbe separated from the building interior by fire resistive assemblies or walls and are constructed bynoncombustible materials and free from smoke accumulation...”. Whereas, Accord and Alliance(2014) specify fire‐resisting enclosure rating and its extension based on a number of the storey
which the exterior stair connects. Among 217 buildings, 21.7 percent have exterior staircase which
are not separated from the building with required fire rated barrier.
BNBC (draft 2018) also specifies that “...An exit stairway shall not be built around a lift shaft unless
both of them are located in a smokeproof enclosure and made of a material with fire resistance
rating required for the type of construction of smokeproof enclosure...”. It also specifies that inwindowless staircases mechanical ventilation shall be installed. These issues are not mentioned inany other standards.
For total capacity, BNBC (1993) specified standards are followed by other standards, which are notfollowed in 8.3 percent buildings. In case of the width of new stair and landing, BNBC (1993)
provides a standard which is followed by others except for BNBC (draft 2018), where the former
standard is superior to later. But in case of the minimum width of existing stairways, NTPA (2013)provides compatible standard considering its limitation for reconstruction specifying “...For existing
RMG buildings a performance‐based determination of the width of the staircase shall be adopted,

34 | P a g e

but in no case, the width of the staircase shall be less than 0.9m...”. This standard is also supported
by Accord and Alliance (2014). Around 5.5 percent buildings do not comply with this standard.
Accord and Alliance (2014) also state that, if existing landings less than the stair width, the overall
available capacity of the stair shall be reduced. In around 11 percent buildings, landings were notprovided with the same width as the stairs in the direction of egress travel.
Maximum riser height specified in BNBC (1993) is supported by both NTPA (2013) and BNBC (draft
2018). But considering ease of evacuation, Accord and Alliance (2014) provide lower height which issuperior to the former. In case of minimum tread, BNBC (1993) standard is supported by others. In
case of allowable difference of any riser height or tread depth, BNBC (draft 2018) provides superior
standard than Accord and Alliance (2014) with less tolerance. Most of the factory buildings meet theterms of this standard.
A similar standard for height of new handrails for stair is provided by Accord and Alliance (2014) andBNBC (draft 2018). But for the height of existing handrails for stair, only Accord and Alliance (2014)
formulated standard, which is not complied by around 11 percent buildings. BNBC (1993) specifies
that handrails shall be provided on both sides of each stairway which is followed by Accord andAlliance (2014) and NTPA (2013). It is also superior to that of BNBC (draft 2018) because hererequirement of the inner handrail is defined by the width of the stair whereas inner handrail isnecessary in the factory buildings irrespective of the width of stair to prevent fall down of people
while evacuating. About 56 percent buildings do not have consistency of handrail, e.g. handrails notprovided on both sides of the stairs, handrails provided on both sides of stairways except thelandings, or handrails provided on both sides of the stair in some part but not all through thestairway. Conditions for the requirement of intermediate handrails for stair is similar for BNBC
(1993) and BNBC (draft 2018), which is also followed by other standards. Very few of the factorybuildings do not have intermediate handrail though they require one.
To ensure proper functionality of the stairways during a fire evacuation, BNBC (1993) states that all
the exit stairways should be accessible, which is supported by other standards. Additionally, Accord
and Alliance (2014) state that interior exit stairways shall terminate at an exit discharge or an exit
passageway, which has not been maintained in about 25.3 percent buildings. BNBC (1993) statesthat the exterior stairway shall not be considered as a means of exit unless they lead directly to theground, which is supported by other standards. All the factories comply with this standard.

3.3.3 Ramps, corridor, aisles and ramped aisles
For separation of exit access corridors, though BNBC (1993) provides higher standard specifying one‐hour fire rating wall for all the cases, Accord and Alliance (2014) provide more specific standard
depending on occupant load and availability of automatic sprinkler system. BNBC (draft 2018) states

35 | P a g ethat exit corridors shall not be designed or used as components to supply or return air. Around 15.7
percent buildings do not act in accordance with this issue.
Only Accord and Alliance (2014) provides a standard for a minimum width of aisles which has notbeen complied in 17.5 percent factory buildings. For the total capacity of ramps, corridor andramped aisles, BNBC (1993) specified standards are followed by other standards. Only BNBC (draft
2018) provides a standard for the length of these components. Minimum width of ramps, corridor
and ramped aisles is similar in all the standards. BNBC (1993) specifies width based on occupancy
load which is more specific though it is less superior to others. Most of the buildings comply withthese issues.
The allowable slope for the ramp is superior in Accord and Alliance (2014) as it allows lower slope.
Only Accord and Alliance (2014) provides a standard for slope of existing ramp, which is notcomplied in 7.8 percent buildings. Only BNBC (draft 2018) states that “...Landing shall be at least as
wide as the ramps and shall be placed at the bottom, at intermediate levels where required, and at
the top of all ramps...”. Accord and Alliance (2014) specify that handrails shall be provided on bothsides of each ramp which is superior to other standards. Only Accord and Alliance (2014) states thatramps shall terminate at an exit discharge or an exit passageway. Most of the buildings meet theterms of these issues.

3.3.4 Exit passageway
Only Accord and Alliance (2014) states that exit passageways shall meet the same rating
requirement as the exit that is being served, shall be considered an extension of the stairs and shallnot be used for any other purpose. Rated exit passageway is not provided in around 21.2 percent
factory buildings. Accord and Alliance (2014) and BNBC (draft 2018) states similar standard for exit
passageway termination stating that they shall terminate at an exit discharge, which is not
maintained in about 19.8 percent buildings.

3.3.5 Exit discharge
Statement of BNBC (1993) and Accord and Alliance (2014) are similar for termination of exit
discharge, which is also supported by other standards. This issue is not complied in almost 33.2
percent buildings. Accord and Alliance (2014) state other standards for exit discharge regarding re‐entry provision, fire separation, opening condition and conditions for interior building exit discharge.

3.4 Condition of means of egress for fire: Comparison of standards and non‐compliance3.4.1 Exit enclosure
Accord and Alliance (2014) provide superior general fire separation standard for exits based on anumber of storey, which is not complied in around 7 percent buildings. It also provides standards for
36 | P a g e

opening and penetration into and from exit enclosure, where about 11 percent buildings havenoncompliant opening into exit enclosure. For door assemblies opening on to the means of egress,
BNBC (1993) specified standard (at least 20 minutes fire resistance) is followed by other standards.
Among analyzed factory buildings, 13.4 percent buildings do not comply with this standard.

3.4.2 Number and arrangement of exits
BNBC (1993) provides standard for a minimum number of staircases and number of means of egressfrom any floor, story or portion thereof based on the number of storey and occupant load which isfollowed by other standards with slight modification in Accord and Alliance (2014) and BNBC (draft
2018) for single exit condition. Minimum requirement of exit is defined by NTPA (2013) which isfollowed by Accord and Alliance (2014). For more than one exits, their arrangement is important toensure access to all the occupants. Though BNBC (1993) specified a standard for the arrangement ofexits is followed by NTPA (2013) and BNBC (draft 2018), Accord and Alliance (2014) provide moredetailed and specified standard considering the condition whether there is automatic sprinkler
system or not.

3.4.3 Distance
Travel distance means straight line distance between the remotest point of an area of the incident
and the entrance point of a separated area as per BNBC (draft 2018). NTPA (2013) and BNBC (draft
2018) provides superior standard for maximum travel distance based on the availability of automatic
fire detection system, portable fire extinguishers, and standpipe system. On the other hand, Accord
and Alliance (2014) provide a standard for the maximum length of the common path of travelconsidering the condition whether there is automatic sprinkler system or not. BNBC (1993) provides
a superior standard for the maximum length of the dead‐end corridor.

3.4.4 Walking surface
Accord and Alliance (2014) and BNBC (draft 2018) provides a similar standard for levels of walking
surfaces and changes in level. BNBC (draft 2018) provides additional standard for steps in walking
surface. Accord and Alliance (2014) provide a higher standard for changes in elevation with lower
allowable change. About 20 percent factory buildings are non‐compliant regarding this issue. Accord
and Alliance (2014) provide a superior standard for slip resistance stating that walking surfaces
stating that stairway treads shall be uniformly slipping resistant, but in some of the buildings glassy
tiles have been used with no slip resistant measures.

3.4.5 Reliability
All the issues of BNBC (1993) regarding reliability are addressed by other standards. According tothese issues, about 22 percent buildings are non‐compliant because egress path in these buildings is
37 | P a g e

obstructed and interfered by alternate uses. In addition to these issues, Accord and Alliance (2014)
specifies that the capacity of the means of egress shall not be reduced along the path of travel,
which has not been maintained in 6 percent buildings. It also addresses issues related to visibility
obstruction and BNBC (draft 2018) provides standard for accessibility of the exits. All paths of egress
shall be provided with illumination as per Accord and Alliance (2014), which has not been
maintained in 25 percent buildings. Moreover, according to this standard, all occupiable roofs shallbe provided with parapets or guards with a minimum mentioned height, which has not been
provided in around 21 percent buildings.

3.4.6 Occupancy load
In case of minimum space requirement for each occupant, NTPA (2013) provides a superior
standard, whereas Accord and Alliance (2014) allow an increase of occupant load if all other meansof egress requirements for that higher occupant load are met. It also mentions that occupant load
should be posted at appropriate locations in the building. In almost 70 percent factory buildings,
occcupant load information is not posted in any floor as per standard.

3.4.7 Marking and signage
All the issues of BNBC (1993) regarding marking and signpost and sign illumination are addressed byother standards. Additionally, Accord and Alliance (2014) state that floor entrance from the stair,stair name and floor name and door location shall be provided accordingly. About 40 percent factorybuildings do not have required markings and signpost. About 58 percent buildings do not have stair
designation sign, whereas 47 percent buildings do not have floor designation sign. Additionally,
about 34.6 percent buildings do not have required directional signs where there is a change in the
direction for the path of travel and the direction to an exit is not obvious.
According to Accord and Alliance (2014), signs should be provided with appropriate language(English and Bengali) and graphics, which have not been provided in about 17.5 percent buildings.
Moreover, according to this standard, all lighted exit signs shall be provided with either battery
backup or emergency power to keep them continuously illuminated, which has not been complied in
26 percent buildings.
In addition to these issues, BNBC (draft 2018) states that presence and location of steps or ramps in
the walkways shall be readily apparent, and similarly Accord and Alliance (2014) state that changes
in slope or elevation shall be marked. But about 15 percent of the buildings do not have required
marking indicating changes in slope or elevation.
4. Conclusion
From the above discussion, it can be observed that BNBC (1993) standard has been considered as
the basis for other standards. This standard is not in line with modern fire safety concepts.

38 | P a g e

Therefore, it was considered an insufficient basis for the inspections that were carried out in thewake of the fire at Tazreen Fashion. Thus, NTPA (2013) and Accord and Alliance (2014) added
upgraded issues. BNBC standard has also been improved and in some cases upgraded in BNBC (draft
2018). But among these standards, Accord and Alliance (2014) provide most superior standards
compared to others. The difference among the standards is alarming. The reason is that the final
findings of the factory buildings are compared at national level considering all factories under all
initiatives together. Such comparison may remain inconsistent because some factory buildings may
have been identified safe under one initiate considering a certain fire safety issue and in contrary inthe same condition for the same safety issue other factory building may have been identified non‐compliant under another initiative.
In case of compliance issue, factory buildings do not comply with BNBC (1993) standard. Thus,
automatically they remain non‐compliant to Accord and Alliance (2014). The most important non‐compliance issues observed in means of egresses in the factory buildings are: noncompliant fire
resistance of exit doors with improper type and locking features, non‐compliant exterior stair,
handrail not provided in both sides of stairways, improper termination of stairways and exit
passageways, slippery walking surface, obstructed egress path hampering continuity, lack of proper
illumination in egress path, unprotected rooftop, absence of occupancy load posting, and insufficientmarking and signage with insufficient illumination.
The findings of this study will enable policymakers to understand the differences among thestandards based on which the factory buildings have been assessed. This will encourage them totake initiative to work together to make a single and efficient standard for all. Additionally, the non‐compliant fire evacuation safety issues in RMG factories in Bangladesh related to means of egressthat have been identified in this study will help policymakers to understand the issues which havebeen mostly ignored by the factory owners. This will help them to take necessary initiatives toensure compliance in regard to these issues.
In this research only means of escape component of fire safety has been considered. Moreover, thisresearch could not consider the whole document of the standards. So if there are some issues
mentioned in other chapters of the considered standards, then they have not been considered here.
In future, this study will be extended to other portions of the issues related to fire safety consideringother components. After that, a complete scenario can be established. Further analysis is required toanalyze the components of means of egress.

39 | P a g e

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PART-IV

INTERPRETATION OF GEOTECHNICALPARAMETERS FROM CPT AND SPT FOR
THE RECLAIMED AREAS OF DHAKA,BANGLADESHBANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Zinan Ara Urmi
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

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1 INTRODUCTION
Soil sampling combined with laboratory testing is the most reliable method to determine soil
properties. Sometimes due to limited budgets, tight schedules, or lack of concern, projects do
not receive proper laboratory recommendation. However, in many cases subsoil investigation
data like SPT blow count or CPT cone resistance and sleeve friction along with soil type anddepth of water table are available to judge the subsurface soil characteristics. Therefore, whenlaboratory data are not available it is common practice to estimate the soil properties from the
SPT-CPT results. Many empirical correlations have been created between the SPT N-value
and CPT cone resistance with other engineering properties of soils. But due to variability ofsoil properties for same type of soil from place to place it is very difficult to predict theoutcome of those relations without justifying them for local soil. The local soil may follow
previous correlations with slight deviation or may not follow the trend at all. For the lattercase new correlations for local soil must be provided to fulfill the above-mentioned purpose.
The Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is the most common in situ test for site investigations in
Bangladesh and most of foundation designs have been based on SPT-N values and physicalproperties of soils recovered in the SPT sampler. The SPT has some disadvantages such as
potential variability of measured resistances depending on operator variability and possibilityof missing delicate changes of soil properties owing to the inevitable discrete record. Aroundthe world the Cone Penetration Test (CPT) is becoming increasingly popular as an in-situ test
for site investigation and geotechnical designs, especially in deltaic areas since it provides acontinuous record which is free from operator variability. For economic consideration it isunlikely that both CPT and SPT are done for investigation. So, it is important to establish
correlation between soil parameters individually with CPT and SPT along with interrelation
between these investigation methods.

2 FIELD INVESTIGATIONS
2.1 General
Field investigations were carried out mainly through the application of cone penetration
testing (CPT) and standard penetration testing (SPT). A total of six pairs of CPT and SPT
were performed in different locations within the study area and each pair of CPT and SPT
was carried out as close as possible; the maximum horizontal distance was not greater than
1m. In this research, field investigations were carried out in Uttara Residential Model Town
(3rd Phase), Dhaka, Bangladesh as shown in Figure 1.

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Fig 1: Study location

The geologic formations of the research site are mainly consisting of alluvial silt and clay.
The alluvial silt and clay part has medium to dark grey silt; the color is darker as amount oforganic material increases. A combination of alluvial and paludal deposits has been observed
there including flood-basin, back swamp silty clay, and organic rich clay in sag ponds andlarge depressions. Some depressions contain peat. Large areas underlain by this unit are dry
only a few months of the year; the deeper part of depressions and bils contain water
throughout the year.

2.2 Cone Penetration test
CPT soundings were advanced using a Hogentogler type piezocone penetrometer with a crosssectional area of 10 cm2 and which can measure the pore water pressure (u2), as well as thecone tip resistance (qc) and sleeve friction (fs). To perform the test, the cone was pushed
vertically into the ground at a constant rate of approximately 20mm/sec. During theadvancement, measurements of dynamic pore water pressure, tip resistance and sleeve
friction were recorded continuously at 10 mm depth increments. The typical penetration
depth for this study was approximately 12-14 m below the ground surface.

2.3 Standard Penetration test
SPT were conducted according to ASTM D1586. Boreholes for the SPT were advanced bywash boring. The split spoon sampling method was used to obtain soil samples from
boreholes and disturbed representative samples were collected. Samples recovered from
boreholes were stored in plastic bags which were used for laboratory testing. Potential sourceof uncertainty which may affect SPT N-value has been carefully taken into account. Borehole
drilling, soil sampling and SPT N-value recording procedures were observed by anexperienced geologist during the entire test program and this individual provided visualdescriptions of the collected samples. The SPT N-value and samples were every .45 m
intervals. Rope and cathead SPT hammer-release was used and the efficiency of the hammer
45 | P a g ewas 60%. The corrected tip resistance (qc1) and corrected SPT value N1,60 values arepresented in Figure 2.
Site 13-BH-6

Site 2-BH-10

Depth (m)

0

N1,60
20

0

40

0

0

2

2

4

4

6

6

8

8

10

10

12

N1,60

50

12

14

14

16
0

5

qc1 (Mpa)
N1,60

16
0 qc1 (Mpa) 5

qc1

Figure 2. Depth versus corrected cone tip resistance (qc1), SPT N60 and N1,60 values for all boreholes

Based on the results of the subsurface explorations, the subsoil profile at the study area canbe divided into three strata. The soil primarily comprised fine sand and silt clay particles. The
top layer consists of light grey to grey medium to loose fine sand trace mica with a total
thickness of approximately 4.75 m to 7.5 m. Immediately below this layer, a layer of darkgrey silty clay with organic matter is extended to a depth of 7.65 m to 9.45 m. The bottom
layer consists of high plastic grey medium stiff clay or medium plastic soft to medium stiffclay up to the depth of 10.35 m. Ground water table is located at 2.3-2.7 m below EGL. There
was considerable variability in the measured SPT N-value in different boreholes at different
46 | P a g e

depths, ranging from 2 to 18 and the maximum corrected cone tip resistance (qc1) was close
to 4 MPa.

3 LABORATORY INVESTIGATIONS
3.1 Sieve Analysis
Soil samples recovered from different bore holes were individually assessed and classified
based on dry sieve analysis according to ASTM C136. There is appreciable amounts of fines(fc) ranging from 2.3 to 96.4 %, fineness modulus ranging from 0.02 to 1.02 and mean grain
size (d50) ranging from 0.12 to 0.19 mm. Based on the sieve analysis results, the soils are
generally classified into two groups; either well graded sands with little silt or poorly gradedsands with silt. According to the unified soil classification system, the soils can besymbolized as SW and SP-SM, respectively. The mean grain size (d50), fines content (fc) forall six boreholes are given below:
Table 1: Sieve Analysis Results
Depth

Borehole

Borehole

Borehole

2-10

13-16

16-6

d50

fc

d50

fc

d50

fc

0.45

0.14

5.3

0.2

10

0.2

7.1

0.9

0.14

10

0.2

8.1

0.2

12.7

1.35

0.14

7.3

0.2

8.8

0.2

13.3

1.8

0.14

10

0.2

8.6

0.2

9.8

2.25

0.14

6.8

0.2

5.6

0.2

14.6

2.7

0.15

7.2

0.2

6.9

0.1

18.4

3.15

0.14

7

0.2

7.1

0.1

17.4

3.6

0.15

4.2

0.2

7.6

0.1

16.6

4.05

0.15

6.3

0.2

6.8

0.2

15.2

4.5

0.15

3.1

0.2

6.4

0.1

19.9

4.95

0.14

8.1

0.2

6

0.2

8.7

5.4

0.17

10

0.2

6.9

0.2

6.3

5.85

0.12

2.3

0.2

6.8

0.2

5.3

6.3

ND*

13

ND*

29

ND*

8.3

6.75

ND*

91

ND*

29

ND*

69.1

7.2

ND*

ND*

ND*

ND*

ND*

ND*

Depth

BoreholemBorehole

Borehole 42-9

47 | P a g e

17-11

24-7

d50

fc

d50

fc

d50

fc

mm

%

mm

%

mm

%

0.45

0.15

4.8

0.2

5.6

0.16

14

0.9

0.17

3.4

0.2

5.6

0.16

15

1.35

0.17

6

0.2

4.1

0.14

15

1.8

0.16

8.6

0.2

3.4

0.15

9.5

2.25

0.17

10

0.2

3.7

0.14

7.1

2.7

0.17

9.9

0.2

2.9

0.14

16

3.15

0.17

9.8

0.2

3.4

0.14

9.2

3.6

0.17

8

0.2

3.4

0.14

8.2

4.05

0.17

8.2

0.2

3.9

0.15

7.1

4.5

0.16

8.9

0.2

7.2

0.16

16

4.95

0.17

8.6

0.2

3.6

ND*

53

5.4

0.15

11

0.2

3.4

ND*

79

5.85

0.13

14

0.2

3.9

ND*

79

6.3

ND*

53

0.2

4

ND*

79

6.75

ND*

96

0.2

11

ND*

79

7.2

ND*

96

0.2

8.8

ND*

79

m

3.2 Direct shear test
Direct shear testing was done per ASTM standard D-6528, "Standard Method for Direct
Simple Shear Test on Soils under Consolidated Undrained Conditions". The internal friction
angle and shear strength for different bore holes are summarized below in the table.
Table 2: The internal friction angle and shear strength for different bore holes

SampleShear strength (cu)Internal friction angle (φ)

No

kPa

Degree(°)

BH 2-1014.8

11

BH 13-620

30

BH 17-1125

32

BH 24-741

20

BH 42-922

19

3.3 Unconfined compression test
Unconfined compression tests on four remolded sample were done as per ASTM D 2166 Standard Test Method for Unconfined Compressive Strength of Cohesive Soil. As for the
results, the axial stress was plotted versus the axial displacement. The maximum axial stress,
48 | P a g e

or the axial stress at 15% axial strain if it occurs earlier, was reported as the unconfinedcompressive strength σc. The undrained shear strength was obtained as cu= σc / 2
Table 3: Undrained shear strength obtained for different bore holes

SampleNo
cukPa

BH 2-10

BH 17-11

BH 24-7

BH 42-9

27.58

39.44

28.75

23.17

4 Results Comparison and Discussions
In this Section, comparisons between soil parameters obtained from field investigation results
and parameters directly obtained from laboratory tests are illustrated. Existing correlations
will be used to obtain different soil parameters from SPT and CPT results to justify theirapplicability for local soils and new correlations will be proposed if local soils show
deviation maintaining a particular pattern.

4.1 Correlation between CPT Cone Resistance qc and SPT blow count N60
Three approaches have been taken here to correlate CPT cone resistance (qc) and SPT blow
count (N60) based on three different soil parameters, Mean grain
size (d50), Fines content (fc) and Soil Behavior Index (Ic). Also, an approach to establish a
direct linear relationship between normalized cone resistance qc1 and N1,60 has been made inthis study.
A total of 75 data points for the sand deposits from the 6 boreholes presented in Table 1 wereselected for this study to perform comparative analysis with mean grain size (d50) and percent
finer (fc) based on CPT-SPT correlations. In the case of Soil Behavior index Ic based
correlations, Ic was determined for all the boreholes using the equation provided byRobertson (1990),
ISBT

3.47

log qc/pa ^2

log Rf

1.22 ^2 ^0.5

(1)

Calibrations were performed on recorded cone tip resistance data to eliminate pore pressure
effect on tip resistance by a calibration factor of 0.32, as provided by the cone manufacturer
to get normalized cone tip resistance qc1. Furthermore, the cone tip resistance was normalized
to an overburden stress level of 100 kPa. The SPT energy corrections and overburdenpressure corrections were applied to the recorded field N-values to calculate N1,60. It should
49 | P a g e

be noted that, in this study the same CPT equipment and SPT rig were used in all tests tominimize inherent test variability.
All the bore holes had similar type of variation in behavior index(Ic) and it reached a peakvalue of about 5 to 4 in all the bore holes at a depth greater than 5m. Calculated CPT based Ic
was plotted against the ratio of CPT cone resistance qc to SPT blow count N60 [qc/N] andcompared to the existing correlation between qc/N and Ic provided by Jefferies & Davies(1993) which was modified by Robertson and Wride (1998) and Robertson(2012). Fig 3shows that the average linear trend line of the plotted study data is close to the existingcorrelations. The qc/N ratio for selected data points varies from 0.6 to 10 with a variation of
SBT index from 1.9 to 3.9 whereas existing correlations suggest that with similar a variationof SBT index qc/N has a range of 1 to 5. From the graph, we can see the number of data
points showing deviation is much less and about 85% of the data points fall within the rangeof existing correlations. So, we can conclude that CPT data are reliable to calculate the SBT
index and also that SBT indices based CPT-SPT correlations are fairly applicable for the
local soil.
Mean grain size (d50) based correlations illustrated by Robertson et al. for north American
soil (1983), Burland and Burbidge for London soils (1985), Kulhawy & Mayne for soils ofCalifornia (1990), Canadian foundation engineering manual (Canadian Geotechnical Society1992) and Anagnostopoulos for Greek soils (2003) are shown in Figure 4. The data sets
selected for this study are plotted on the same figure to evaluate the applicability of these
correlations to the local soils. qc/N60 ratio of selected data set are less scattered and varies
from 1-11 for a variation of d50 from .14-.19 mm and surprisingly 71.4% of the data fallwithin the range of existing co-relationships. The upper and lower range for the study soil
was provided using regression analysis. The proposed upper range nearly coincides with theupper range of Robertson et al (1983). The available correlations prove to be useful for the
local soil.
The fines content based correlations proposed by Chin et al. (1988) and Kulhawy & Mayne(1990) are presented in Figure 5 along with collected data sets of this study. The collected
data sets showed a poor fit to the fines content based correlations and cannot substantiate ageneral trend between fines content and qc/N ratio. There exists a range of qc/N ratio for thesame value of fines content.

50 | P a g e

Modified Jefferies & Davies (1993)
Robertson (2012)
Study data
Linear (Study data)(qc/pa)/N60

100
10
1

0.1
1.8

2.3

2.8
Ic

3.3

3.8

(qc/pa)/(N)60

Figure 3: (qC/pa)/N60 Vs CPT-based SBT index Ic comparison with existing correlations
BH 2-1018
BH 13-6
BH 16-6
BH 17-11
BH 24-7
16
BH 42-9robertson lower 1983
Robertson upper 1983
14
Kulhawy & Mayne 1990
Anagnostopoulos 2003
Burland & Burbidge upper 1985
Burland & Burbidge lower 1985
12
CFEM (1992)
Proposed upper ((qc/pa)/(N)60=10*d50^.25
Proposed Lower ((qc/pa)/(N)60=1.5*d50^.33
10

8

6

4

2

0
0.001

0.01

0.1

1

D50 (mm)Figure 4: Variation of ratio (qc/pa)/N60 with mean grain size, d50 comparison

51 | P a g e

Figure 5: Variation of ratio (qc/pa)/N60 with Fines content, fc comparison

Figure 6 compares the measured data with the single value of qc1/N1,60 ratio of 0.45 suggested
by Elbanna et al. (2011) for sands. The plotted data shows significantly lower values than the
average value of 0.45 as the study soil was not pure sand, but they show a similar linear
relationship and nearly maintain a qc1/N1,60 ratio of 0.0569. It is believed that the proposedcorrelation between normalized cone tip resistance and normalized SPT N1,60 can serve as abetter relationship for the local soils. The main advantage of this relationship is that it can beused in the absence gradation results. Therefore, there is a need to collect additional high-Normalized CPT tip resistance, qc1(MPa)quality CPT and SPT data to develop a better relationship.
Elbana et al (2011)
BH 13-6
BH 17-11
BH 42-9

BH 2-10
BH 16-6
BH 24-7
qc1 = 0.0569*N1,60

8
6

qc1 = 0.0569*N1,60

4

R² = 0.02

2
0
0

10
20
30
Corrected SPT blow count, N1,60

Figure 6: Variation of normalized cone tip resistance (qc1) with normalized SPT blow count N1,60 comparisons.

52 | P a g e

4.2 Correlation of SPT with undrained shear strength Su or cu
Shear strength obtained from laboratory tests were compared with shear strength obtained
from SPT based correlation provided by Kulhawy and Mayne (1990). From Table 4 it may beobserved that three out of four unconfined compression test results coincide with SPT derived
shear strength but direct shear test results show deviation. This is mainly because Kulhawy
and Mayne established the empirical correlation between SPT and undrained shear strengthfor pure clay sample based on unconfined compression test results. Besides the direct shear
test is suitable for fine grained soil not pure clay. A slight variation in moisture content cansignificantly affect direct shear test. Only a single compaction test was done to determine theoptimum moisture content for all the sample remolding. Thus, some samples may have amoisture content more than necessary which may cause the deviations.
Table 4: Comparison of shear strength parameter (cu) from laboratory test results with SPT
based shear strength
SampleUnconfined

DirectSPT

KulhawyNo

Compression

Shear

N60

&Maynetest

test(1990)

(kPa)

(kPa)

(kPa)

BH 2-10

27.58

14.8

5

30.40

BH 13-6

ND

20.1

4.38

26.6

BH 17-11

30.44

25

5

30.4

BH 24-7

28.75

41

4.57

27.78

BH 42-9

23.17

22

3.87

23.53

Unconfined compression test results were plotted against SPT on the same graph withrelationship provided by Kulhawy-Mayne (1990)
Cu (Kulhawy Mayne 1990)
Observed UC
cu = 9.1912N60 - 12.637
cu = 9.1912N60 - 12.637

cu (kPa)

6040

BH 17-11

R² = 0.504

20
0
3.7

4.2

SPT N60

4.7

5.2

Figure 7: cu Vs SPT blow count N60curve for comparison of unconfined compression test results

53 | P a g e

From figure 7 we see that only Shear strength obtained from the sample of BH 17-11 showsdeviation, yet the mean line of unconfined compressive results was very close to that ofKulhawy and Mayne and has a R2>0.3 which ensures good applicability of this correlation
for local soil.

4.3 Correlation of CPT with undrained shear strength Su or cu
Shear strength obtained from direct shear test and unconfined compression test werecompared with shear strength obtained from CPT based correlation provided by Robertson(2012).
Table 5: Comparison of shear strength from laboratory test results with CPT based shear
strength
SampleUCDS

qc

Cu=(qc−σvo)/Νkt

No

(kPa)

(kPa)

(kPa)

(Robertson 2012)(kpa)

BH 2-10

27.58

14.8

310

13

BH 13-6

ND

20.1

310

15

BH

17-

39.43

25

730

35

BH 24-7

28.75

41

650

36.55

BH 42-9

23.17

22

597

29.32

11

Cohesion coeffcient Cu

We observe from Table 5 that with a variation of qc from 310 to 730 kPa the existingcorrelation gives a cu range of 13 to 29 kPa where laboratory test results give a cu range of
23.17 to 39 kPa for Unconfined compression test and 14.8 to 41 kPa for direct shear test.
Both laboratory test results were plotted against SPT on the same graph with relationshipprovided by Robertson (2012) to justify the applicability this correlation to local soils.

Unconfined Compression test
Direct shear
Robertson 2012
Cu= 2qc/σvo + 11.31
cu= 2qc/σvo + 11.31

50

R² = 0.

0
0

200
400
600
800
Normalized Cone resistance qc

1000

Figure 8 : cu Vs CPT cone resistance qc curve for comparison laboratory test result

54 | P a g e

The study data points follows a similar linear pattern as correlation stablished by Robertson(2012) but better suits with cu= 2qc/σvo + 11.31 rather than cu = (qc− σvo)/Νkt. The proposedcorrelation has R2>0.3 and has a scope of development when large amount of data points areavailable.

5 CONCLUSIONSThis paper presents that developed correlations for q/N60 with d50 and Ic show good
applicability to local soils whereas available relationships between q/N60 and Fine content do
not fit them well. New correlation ranges (qc/pa)/(N)60 =1.5d500.33 to 10d500.25 have been
proposed. Moreover, the CPT and SPT data used for this study better suit with (qc1/N1,60)
ratio of 0.0569 instead of 0.45 proposed by Elbana (2011). A comparative analysis ofLaboratory obtained shear strength parameter (cu) and parameter obtained from existingcorrelations have been done in this study. Interpretation of soil shear strength parametersfrom both CPT and SPT data shows great potential. Two new correlations Cu = 9.1912N60 12.637 and Cu= 2qc/σvo + 11.31 has been proposed for local soil. Yet, the available data sets
which exist for the study area falls within a relatively narrow range for developing goodcorrelations.

6 REFERENCES
Alam et al, J.W. 1990. Geological Map of Bangladesh. Dhaka: Geological Survey of Bangladesh.
Ameratunga et al, C.2016. Correlations of Soil and Rock Properties in Geotechnical Engineering. P.144
A. Anagnostopoulos, G. Koukis, N. Sabatakakis & G.Tsiambaos. 2003.Empirical correlations of soil parameters
based on Cone Penetration Tests (CPT) for Greek soils. Journal of Geotechnical and GeologicalEngineering., Volume 21, Issue 4, P. 377–387
Burland J.B. and Burbidge M.C. 1985. Settlement of foundations on sand and gravel. Proceedings, Institution of
Civil Engineers,78(1):1325-1381
Chin et al, T.C. 1988. SPT-CPT correlations for granular soils.Proc. 1st international symposium on cone
penetration testing. Orlando, USA. (1): 335-339.
Canadian Geotechnical Society, 1992.Canadian GeotechnicalEngineering Manual,3rd Edition.P.46-47
Elbanna et al, S. 2011. SPT–CPT correlations for oil sands tailings sand. Proc. Tailings and Mine
Waste,Vancouver,BC, 6-9 November 2011.
Elkateb, T.M. & Ali H.E. 2010. CPT-SPT correlations forcalcareous sand in the Persian Gulf Area. 2ndinternationalsymposium on cone penetration testing, CPT’10, California,USA, Paper N0. 2-13.
Jamiolkowski, M. Baldi, G. Bellotti, R. Ghionna, V.&Pasqualini, E. 1985. Penetration resistance andliquefaction of sands. Proc. 11th international conference on
Kasim A.Chu, M. &Jensen , C. 1986. Field Correlation of Cone and Standard Penetration Tests. Journal of
Geotechnical Engineering.,P.112(3):368–372.

55 | P a g e

Kulhawy F.H. & Mayne, P.W. 1990. Manual on estimating soilproperties for foundation design. NewYork:Electric PowerResearch Inst., Geotechnical Engineering Group, (EPRI-EL-6800): 2-36 to 2-28.
McNulty, G. & Harney, M. D. 2010. Comparison of CPT-and DMT-correlated effective friction angle in clayey
and siltysands. 2nd international symposium on cone penetration testing, CPT’10, California, USA, Paper ID 253.
Meyerhof, G.G. 1956. Penetration tests and bearing capacity of cohesion less soils. Proc. SM1, (82): 1-19.
Muromachi, T. 1981. Cone penetration testing in Japan, cone penetration testing and experience,G.M. Norris
andR.D.Holtz (eds), ASCE, New York, 49-75.
Robertson et al, A. 1983. SPT CPT Correlations. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering, 109(11): 1449-1459.
Robertson et al. 1985. Liquefaction Potential of Sands Using the CPT. Journal of Geotechnical Engineering.,
111(3):384- 403.
Robertson et al. 1983. Interpretation of cone penetration tests.rt I: Sand. Canadian Geotechnical Journal. 20(4):718 -733.
Robertson P.K. & Cabal K.L.2010, “Guide to Cone Penetration Testing for Geotechnical Engineering”.
Robertson.P.K. 2012.Cone penetration test (CPT)-based soil behavior type (SBT) classification

56 | P a g e

PART-V

INTERPRETATION OF SOIL
STRATIGRAPHY AND GEOTECHNICALPARAMETERS FROM CPTU AT BHOLA,
BANGLADESHBANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Zinan Ara Urmi
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

57 | P a g e

INTRODUCTION

Soil Investigations has evolved to improve understanding of soil type, stratigraphy and its
strength and sustainability as a structural element or a resisting element in facing erosion. The
Standard Penetration Test (SPT) is widely employed in-situ test. Even though there have been
many attempts to standardize the SPT process, it is still a problem for geotechnical engineers
to gather reliable and repeatable SPT results. A significant experience related to the design
methods from the local SPT correlation has been built. However, in future, it is expected that
more CPT will be performed thus improving local experience and the reliability of site
investigation data. However, until a reliable CPT database has been created, it is necessary to
be able to correlate between SPT and CPT in order to use SPT-based data that already exist.

The Cone Penetration Test (CPT) has become a significantly popular in-situ test to do site
investigation and do geotechnical design. It is useful for stratigraphy delineation andcontinuous fast record of parameters such as cone tip resistance (qc) and sleeve friction (fs).
The merits of the CPT are the repeatability, continuous measurement, and simplicity(Robertson et al, 1983).
In this study an approach has been taken to obtain soil profile based on cone tip
resistance(qc), friction ratio (Rf), Soil behavior index (Ic) and pore water pressure (u) todepths up to 30 m. SPTs tests have been done in the same location (within 2m to 3m of CPT
locations) to interpret Geotechnical parameters such as grain size, fines content and behavior
index from available CPT-SPT based correlations. Also, an approach has been taken tointerpret SPT blow count (N60) from CPT cone tip resistance (qc). Interpreted results havebeen compared with laboratory obtained results and new correlations have been proposed
where laboratory obtained data deviated from existing correlations.

FIELD INVESTIGATIONSGeneralField investigations were carried out mainly through the application of Cone Penetration
Testing (CPT) and Standard Penetration Testing (SPT). A total of three pairs of CPT and SPT
were performed in different locations within the study area and each pair of CPT and SPT
was carried out as close as possible (SPT were performed within 2m to 3m of CPT locations),
maximum horizontal distance between each CPT locations was not greater than 500m. In this58 | P a g e

research, field investigations were carried out in Charfasson, Bhola, Bangladesh as shown in
Figure 1.

Figure 1: Study location

The geologic formations of the research site are loamy to clayey, calcareous and poorly
drained. Calcareousness decreases from west toward east of the Meghna confluence while thesilt content in soil decreases both toward the east and the west of Bhola district.

Cone Penetration test
CPT soundings were advanced using a Hogentogler type piezocone penetrometer with a crosssectional area of 10 cm2 and which can measure the pore water pressure (u2), as well as thecone tip resistance (qc) and sleeve friction(fs). To perform the test, the cone was pushed
vertically into the ground at a constant rate of approximately 20mm/sec. During theadvancement, measurements of dynamic pore water pressure, tip resistance and sleeve
friction were recorded continuously at 10 mm depth increments. The typical penetration
depth for this study was approximately 28-32 m below from ground surface.

Standard Penetration test
SPT were conducted according to ASTM D1586. Boreholes for the SPT were advanced bywash boring. The split spoon sampling method was used to obtain soil samples from
boreholes and disturbed representative samples were collected. Samples recovered from
boreholes were stored in plastic bags which were used for laboratory testing. Potential sourceof uncertainty which may affect SPT N-value has been carefully taken into account. Borehole
drilling, soil sampling and SPT N-value recording procedures were observed by experienced
59 | P a g e

geologist during the entire test program and this individual provided visual descriptions of thecollected samples. SPT N-value and a sample were taken at every 0.45 m intervals. Rope andcathead SPT hammer-release was used and the efficiency of hammer was estimated to be
60%.

SOIL STRATIGRAPHY
Based on the results of the subsurface explorations, the subsoil profile at study area can bedivided into three strata. The soil within the test area is primarily comprised of grey medium
stiff to stiff clayey silt of medium plasticity with traces of fine sand and loose to medium
dense fine sand with trace of silt and mica. The soil strata of borehole 1 and 3 are interbeddedwith the aforementioned two types of soil whereas borehole 2 is single layered comprising
only grey medium stiff to stiff clayey silt. The ground-water table is located 4.5 m below
from EGL in all the boreholes. Note that, there was considerable variability in the measured
SPT N-value between boreholes, at different depths ranging from 3 to 16 and maximum
corrected cone tip resistance (qc1) was close to 12 MPa.

CPT‐SPT profile
Cone Tip resistance qc1 (normalized) and SPT blow count N60 and N1,60 (normalized) havebeen plotted along with depth for all three bore holes. It observed that qc1 varies from 0.5 to
12 MPa and peak values are reached below 15m depth. SPT blow count N60 varies from 3 to
16. On Figure 2, it may be observed that CPT and SPT values seems to be proportional inmost of the cases.
0

N60,N1-60
10 20

0N60,N1-60
0

10

20

0

5

5

10
Depth (m)

10

15
15

20
20

25
25

30
30

35
0

5
10
qc1 (Mpa)
N60
N1,60

35
0

5
10
qc1 (Mpa)

Figure 2: CPT-SPT profile of Borehole 1, 2 and 3 respectively

60 | P a g e

SBT profile
Soil Behavior index Ic was determined for all the boreholes using the equation provided byRobertson (1990)
ISBT= [(3.47 - log(qc/pa))2 + (log Rf + 1.22)2]0.5
All the boreholes have similar trends of variation in behavior index(Ic) and varying from 0 toabout 3.5 for all the boreholes.

Figure 3: SBT profile for all the bore holes

Variation of friction ratio
Friction ratio (Rf or fr) is defined as the ratio of sleeve friction (fs) to cone tip resistance (qc)
Rf %= 100*fs/qc
Friction ratio of all three boreholes has similar pattern and most cases it varies between 0 to
5. The peak value of friction ratio for all three bore holes varies from 9 to 12.

61 | P a g e

Figure 4: Variation of friction ratio with respect to depth

Variation of pore pressure
Pore pressure varies from 0 to 0.4 MPa bellow 20m depth and suddenly increases up to
0.85MPa after 20m. All three boreholes show similar variation.

Fig 5 : Variation of pore pressure with respect to depth for all three bore holes

LABORATORY INVESTIGATION
4.1

Sieve Analysis

Soil sampled recovered from the three boreholes were individually assessed and classified
based on dry sieve analysis. Sieve analysis was performed according to ASTM C136 on 20
disturbed soil sample from 3 boreholes. These soils contain reasonable amounts of fines (fc)ranging from 5 to 26%, fineness modulus ranging from 0.49 to 1.36 and mean grain size (d50)ranging from 0.14 to 0.25.
Table 1: Soil Gradation chart
Depth

Bore hole 1

Bore hole 2

Bore hole 3

d50

fc

d50

fc

d50

fc

1.50

0.18

8.90

0.25

10.00

0.19

15.56

4.50

0.14

15.62

ND

ND

ND

ND

9.00

ND

ND

0.16

15.00

0.14

7.90

12.00

0.17

11.12

ND

ND

0.16

15.00

15.00

0.18

6.34

0.17

9.30

ND

ND

16.50

ND

ND

ND

ND

0.22

2.77

18.00

0.18

4.77

0.19

6.62

ND

ND

21.00

0.14

8.50

ND

ND

0.18

10.21

24.00

ND

ND

0.19

26.00

ND

ND

25.50

0.18

10.52

ND

ND

0.22

4.29

28.50

ND

ND

0.20

6.72

ND

ND

30.00

0.20

5.00

ND

ND

ND

ND

ND=Not Determined

62 | P a g e

Interpretation of Mean Grain Size from the ratio of Cone Tip Resistance (qc) to SPT
blow count (N60)
A range for Mean grain size (d50) was determined based on correlations presented byRobertson et al. for North American soil (1983), Burland and Burbidge for London soils(1985), Kulhawy & Mayne for soils of California (1990), Canadian foundation engineering
manual (Canadian Geotechnical Society 1992) and Anagnostopoulos for Greek soils (2003)
and are shown in Figure 6. The laboratory obtained results are plotted on the same figure tocompare the interpreted results to the actual results. The qc/N60 ratio of selected data set areless scattered and vary from about 2-12 for a variation of d50 from 0.14-0.25 mm whereas theavailable correlations give a range of d50 from 0.06 to 0.5 for the same variation of qc/N60
ratio.
5

Robertson lower (1983)
Robertson upper (1983)
Kulhawy & Mayne (1990)
Anagnostopoulos (2003)
Burland & Burbidge (1985)(qc/pa)/N1,60

Burland and Burbidge lower (1985)
CFEM (1992)
Bhola BH 1
Bhola BH 2
Bhola BH 3

0
1

D50

10

Figure 6: Variation of ratio (qc/pa)/N60 with mean grain size, d50 comparison

Interpretation of Fines Content Size from the ratio of Cone Tip Resistance (qc) to SPT
blow count (N60)
The fines content based correlations proposed by Chin et al. (1988) and Kulhawy & Mayne(1990) are presented in Figure 7 along with collected data sets of this study. Laboratory
obtained data are a little scattered but appeared to be a logarithmic relationship unlike theinterpreted values from available linear correlations. But the trend line of plotted data set
shows that with increasing qc/N ratio, fines content decreases as indicated by previous
researchers. The determination factor (R2) based on 20 data points is 0.344>.3 which
although relatively poor, considered to provide a starting point for the CPT database.
63 | P a g e

Figure 7: Variation of ratio (qc/pa)/N60 with fines content, fc comparison

Interpretation of behavior index from the ratio of Cone Tip Resistance (qc) to SPT blow
count (N60)
Calculated CPT based Ic was plotted against the ratio of CPT cone resistance qc to SPT blow
count N60 and compared to the existing correlation between qc/N and Ic provided by Jefferies& Davies (1993) which was modified by Robertson and Wride in (1998) and Robertson(2012). Fig 8 shows that qc/N ratio for 54 study data points show the same pattern as existingcorrelations. qc/N ratio for selected data points varies from 1 to 7 with a variation of SBT
index from 1.8 to 3.3 whereas existing correlations suggest that with similar variation of SBT
index qc/N has a range of 1.5 to 5.
10

BH1(qc/pa)/N60

BH2
BH3
Robertson
2012
1
1.5

2

2.5
3
Behavior Index Ic

3.5

Modified
Jefferies andDevis

Figure 8 :(qc/pa)/N60 Vs CPT-based SBT index Ic comparison

5.4 Interpretation of SPT blow count (N60) from CPT cone tip resistance
Elbana et al (2011) proposed a linear relationship between SPT blow count and CPT cone tip
resistance which is qc1=0.45*N1,60. To establish a linear relationship between qc and N60,
normalized cone tip resistance was plotted against SPT blow count for 55 data points. On
Figure 9 we observe that, although the data points are scattered, the linear average trend line
gives a relationship between CPT and SPT close to Elbana et al which is qc1=0.42*N1,60 witha coefficient of determination (R2)=0.1327.
64 | P a g e

Normalized Cone tip resistanceqc1 20= 0.4212*N60
Elbana et al (2011)
R² = 0.132 BH 2
16
Combined

BH 1
BH 3
Linear (Combined)

12
8
4
0
0

2

4
6
8
10
Normalized SPT blow count

12

14

Figure 9: Variation of normalized cone tip resistance (qc1) with normalized SPT blow count N1,60 comparisonsInterpretation of Shear Strength Parameter () from SPT and CPT
Drained friction angle obtained from direct shear test was compared with SPT based friction
angle provided by Wolff (1989), Kulhawy and Mayne (1990) and Hatanaka and Uchida(1996) respectively and CPT based friction angle provided by Robertson and Campenella(1983), Kulhawy and Mayne (1990) and Minmura (2003), these values are shown in Table 2.

Table 2: Comparison of drained friction angle from direct shear test results with SPT & CPT
based friction angle

From
SPT

SampleBhola 1

Bhola 2

Bhola 3

Direct shear test

31

30.5

30

SPT N60

6

4.5

4.5

Kulhawy & Mayne

27.3

25.08

25.08

29.95

28.62

28.62

Wolff 1989

28.88

28.44

28.44

CPT qc

1.8

1.1

1.17

27.47

23.65

24.22

25.08

22.71

23.04

30.59

28.21

28.54

1990
Hatanaka &Uchida 1996

Robertson &FromCampanella 1983

CPT

Kulhawy & Mayne
1990
Mimura 2003

65 | P a g e

From above table we observe that for a variation of SPT from 4.5 to 6, the interpreted drained
friction angle of internal friction remains within the range of 25-30° whereas results obtained
from direct shear test shows a variation of ɸ of 30-31°. For a variation of cone resistancefrom 1.1-1.8MPa existing correlations provides a range of 23-31o whereas drained friction
angle from direct shear test varies from 30 to 31°. Hatanaka & Uchida 1996 and Mimura
2003 are in best agreement with the laboratory test results.

CONCLUSIONSThis study was intended to assess the best way possible to evaluate the use of correlations
between laboratory and field investigation data so that it serves in various ways from saving
time to saving money.
This study suggests that CPT data can be utilized to obtain high quality soil stratigraphy.
Interpreted mean grain size and fines content from available correlations deviate from actual
values. But better fines content values can be interpreted for local soil using (qc/pa)/N1,60= 4.09ln(fc) + 13.65. On the other hand, behavior index based correlations gives values close to
the real values. Also, interrelation between CPT and SPT proposed by Elbana et al (2011)
may prove to be very useful for the local soil types. Drained friction angles interpreted fromboth CPT and SPT give values reasonably close to laboratory investigations, with more
recent correlations giving better agreement.
Very little researches have been conducted with CPT-SPT data interpretation in our country,
this study was a small part of an extensive research to profile, characterize and analyze soils
from the northern-most riverine embankment to the southern-most coastal embankmen

66 | P a g e

PART-VI

ASSESSMENT OF FLOOD RISK IN THE
EASTERN PART OF JAMUNAFLOODPLAIN

BANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Maruf Biullah
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

67 | P a g e

Introduction
Risk assessment is becoming popular in the management and policies of all the majorcountries especially in disaster management sector like a flood (Meyer et al., 2009). In thecontext of Bangladesh, risk assessment is even more important as she faces different naturalcalamities on a regular basis and flood is one of them. It noticiably damage humanlives,properties, environments and conributed about 39.26% of worldwide natural disasters andcoused about USD 397.3 billion worth damage between 2000 and 2014 (Em-dat, 2010). As
Bangladesh is part of the world’s most dynamic hydrological and the biggest active deltasystem, the landscape, position, and outfall of the three major rivers shape the annualhydrological cycle of the land. Too much rain in rainy season and too little water in the dry
season is the annual phenomenon in a hydrological cycle. Here regular monsoon event, flood,the depth, and duration of inundation are the deciding factors whether it is affecting
beneficially or adversely. Monsoon inflow along with rainfall historically shapes thecivilization, development, environment, ecology and the economy of the country. Extreme
events of flood adversely affect the development, economy, poverty and almost every sector.
The quick advancement of satellite-based innovations and the remarkable advancements inspatial data examination and demonstration have empowered various improvements in exact
flood risk evaluation and also rational flood management.

Fig 2: study area (Karzakram, 2011)68 | P a g e

Materials and Methods
Concept of risk: A risk is observed as the likelihood of occurrence or the gradation of loss ofa specified element expected from a specific hazard (Schneiderbauer and Ehrlich, 2004).
While risk measurement varies according to discipline, in hazard research, risk is equal to the
product of two or three factors (Crichton, 2002; UNISDR, 2009; Wisner et al., 2004) , thoughdissimilar views exist (Chakraborty et al., 2005) . For example, (Crichton, 2002) summaries
chance with a three-way relationship in which risk, presentation, and helplessness contribute
freely. On the other hand, Asian Disaster Reduction Center (Center, 2005) defines hazard as
the coverage areas of three factors—hazard, exposure, and vulnerability—that act
simultaneously to generate the risk of natural hazards, which can be expressed as:
Risk = hazard x vulnerability …………. (Equation: 1)
Risk = hazard x exposure x vulnerability......... (Equation: 2)
While hazards are a probable threat to inhabitants and the surroundings, a risk is an interplay
between hazard and vulnerability. Elements at risk, a commonly used term in hazard
research, allows the assessment of economic losses from a life-threatening event (Meyer etal., 2009). But it is usually not included in the risk equation; it is considered as a part of thevulnerability and exposure analysis.
However, according to the United Nations Disaster Relief Coordinator Office (United
Nations Development Program (Peduzzi et al., 2009), a risk is the function of elements at risk(e.g., population), hazards, and vulnerability. It varies from the concept of others, who
describe risk as a production of hazard and vulnerability (Wisner et al., 2004). The risk to a
specific community varies over time and time and depends on their socioeconomic,
traditional, and other characteristics(Cannon, 2000; Wisner et al., 2004), moreover the risk ofthe natural hazards relay on both the hazard and the capability of the community to withstandshocks from disaster.
Risk assessment: Refers to the evaluation of the capacity of the estimated risks based on thelocal society's suitability criteria. The assessment of the estimated risk with acceptable ones
results in the decision of what risk will be acceptable in the particular affected system andwhat risk reduction measures will be applied; if needed.
For the present study, risk analysis has been done mainly in structural and non- structural
measures that are the human settlement, flood frequency, and occurrence, evacuation policy,
adaptation measures, coping strategy etc. Physiographic conditions and hydrologicalparameters have also been taken into consideration to depict the real scenarios of the study
area. The variables of the study area taken into consideration analyzed in detailed. Processed
69 | P a g e

data and information have been used in the developed model and finally a risk map has been
prepared using the following speculation:…………. (Equation: 3)
Concept of Flood Risk Assessment: Flood risk assessment is an interdisciplinary task. It
combines various types of source, information and models. Some assessment attempts toestimate many possible hazard factors like flood extent and inundation depth, how probablethey are and what may be the consequence (de Moel et al., 2015).
Integrated Risk Assessment Model: Risk is the product of hazard, exposure, vulnerability,
and coping capacity. First, a hazard is the probability or severity of an event. Second,
exposure characterizes structure, population, and economy. Third, Conceptual framework fordisaster risk reduction, vulnerability encompasses physical, social, economic, andenvironmental aspects. Fourth, capacity and mitigation measures include physical planning,social capacity, economic capacity, and management. Using these four measures, it ispossible to determine community's vulnerability to hazards and take the necessary actions tolessen the risk of disaster. The proposed model was mainly developed to assess the flood riskof the Jamuna Floodplain; hence, all these above-mentioned components are applicable tosingle hazard investigation.
The assessment of risk rather than vulnerability, and risk is seen as the product of hazard andvulnerability. The model is based on three important principles.
First, a single hazard perspective is used rather than a multi-hazard.
Second, it is only applicable for hazards that have spatial relevance, such as flood. Spatiallynon-relevant hazards such as disaster earthquake or cyclone cannot be used.
Third, the model may be useful to determine community risk by integrating hazard andvulnerability; however, it is unable to recognize individuals' risk. An important Pitfall of thismodel is that it requires copious data to operationalize the concept.
Analysis of variables of the proposed model

70 | P a g e

Topographic analysis: For the purpose of using geographical data in the planned model,
upazilla map are constructed from an administrative shape file provided by government of
Bangladesh. GPX converter (an online open source) has been used to obtain elevation dataFig 2: Digital
elevation map
for particular area which was later processed
and assembled
into a spatial database using GIS
and image processing (fig 2). According to the elevation of the study area risk index has been
prepared and shown on a map (fig3). Raster elevation ranked as 20 meters and above height from the sea level is 5 in values,and 1 is in risk rank while very low in risk index. The estimated values, ranks and risk index
are given in the table1.

71 | P a g e

Table 1: Elevation value, rank and index used in the model
Elevation in meter

ValuesRank

Risk Index

1-5

1

5

Very High

6-10

2

4

High

11-15

3

3

Medium

16-20

4

2

Low

20+

5

1

Very Low

Source: (Tingsanchali and Karim, 2010)
Fig3: Elevation Ranking
Analysis of population density of human settlement: The population density of the study area
provided further evidence of the problems especially in the case of losses of life due to72 | P a g e

flooding. In 1901on an average of 216 inhabited in one square kilometer in Bangladesh. By
1951 that number had reached to 312 per square kilometer and, in 1988, reached 821. By theyear 2000, population density was expected to exceed 1,000 persons per square kilometer.
But in some portion of the study area experience the population more than 2000 per square
kilometer. To assess the flood risk on population settlement, Upazila wise population density
statistics and the prepared index used in the model as follows: (table 2) and a population
Density index map has been developed for better visualization (fig 4).

Table 2: Upazila wise Population density in the study area
SL. No.

Name

of

the

Area (Sq. km)

UpazilaTotal

Density per sq.

populationkm

Density rank (*)

1

Basail157.78148555941

2

2Bhaluka

444.05264991596

2

3Delduar184.54

175684952

2

4Fulbari

402.41345283858

2

5Gafargaon

401.16379803946

2

6Ghatail

451.30341376756

2

7Gopalpur

193.372527471307

3

8Jamalpur Sadar

489.565019241025

3

9Kaliakair

414.14232915741

2

10Kalihati

301.22354959

1178

3

11

Madargonj

225.38

24306

107

1

12

Madhupur500.67375295749

2

13Melandaha239.65262478

1095

3

14

Mirzapur373.89337496902

2

15

Muktagacha

314.71321759

1022

3

16

Sakhipur429.63220281512

2

17Sharishabari

263.48289106

1097

3

18

Tangail Sadar

334.26680518

2035

5

19

Trisal338.98336797993

2* Population Density Index, 100-500=1, 501-1000=2, 1001-1500=3, 1501-2000=4, 2000+=5
Source: (Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2012)73 | P a g e

Fig 4: Population density index.
Hydrological analysis:

The vulnerability of flood in any catchment or basin area or

floodplain depends on the hydrological characteristics of its own. To determine the actual
scenario of hydrological risk, distance from the river of each unit of land (Upazila) calculated
and in this case the river Jamuna has been taken into consideration as a river. Upazila wise
hazard index has been prepared on the basis of a distance from the river. The distance has
been calculated use proximity toolset in Arcgis 10.1 version. Figure 5 represent the distantranking.

74 | P a g e

Table 3: Hydrological data used in the model
SL. No.

Name of the Upazila

Area (Sq. km)

Average Distance from the river (Km)Distance rank *1

Basail157.78

38.62

3

2

Bhaluka

444.05

51.49

4

3

Delduar184.54

24.14

1

4

Fulbari

402.41

54.71

4

5

Gafargaon

401.16

86.90

5

6

Ghatail

451.30

32.18

1

7

Gopalpur

193.378.04

1

8Jamalpur Sadar

489.56

40.23

3

9

Kaliakair

414.14

65.98

5

10

Kalihati

301.22

6.43

1

11

Madargonj

225.38

9.65

1

12

Madhupur500.67

37.01

2

13

Melandaha239.65

25.74

2

14

Mirzapur373.89

41.84

3

15

Muktagacha

314.71

59.54

4

16

Sakhipur429.63

45.06

3

17

Sharishabari

263.48

14.48

1

18

Tangail Sadar

334.26

17.70

1

19

Trisal338.9867.59

5* Distance index, 0 -16 = 1, 17 -32 = 2, 33 – 48 = 3, 49 – 64 = 4, 65 + = 5

75 | P a g e

Average Vulnerability Index: To calculate the average vulnerability of the selected area,
population density and the distance from the river has been considered because flood willaffect more if it sticks in a dense populated area rather than an area which has less dance. On
the other hand distance from the river is another parameter as in our country maximum flood

occurs when the river can’t contain the excessive water flow comes down from the upward inmoon soon period. A vulnerability index map (fig 6) has been develop using the averagescore of the distance from the river and population density.
Fig 5: Distant rank from the river

76 | P a g e

Fig 6: Average vulnerability index

Coping capacities or coping strategies: Coping capacities or coping strategies are highly
complementary since greater resilience is achieved when the vulnerability is reduced. Floodvulnerability of the study area found more severe than previous. People of the study area
adapted various strategies to cope with the flood of their own and also with the help ofdifferent organizations. Focus group discussion (FGD), Key informant interview (KII) havebeen conducted in very upazilla. Coping strategies of the local people used in the developedmodel as furnished in the table below: (table 4) and the map (fig 7) symbolizes the overall
capacity scenario of that specific area.

77 | P a g e

Table 4: Coping capacity, variables and index (upazila wise)
SL. No.

Name of the

Variables of measuring coping capacity

UpazilaAwareness

Relief system

Economic

Use

Strengthindigenousof

Educationlevelknowledge
Index

Index

Index

Index

Index

Very high=5

Very good=5

High=3

High=3

Very high=5

High=4

Good=4

Medium=2

Medium=2

High=4

Medium=3

Satisfactory=3

Low=1

Low=1

Medium=3

Low=2

Not good=2

Low=2

Bad=1

Very low=1

1

Basail

4

4

1

2

2

2

Bhaluka

4

5

2

2

2

3

Delduar

4

4

2

2

2

4

Fulbari

3

3

3

3

3

5

Gafargaon

4

2

2

2

2

6

Ghatail

4

4

2

1

2

7

Gopalpur

3

4

1

1

2

8

Jamalpur Sadar

3

3

3

1

3

9

Kaliakair

4

5

3

2

4

10

Kalihati

4

4

1

2

2

11

Madargonj

4

4

2

1

2

12

Madhupur

5

4

2

3

2

13

Melandaha

4

5

1

1

2

14

Mirzapur

5

3

2

3

2

15

Muktagacha

3

3

2

3

2

16

Sakhipur

4

3

2

2

2

17

Sharishabari

4

4

2

3

2

18

Tangail Sadar

4

2

3

1

2

19

Trisal

3

3

2

2

2

Index of economic based on monthly income taka 15000 + = 3, 10000 – 15000 = 2, 0 – 10000 = 1
Index of education (%), 0 – 20 = 1, 21 – 40 = 2, 41 – 60 = 3, 61 – 80 = 4, 80 + = 5

78 | P a g e

Fig 7: Average capacity ranking
Flood Risk Ranking Map: Based on the assessment of final risk has been calculated throughthe equation (equation 3). Calculation of data and procedures of data and information input
are described in details in the methodology of this study. The developed model has run using
Arc GIS and final flood risk map have been produced. In the case of the final output of theflood risk map, three major variables Hazard, Vulnerability and Capacity have been
considered. Similarly, in scheming hazard, vulnerability and Capacity both ordinal andnominal values were calculated through the model. Figure 8 is the final yield of flood rinkvaluation of the study area.

79 | P a g e

.
Fig 8: Flood risk ranking.
Conclusion
After analyzing all variables stated above, final flood risk has been assessed and is shown in
the final map (fig 8) which shows the index of flood risk of the Jamuna floodplain. The
proposed model could also be applicable for the assessment of flood risk for the wholecountry as well as for the world as both social and topographical factors has been consideredhere. This assessment has been conducted to identify the priority areas which should give
more emphasis for flood mitigation procedures. This type of work is helpful for the planners,
disaster management organizations and also for the government to think about the future planin the considered area.

80 | P a g e

References
Bangladesh Bureau of Statistics, 2012. Bangladesh population and housing census 2011.
Cannon, T., 2000. Vulnerability analysis and disasters. Floods 1, 45–55.
Center, A.D.R., 2005. Total Disaster Risk Management–.
Chakraborty, J., Tobin, G.A., Montz, B.E., 2005. Population evacuation: assessing spatial variability
in geophysical risk and social vulnerability to natural hazards. Nat. Hazards Rev. 6, 23–33.
Crichton, D., 2002. UK and global insurance responses to flood hazard. Water Int. 27, 119–131.
de Moel, H., Jongman, B., Kreibich, H., Merz, B., Penning-Rowsell, E., Ward, P.J., 2015. Flood risk
assessments at different spatial scales. Mitig. Adapt. Strateg. Glob. Change 20, 865–890.
Em-dat, C., 2010. The OFDA/CRED international disaster database. Univ. Cathol.
Karzakram, S.S.U., 2011. Climate Change Impacts, Community Perceptions and Adaptation Practices
by Rice-Growing Communities in Bangladesh.
Meyer, V., Haase, D., Scheuer, S., 2009. Flood risk assessment in European river basins—concept,
methods, and challenges exemplified at the Mulde river. Integr. Environ. Assess. Manag. 5, 17–26.
Peduzzi, P., Dao, H., Herold, C., Mouton, F., 2009. Assessing global exposure and vulnerability
towards natural hazards: the Disaster Risk Index. Nat. Hazards Earth Syst. Sci. 9, 1149–1159.
Schneiderbauer, S., Ehrlich, D., 2004. Risk, hazard and people’s vulnerability to natural hazards. Rev.
Defin. Concepts Data Eur. Comm. Jt. Res. Cent. EUR 21410, 40.
Tingsanchali, T., Karim, F., 2010. Flood-hazard assessment and risk-based zoning of a tropical flood
plain: case study of the Yom River, Thailand. Hydrol. Sci. Journal–Journal Sci. Hydrol. 55, 145–161.
UNISDR, M., 2009. UNISDR Terminology for Disaster Risk Redution. U. N. Int. Strategy Disaster
Reduct. UNISDR Geneva Switz.
Wisner, B., Kelman, I., Monk, T., Bothara, J.K., Alexander, D., Dixit, A.M., Benouar, D., Cardona,O.D., Kandel, R.C., Petal, M., 2004. School seismic safety: Falling between the cracks? Earthq. Lond.

81 | P a g e

PART-VII

VULNERABILITY ASSESSMENT OFEDUCATIONAL FACILITIES DUE TOCYCLONE AND STORM SURGE AT
KALAPARA UPAZILA, PATUAKHALIBANGLADESHBANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Maruf Biullah
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

82 | P a g e

BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Bangladesh is a developing country with numerous problems such as over population,
poverty, complex socio-economic structure, low-level industrial base, resource constrains,lack of appropriate infrastructural and institutional facilities. These problems are complicatedand compounded with the occurrences of regular and frequent disasters impeding the overallsocio-economic development efforts of the country (Haque, 1997). The geographical settingof Bangladesh makes the country vulnerable to natural hazards (Karim and Mimura, 2008).
Major factors responsible for natural hazards in Bangladesh are flat topography, heavy
monsoon rainfall, rapid run-off and drainage congestion, enormous discharge of sediments,
low relief of the floodplains, low river gradients, and funnel-shaped and shallow Bay of
Bengal. The mountains and hills bordering almost three-fourths of the country along with thefunnel-shaped Bay of Bengal in the south not only make the country a meeting place of lifegiving monsoon rains, but also make it subject to the catastrophic ravages of nature. For allthese conditions, Bangladesh is stated as one of the most natural disaster-prone countries in
the world (Ali et al., 2012; Choudhury, 2002; Karim and Mimura, 2008).
As a disaster prone country the damage from multi hazards (cyclone and storm surge) incoastal area is very high. In this article, we have considered the damage and vulnerability ofschool buildings as a disruption on educational facilities. Poor construction of schoolbuildings due to poor implementation of building codes and safety standards, unplanned,haphazard development, a large number of school buildings will be affected by floods,
cyclone and storm surge. This will ultimately reduce the sheltering capacity of the local
community during any disaster. The southern part of Patuakhali district like Kalapara upazila(Figure 1), school buildings are vulnerable to floods, cyclone and storm surge due to theirgeological feature. The Bay of Bengal and many rivers in this location, make themvulnerable. Past experiences and based on the available evidences in Bangladesh, theeducation sector has been found to be hardest hit along with other sectors in the event of any
disaster (Tatebe and Mutch, 2015). During the Cyclones of 1970, 1991, 2007, 2009 andfloods of 1988, 1998, 2004, schools have been found to be damaged due to structural failure.
In the flood plain areas, majority of schools have been closed for more than three months(Tatebe and Mutch, 2015). An estimated 5,927 educational institutions have been fully or
partially damaged during Cyclone Sidr in 2007, resulting in a total value of damage andlosses of USD 70 Million (Dasgupta et al., 2010).
This paper aims to identify multi hazard (Cyclone and Storm surge) risk of school buildings
through GIS and to assess the structural vulnerability of those buildings due to those hazard.
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Global Scenario
School children and school buildings have been greatly affected during all major disasters. A
devastating fire claimed 94 lives of young children at the Sri Krishna Primary School in
Kumbakonam (Tamil Nadu, India) on 16 July 2004 (Satapathy and Walia, 2007). The Bhuj
earthquake that occurred on the 26 January 2001 in India has claimed about 1000 student lives, 15000
educational facilities have been affected (Rai et al, 2002) and has incurred USD 144 Million loss inthe educational sector (Vatsa, 2002). At least 1884 school buildings collapsed and 5950 classrooms
have been destroyed in the earthquake (Rooze et al., 2006). 17,000 children died and 2,448 schools
have collapsed in the 2005 Kashmir earthquake in both India and Pakistan (Aid and Kwatra, 2005).
Typhoon Linda (1997) has razed 2,254 schools and damaged 4,022 schools in Vietnam (“Vietnam
Typhoon Linda Situation Report No.4,” 1997). 74% of all schools have been damaged in the 1999
Colombia earthquake (Wisner et al., 2004). 441 school children have died in a stampede at a schoolfunction in Mandi Dhabwali (India) in December 1995 (Srinivasan et al., 2006). Out of 200,000
buildings brought down by the Great Sichuan Earthquake on May 12, 2008 in China, nearly 7,000
schools, many recently built, have been destroyed and several thousand school children have been
killed (Yong and Booth, 2011). In the town of Mianzhu seven schools have collapsed, burying 1,700
people. Roughly one billion children aged 0-14 live in countries with high seismic hazard zones.
Several hundred million are at risk when they are attending school. More than 200 million people areaffected by disaster every year world over, a third of them are children (“Horror and hope,” 2017).
Major Events of Cyclones and Storm surges in Bangladesh

Any hazards become disasters when they intersect with the human environment. In
Bangladesh, historical natural disasters have left a profound imprint causing devastating lossof life, property, economy, and community. From historical evidences, it can be observed thatdifferent types of disasters such as flood, cyclonic storm, tidal surge, drought, tornado,riverbank erosion, and earthquake occur in Bangladesh regularly and frequently causing
devastating consequences (Karim, 1995). The 1988 flood killed 1517 people, and nearly halfof the population in the country have been affected (Hossain, 2004). The 1970 cyclone has
killed almost 500,000 people (Karim, 1996). About 1300 people have been killed by tornado
at Saturia of Manikganj district in Bangladesh in 1989 (Islam, 2004). The 1897 Great Indian
Earthquake with a magnitude of 8.7 Mw has killed 1542 people and has affected almost thewhole of Bangladesh (Oldham, 1899). Drought is a recurrent phenomenon in some parts of
Bangladesh, which leaves a permanent damage, i.e. damages agricultural production andencourages the desertification process that is going on in some parts of North Bengal (Shahid
and Behrawan, 2008). River erosion takes away thousands of hectares of land every year in
the country resulting in displacement of a huge number of people (Mutton and Haque, 2004).
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Depending upon their potential to cause damage to human life and property, these naturalcalamities may be broadly grouped into major and minor types. Natural hazards such as
earthquake, drought, flood, tornado, and cyclone can be regarded as major for their greater
impact, whereas landslide, riverbank erosion, groundwater contamination, fire, tsunami, etc.,
can be categorized as minor hazards, whose impacts are localized and intensity of thedamages is much less. Thus, based on historical occurrences and potential damage of thesehazards in Bangladesh, tornado, flood, earthquake, and cyclone are considered as majordisasters in Bangladesh (Barua et al., 2016).A list of major cyclone and storm surge eventsfrom 1960-2013 are presented in Table 1.Figure 1 also shows some historical cyclone tracks
affecting Bangladesh.
Table 1: Major events of cyclones and storm surges in Bangladesh
Month

Year

Max. Wind Speed Storm

Surge Human Deaths(km/h)Height (meter)

October

1960

210

4.5-6

5149

May

1961

146

2.5-3

11466

May

1963

203

4-5

11520

May

1965

162

3.5

19279

December

1965

210

4.5-6

-

October

1966

146

4.5-9

850

November

1970

223

6-9

500000

May

1985

154

3-4.5

11069

April

1991

225

6-7.5

138000

May

1994

200

-

170

May

1997

225

2.5-4

126

November

2007

223

3-4

3363

May

2009

92

3+

190

May

2013

88

1.5-2

17

Source: (Nizamuddin, 2001)
In the recent past, Bangladesh has faced some devastating natural calamities and those have ahuge impact on the structural facilities of education sector. This has become one of the major
causes for school drop out after a major disaster.
METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY

To conduct the study at first the authors have used risk ranking method to assess thevulnerability of individual school buildings that has been surveyed through extensive fieldvisit. The collected school building data has been presented using GIS to develop hazard
85 | P a g e

maps. The coastal area of Kalapara upazilla of Barguna district, Bangladesh has been selected
for this study (Figure 1).
Location of Kalapara Upazila

The study area is located between 21º48´ and 22º05´ north latitudes and between 90º05´ and90º20´ east longitudes. The upazila is bounded on the north and west by Amtali upazila ofBarguna zila, on the east by Galachipa and Rangabali upazilas and on the south by the Bay of
Bengal. The major rivers are the Andharmanik, Nilgang and Dhankhali (Figure 1).

Figure 1: (a) Cyclone Tracks in Bangladesh and (b) Study Area (Kalapara Upazila)

Surveyed Schools of Kalapara

Kalapara upazila has around 110 schools having around 160 buildings, out of those 30
schools having 59 buildings have been assessed in this research as shown in Figure 2. These
schools are located within 50 km from the coast. Some of the surveyed school buildings areshown in Figure 3. The buildings mainly consist of RC (Reinforced Concrete) frame, URM(Unreinforced Masonry) with roof slab, URM with tin roof and buildings with tin wall androof.

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Figure 2: Position of Surveyed School Buildings

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Figure 3: Some of the existing school buildings in the study area

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS

Multi hazard assessment becomes an influential tool to the decision makers for futureplanning initiatives because it can provide a composite hazard profile for the target area. To
perform this assessment, it is required to prepare individual hazard analysis that might cause
risk to the region. In this study attempts has been made to assess educational buildings for
cyclone and storm surge, this will ultimately yield composite vulnerable situation of theeducational buildings of the study area. Weighting factors of vulnerability to cyclone andstorm surge have been determined through expert opinion by the authors. Panels of 10
experts have been consulted to determine the combined vulnerability score of cyclone andstorm surge. Table 1 presents hazard wise vulnerability score of Cyclone/ Storm surge.

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Table 1: Hazard wise vulnerability score of Cyclone/ Storm surge
Scale

Score

Very Low

1

Low

2

Moderate

3

High

4

Very high5

Vulnerability to Cyclone of Kalapara School Building Structure
Cyclone is always ranked as top most natural hazard for any coastal area. It possesses
devastating impact on coastal communities. The different factors and weightage used toestimate the cyclone vulnerability has been provided in Table 2. Position of the building canplay a vital role to withstand the wind speed. An isolated building or the building which issituated at the corner has to face the devastating wind of the cyclone. Primary structural
system is another vital factor as it provides the strength of the building to withstand thenatural calamities. Frame structure and steel structure can resist more live and dead load towithstand as well as resist the wind load than any other structures. On the other hand timber,wooden and other structure is more vulnerable to cyclone hazard. Roof structure and roof
cover is other criteria to sustain when the rotating wind strike the area. Roof pitch, condition,
structural condition and connection quality are the other important factors which can enhancethe vulnerability of school buildings. To assess the existing vulnerability of the schoolbuildings, the above mentioned criteria have been considered for quick survey.

Table 2: Cyclone hazard vulnerability (CHV) score based on various structural parameters
Criteria

Weightage

Sub-criteria

Score

Position of building (C2)2

Isolated

5

Corner5Mid-block1

Steel and RC frame

1

Masonry

2

Timber5

RC slab1

Steel truss

2

Timber frame

3

Straw and Other

5

Primary Structural system

5

(E2)

Roof structure and cover (F2)3

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Criteria

Weightage

Sub-criteria

Score

Roof Pitch (G2)

3

Flat

1

Multi Pitch

2

Mono Pitch

3

Excellent

1

Fair

2

Deteriorated

5

Excellent

1

Fair

2

Deteriorated

5

High

1

Moderate

3

Low

5

Roof Condition (H2)

Structural Condition (I2)

Connection quality (J2)

3

3

2

Expert opinion has also been considered while assessing the scores of Table 2. In Table 2, 1
has been selected for very low vulnerability and 5 for very high vulnerability as presented inTable 1. Based on weightage and individual scores of different variables, Cyclone Hazard
Vulnerability (CHV) score has been calculated as:
CHV = (Score of C2 x 2)+(Score of E2 x 5)+(Score of F2 x 3)+(Score of G2 x 3)+(Score ofH2 x 3)+(Score of I2 x 3)+(Score of J2 x 2).
CHV for every single surveyed school building has been estimated. After estimating
individual school building vulnerability, all values have been converted into a normalized
value ranging from 0 - 1. For normalization, following equation has been used.
Normalized Cyclone Hazard Vulnerability (NCHV)
Here,
CHVactual = Vulnerability value of individual building
CHVminimum = Lowest vulnerability value among all buildings
CHVmaximum = Highest vulnerability value among all buildings
Using the normalized value of cyclone hazard vulnerability (NCHV), map for educational
facilities have been developed using Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation methodof vulnerability mapping (Figure 4).

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It is clear from the hazard map that the lower part of Kalapara upazila is less vulnerable
rather than the upper part. This is due to the fact that the structural developments andqualities of educational facilities in the lower part (near the coast) are relatively better than in
the upper part. In the lower part of the upazila, close to the sea most of the school buildings

have been converted into multipurpose cyclone shelters (see Figure 3), which reduce thevulnerability of the educational facilities as well as the reduction of vulnerability of the
nearby community people who will use them as shelters.

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Figure 4: Normalized Cyclone hazard vulnerability of educational facilities IDW (left) and union wise
vulnerability mapping (right)

Vulnerability to Storm surges of Kalapara School Building Structure
Due to geographical and topographical settings of Kalapara upazila, it is also vulnerable tostorm surge hazard. Storm surge is not a single hazard. It comes with a huge water wave
while the cyclone strikes the area. The main difference between the storm surge and thecyclone is that the size of the affected area of the storm surge is relatively less than theaffected area of the cyclone. The consequence of the storm surge is relatively higher than thecyclone. The different factors and their corresponding weightage used to estimate the storm
surge vulnerability has been provided in Table 3. Three factors for storm surge vulnerability
are similar to the cyclone vulnerability factors, namely, primary structural system, structural
condition and connection quality. For storm surge vulnerability assessment, additional threeparameters namely, floor material, elevation irregularity and mass irregularity have been
added, according to the experts opinion.

Table 3: Storm surge hazard vulnerability score based on various structural parameters
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Criteria

Weightage

Sub-criteria

Score

Primary Structural system (PS)4

Steel and RC frame

1

Masonry

2

Timber5

RC slab and Reinforced

1

Floor material (FM)4brick concrete

Structural Condition (ST)Connection quality (CQ)

Elevation irregularity (EI)

Mass irregularity (MI)

Timber and Wooden floor

3

Mud

5

Excellent

1

Fair

2

Deteriorated

5

High

1

Moderate

3

Low

5

Yes

3

No

1

Yes

3

No

1

3

2

5

2

For storm surge, primary structure plays a vital role as it is the main elements of a building,similar for cyclone. To prevent the wash out and severe damage of the ground floor, floor
material, condition of the structure, elevation and mass distribution are important criteria.
Storm Surge Vulnerability (SHV) has been estimated using the following equation:
SHV =(Score of PS x 4)+(Score of FM x 4)+(Score of ST x 3)+(Score of CQ x 2)+(Score of
EI x 5)+(Score of MI x 2)
SHV for every single surveyed school building has been estimated. After estimating
individual school building vulnerability, all values have been converted into a normalized
value ranging from 0 - 1. For normalization, following equation has been used.
Normalized Storm Surge hazard Vulnerability (NSHV)
Here,
SHVactual = Vulnerability value of individual building
SHVminimum = Lowest vulnerability value among all building
SHVmaximum = Highest vulnerability value among all building

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Similar to cyclone, using the normalized value of storm surge hazard vulnerability (NSHV),
map for educational facilities have been developed using Inverse Distance Weighted (IDW)

interpolation method of vulnerability mapping (Figure 5).

Figure 5: Storm surge hazard vulnerability on educational facilities IDW (left) and union wise
vulnerability mapping (right)

Unlike cyclone hazard vulnerability map of Figure 4, the storm surge hazard map (Figure 5)
show low values in the lower and upper part of the upazila and high values in the middle part.
The reason behind this is the presence of several small and medium size rivers located in the
middle part of the upazila which allows water wave to damage the weak educational facilitiesof these locations.

Multi Hazard of Kalapara School Buildings
The multi hazard analysis performed in this study clearly shows that disasters are notseparated but strongly interconnected. Different disasters can interfere among them andresults in multi hazard vulnerability for any structures. The energy of storm surge helps thecyclone to damage a structure more severely than it can do for cyclone alone. To understand94 | P a g ethe vulnerability of educational facilities of the study area, a multi hazard vulnerability
analysis has been carried out by combining the effect of two disasters (cyclone and storm
surge) based on the following equations. The weighting factors have been obtained byconsulting the relevant experts.
0.5

∗

0.5

∗

Here,
NCHV =Cyclone vulnerability value for specific school building (normalized)
NSSV= Storm surge vulnerability value for specific school building (normalized)
NCHVmaximum= Maximum cyclone vulnerability value among all school buildings(normalized)
NSSVmaximum= Maximum storm surge vulnerability value among all school buildings(normalized)
Figure 6 presents the multi hazard vulnerability map for educational facilities using Inverse

Distance Weighted (IDW) interpolation method.
Figure 6: Normalized Multi hazard vulnerability on educational facilities IDW (left) and union wise
vulnerability mapping (right)

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Figure 7 presents frequency distribution of normalized hazard vulnerability values fordifferent hazards. The figure clearly shows that in the study area, the cyclone hazard
vulnerability has more influence than the storm surge hazard. For cyclone hazard
vulnerability, most of the buildings are within the range of 0.5 to 1 in a scale of 0 to 1 (0 for
low vulnerability and 1 for very high vulnerability) (Figure 7a) but for the storm surge hazard
we have a different scenario, a large portion of school buildings fall within 0 to 0.6 within thevulnerability scale (Figure 7b). This is happening due to the following reasons. The affectedarea of the storm surge is relatively less than the cyclone; on the other hand, the damaging
capacity of the storm surge is relatively higher than the cyclone. In general, less schoolbuildings will be affected by the storm surge than the cyclone. School buildings which arelocated near the coast or rivers are more likely to be affected by the storm surge. Figure 7cshows the multi-hazard vulnerability distribution of the assessed school buildings of the study
area.
Figure 7d shows comparison of different normalized hazard vulnerability for individual
schools. In this case for each of the 59 assessed school buildings. The red line indicates
cyclone hazard vulnerability for different school building where as blue and green color
indicate storm surge and multi hazard vulnerability respectively. Kuakata Municipality which
is located within Latachapli Union is a well known tourist spot. This city has observed rapid
developments in the recent times. Most of the school buildings of this area have been
converted into multipurpose cyclone shelters which ultimately reduce the multi-hazard
vulnerability. In this figure, it can be observed that the same school building have different
vulnerability for different hazard which depends on structural, roof and floor condition ofexisting structures. Table 4 presents information about seven assessed school buildings:
school ID, school name, their normalized CHV, SHV and MHV values, union where they arelocated and their photograph. It can be seen that the school buildings of Latachapli union aremostly new buildings having the ground floor open. On the other hand, the unions located in
the middle (Mithaganj) and upper part (Chakamaiya) of the study area have mostly old
buildings having poor maintenance and those schools are relatively weak against cyclone andstorm surges.

CONCLUSIONSDisasters such as cyclones, floods, landslides, fire and water logging are regular features in
Bangladesh. Schools in different parts of Bangladesh suffer differently. Kalapara Upazila inPatuakhali district is more vulnerable to cyclone and storm surge. Lower part of the study
96 | P a g e

area (such as Latachapli union) which is closer to the coast is less vulnerable in terms ofeducational facilities than the other part of Kalapara Upazila. Rapid urbanization has
occurred in this union based on the tourism center located at Kuakata in Latachapli union.
Government agencies pay more attention in this area than the other part of the upazila.
Number of cyclone shelters which are also used as school buildings are more in this union
than in other unions of the upazila. Population of this union is also increasing day by day due
to the presence of tourism related activities. The cyclone and storm surge hazard assessments
carried out in this paper show that building location, building materials and type havesignificant effect on hazard values. The multipurpose cyclone shelters which are also used as
school buildings are less vulnerable than the ordinary school buildings. It is advisable toconstruct more multipurpose cyclone shelters in the coastal areas of Bangladesh which will
help to protect the local community during emergency situations as well as will be used as
educational facilities. These resilient cyclone shelters will be able to withstand the naturalcalamities more efficiently. The study will also help the policy makers to rethink about thevulnerability of the existing school buildings and to take proper measures to safeguard thoseagainst hazards.

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(a)

(b)

(c)

(d)

Figure 7: Frequency of different school building vulnerability for cyclone hazard (NCHV) (a),Frequency of different school building vulnerability for storm surge hazard (NSHV) (b),Frequency of different school building vulnerability for multi hazard (MHV) (c), Comparison ofdifferent hazard vulnerability.

98 | P a g e

Table 4: Several assessed school buildings information
SchoolSchool Name

ID
27

28

30

31

52

53

56

Tegasia Secondary School (Twostoried)
Tegasia Secondary School (Single
storied)43 Pakhimara Government Primary
School (Single storied: new)
43 Pakhimara Government Primary
School (Single storied: old)117 Amjedpur Government Primary
School (Three-storied)

117 Amjedpur Government Primary
School (Single storied)
Kuakata Banga Bandhu Secondary
SchoolUnion Name

Normalized Normalized

Final

CHV value

SHV value

MHV

0.611

0.936

0.624

MITHAGANJ

0.738

0.936

0.711

MITHAGANJ

0.766

0.702

0.540

1.000

0.704

0.748

0.101

0.000

0.005

LATA CHAPLI

0.327

0.177

0.069

LATA CHAPLI

0.032

0.040

0.001

LATA CHAPLI

Photograph

CHAKAMAIYACHAKAMAIY
A

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Aid, C., Kwatra, A., 2005. Don’t be scared, be prepared: How disaster preparedness can save lives
and money. Christian Aid.
Ali, S.S., Rahman, M., Chowdhury, N.R., 2012. Bangladesh: a sustainable and disaster resilient
future. Islam. Relief Worldw.-Bangladesh Dhaka Google Sch.
Barua, U., Akhter, S. Ansary, M.A. 2016. District-wise multi-hazard zoning of Bangladesh. Nat
Hazards, 82:1895–1918
Choudhury, A.M., 2002. Managing natural disasters in Bangladesh. Dhaka Meet Sustain. Dev.
Bangladesh Achiev. Oppor. Chall. Bangladesh Unna. Parishad 16–18.
Dasgupta, S., Huq, M., Khan, Z.H., Ahmed, M.M.Z., Mukherjee, N., Khan, M.F., Pandey, K.D.,
2010. Vulnerability of Bangladesh to cyclones in a changing climate: potential damages andadaptation cost, Policy Research Working Paper No 5280, The World bank.
Haque, C.E., 1997. Atmospheric hazards preparedness in Bangladesh: a study of warning,
adjustments and recovery from the April 1991 cyclone, in: Earthquake and Atmospheric Hazards.
Springer, pp. 181–202.
Horror and hope: 2017 for millions of children hit by conflicts and disasters, 2017.ReliefWeb. URL
https://reliefweb.int/report/world/horror-and-hope-2017-millions-children-hit-conflicts-and-disasters(accessed 08.06.18).
Hossain, A., 2004. An overview on impacts of flood in bangladesh and options for mitigation, in:
National Workshop on Options for Flood Risk and Damage Reduction in Bangladesh. pp. 7–9.
Islam, D.M.M., 2004. Developement of housing vulnerability for natural hazards by using GIS
techniques.
Karim, N., 1995. Disasters in Bangladesh. Nat. Hazards 11, 247–258.
Karim, A.K.M., 1996. Formation of planning and land-use policies for disaster management in
Chittagong metropolitan area of Bangladesh. UNCRD-BUET Jt. Res. Dep. Urban Reg. Plan. BUET
Dhaka.
Karim, M.F., Mimura, N., 2008. Impacts of climate change and sea-level rise on cyclonic storm surge
floods in Bangladesh. Glob. Environ. Change 18, 490–500.
Mutton, D., Haque, C.E., 2004. Human vulnerability, dislocation and resettlement: Adaptation
processes of riverbank erosioninduced displaces in Bangladesh. Disasters 28, 41–62.
Nizamuddin, K., 2001. Disaster in Bangladesh: Selected Readings. Disaster Research Training andManagement Centre, Department of Geography and Environment, University of Dhaka.
Oldham, R.D., 1899. Report of the great earthquake of 12th June, 1897. Mem. Geol. Surv. India 29.
Rai, D.C., Prasad, A.M., Jain, S.K., Rao, G., Patel, P., 2002. Hospitals and Schools. Earthquake
Spectra: July 2002, Vol. 18, No. S1, pp. 265-277.
Rooze, M., De Ruyter, A., Ajduković, D., Fundter, N., Hövels, J., 2006. The healing community: The
importance of community-based interventions, in: Real Risk. Tudor Rose, 103-106.
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Satapathy, S., Walia, A., 2007. Affected parents’ and other stakeholders’ perception of a fire disastermanagement in India: a situational analysis. Disaster Manag. Response 5, 111–118.
Shahid, S., Behrawan, H., 2008. Drought risk assessment in the western part of Bangladesh. Nat.
Hazards 46, 391–413.
Srinivasan, K., Nagaraj, V.K., 2006. The state and civil society in disaster response: Post Tsunami
Experience in Tamil Nadu Journal of Social Work in Disability and Rehabilitation, 2006, Vol 5, Nos.
3/4, pp. 57-80.
Tatebe, J., Mutch, C., 2015. Perspectives on education, children and young people in disaster risk
reduction. Int. J. Disaster Risk Reduce. 14, 108–114.
Vatsa, K.S. 2002. Government Response and Socioeconomic Impacts. Earthquake Spectra: July 2002,
Vol. 18, No. S1, pp. 383-398.
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Wisner, B., Kelman, I., Monk, T., Bothara, J.K., Alexander, D., Dixit, A.M., Benouar, D., Cardona,O.D., Kandel, R.C., Petal, M., 2004. School seismic safety: Falling between the cracks? Earthquakes,
Routledge, London.
Yong, C and Booth, D, C. 2011. The Wenchuan Earthquake of 2008: Anatomy of a Disaster,Springer.

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PART-VIII

DYNAMIC BEHAVIOUR OF
UNREINFORCED MASONRY BUILDINGBANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Aminul Islam
Raquib Ahsan
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

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Introduction
One of the prime causes of mass casualties in an earthquake around the world is collapse of
the non-engineered structures (Macabuag et. al., 2012). Many advanced researches have been
conducted in the field of earthquake engineering; yet non-engineered structures often remain
outside the scope. Along with many architectural heritage structures, there are many
residential buildings in Bangladesh, which are non-engineered unreinforced masonry (URM)
buildings. Those buildings are vulnerable due to lack of lateral load resisting system. Figure
0.1 shows some common failure of URM in Bangladesh. Rather than demolishing those
URM buildings, we need to seek a favorable option for the improvement of their seismic
performance. However, before adopting any retrofitting or rehabilitation technique, it isessential to understand the seismic behavior of URM buildings. A number of experimental
researches e.g. In-plane tests (Elgwady et. al., 2002; Russwll et. al., 2007; Fam et. al., 2002;
Capozucca, 2011), out of plane tests (Derakhshan and Ingham, 2008; Simsir et. al., 2004) andshake table tests (Elgwady et. al., 2002; Simsir et. al., 2004; Hanazato et. al., 2008; Ersubasi
and Korkmaz, 2010) were conducted in different countries using their indigenous materials
and testing equipment.

Figure 0.1 Common Failure of Unreinforced Masonry Building

In Bangladesh, there are very few (Das, 2016; Asif et. al., 2017) experimental evidence oflateral load resistance capacity of URM wall and no actual dynamic loading test have been
conducted. The exact crack pattern will, of course, depend on the wall boundary conditions
and the aspect ratio of the URM elements. Seismic actions are bidirectional and the URM canperform in both in-plane and out-of-plane direction. Therefore, the objective of this researchis to understand the overall dynamic behavior, in-plane and out of plane behavior of walls as

103 | P a g e

well as the failure pattern of masonry structures with retrofit (using wire mesh) and without
retrofit under shaking table tests in context of Bangladesh.

Specific Objectives of the Study
The total analysis on the dynamic behavior of masonry building/room is done based on theexperimental results. Shaking table test is carried out with the following specific objectives:
1. Investigation of the system (overall building) response of bare masonry building/roomand retrofitted masonry building/room over a range of real earthquake scenario inshaking table.
2. Investigation of in-plane deformation characteristics of URM wall for bare model andretrofitted model.
3. Investigation of out-of-plane deformation characteristics of URM wall for bare modeland retrofitted model.
4. Investigation of the lateral load resistance capacity of URM wall and comparison with
Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC 1993).
5. Investigation of lateral load variation with deformation for both in-plane and out-ofplane wall (for bare model and retrofitted model).

Experimental Program
Due to the size and payload of the shaking table, the experimental model was built using a
1:2 reduced scale, taking in account Cauchy’s law of similitude law. Table 3.1 shows thescale factors of the Cauchy similitude law. Compressive strength and prism test of full scale
brick and half scale brick were determine. Compressive strength of mortar used for theconstruction was also determined. A reinforced concrete foundation pad was designed andconstructed on which to build the model structure. The pad formed the shape of a rectangularring and had dimensions of 7' x 6' with 8'' thickness. The rectangular ring was 16'' wide. To
serve the interface requirements, the pad had 24 holes for bolting to the simulator platform(shaking table) and was roughed on its top surface along the footprint of the structures toincrease the bond with the base mortar joint. Amount of reinforcement was more thanrequired to prevent the premature failure of the foundation pad before the failure of structure.
Figure 0.1 shows the foundation pad detailing and cross section foundation pad on shake
table. Total weight of the foundation pad is 1.24 ton.
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Figure 0.1 Detailing of foundation pad and cross section
Masonry room was constructed on the foundation pad after placing the foundation pad on the
shake table. The geometric properties of the experimental model result directly from theapplication of the scale factor to the prototype. The material properties of the experimental
model should be equal to the prototype, namely in terms of compressive strength, shear
strength and modulus of elasticity. The mortar used fine sand to comply with the reduced
scale of the bed joints and also in local practice fine sand is commonly used for mortar
preparation. A cement mortar of a mix 1:4 (cement : sand) with a water/cement ratio of 0.7
was used so that appropriate flow ability and workability was achieved. The model represents
the typical room size of the Bangladeshi masonry structure. The prototype was 12' x 10'(length x width) with 10' height. Typical wall thickness of a masonry building in Bangladesh
is 5''. Keeping this dimensions in mind, the size of model was kept 6' x 5' (length x width)with 5' height and 2.5'' wall thickness. Walls were constructed in stretcher bond. The
thickness of mortar used in the construction is 10mm. No openings were kept because
opening in one or two side may create torsion and stiffness degradation. Walls wereconstructed in three days, one-third in a day. In future, author have intention to perform shake
table test of masonry building keeping window, door and lintel. Figure 0.2 illustrate theconstructed masonry model. Total weight of the masonry model is 1.24 ton.

105 | P a g e

(a) Construction stage(b) Curing(c) After Construction

5'(d) Schematic Model

Figure 0.2 Unreinforced Masonry Room
Size of the slab is 6' x 5' (length x width) with 3'' thickness. The slab was design considering
20 psf (20 nos weight =20*20 kg/weight=400 kg) live load on the slab and 220 lb/ft(100kg/ft) load on the wall as axial compression and those loads was calculated according to
the rules of scaling. The model was tested considering two storey building and 220 lb/ft
comes from the upper storey.
6 mm reinforcement was provided at 4'' c/c in both direction. This reinforcement is more thancalculated reinforcement as per the rules of scaling. This is because, the purpose of this test is
to see the performance of masonry building not the slab. The reinforcement is cranked at L/4
distance from the edge of the slab. The extra top is 6'' more than the calculated length. Total
weight of the slab is 0.52 ton.
At first, the bare URM specimens (reference specimen) were tested without allowing
collapse. Then, the reference specimen was upgraded using wire mesh and retested. For

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upgradation or retrofitting purpose 18 gauge wire mesh with 12mmx12mm (1/2'' x 1/2'')
opening was used.
Table 3.1 Scale factors of the Cauchy similitude(where p and m designate prototype and experimental model, respectively)

To retrofit the model, firstly, the previous cracks were sealed by epoxy grout and then thewhite wash of the model was removed. The wire mesh was wrapped along the whole lengthof the wall. Wire mesh was applied to the all four walls. The wire mesh was attached to thewall with royal bolt. After that, plaster was applied on all four walls. For rapid strength gainof the plaster, cement grout was used with chemical. After eight days retrofitted sample was

107 | P a g e

retested. Figure 0.3 shows the application process of wire mesh and plastering. Wire mesh
was applied only on the wall. Wire mesh was not extended to connect with the base.

(a) Wrapping and bolting of Wire Mesh(b) Plastering

Figure 0.3 Retrofitting Procedure

Instrumentation
Two piezo-resistive accelerometers (500mV/g) were used during the dynamic testing ofmasonry building. One accelerometer mounted to the earthquake simulator while the otherwas attached to the slab of the building. The accelerometers were positioned to record
motions in the direction of testing. Table 3.2 summarizes the accelerometer locations andtheir sign conventions.
Table 4.1 Accelerometer locations
Accelerometer No.
1
2

Location
Direction of Positive Acceleration
Attached on Shake Table
Loading Direction (W-E)
At top of the model
Loading Direction (W-E)

The displacement response of the models at critical locations was measured using laser
displacement sensor (LDSs) and acquired in data-acquisition system at a sampling rate of 200
Hz to capture deformation in the direction of loading and. One LDSs was built into thehydraulic actuator that drove the earthquake simulator. Two LDSs were positioned to thebuilding to record motions of the wall in the direction of testing while two additional LDSs
were added to measure out of plane displacements of the wall. Figure 0.1 illustrates theirlocations on reference sample and on retrofitted sample.

108 | P a g e

Figure 0.1 Locations of LDSs

Earthquake simulator
The earthquake simulator used in this dynamic testing of masonry room is resident in the
Earthquake Engineering Laboratory of BUET-JIDPUS, BUET. The platform measures
3mx3m (10' x 10') and is supported by six bearing pad for the movement of shaking table.
Total platform height of the shaking table is 15''. The platform itself is a 38mm solid MS
plate supported by/welded with six (6) nos longitudinal T-beam and three (3) nos transverse"

T-beam in multiple bay. Platform are threaded which form an 7"33
x7 center to center
3
3bolting pattern. The hole of the shake table is 20mm in diameter. An instrumentation datum is
attached to one end of the simulator platform for collecting measurements relative to theplatform base. The simulator is driven by a 25 ton hydraulic actuator driven hydraulic powersystem (HPS) attached to three-stage electro-hydraulic servo-valve with a total capacity of
200 gallon per minutes (gpm). Table 3.9 shows the specification of shake table. The
simulator is controlled via DANCE (Version 632.2) software which was supplied by ANCOEngineers Inc. DANCE is also capable of providing rapid graphical display of the data once
the test is complete. After a test had been completed, the data from the various channels wasexported in a text format.

109 | P a g e

Table 5.1 Specification of Shake Table of BUET-JIDPUS
Shake Table Specification
Size: 3m x 3m (10'x10')
Actuator: 25 ton$ Servo Hydraulic Actuator
Acceleration Capacity: 1.6g maximum acceleration with 10ton payload
Bare table Acceleration: 4.0g
Velocity Capacity: 100 cm/s (40 inch/sec)
Displacement Capacity: +/- 100mm (±4 inch)

Dynamic Testing
The test was conducted with incremental acceleration ranging from 0.27g to 1.05g using
Imperial Valley Earthquake. Between each earthquake simulation, visible damage was noted
and recorded. Prior to their testing, model structure was painted white to facilitate crack
identification and marking. Cracks were marked with colored pens, with a different color
used for each run that induced new cracks. The retrofitted model was tested in the sameprocedure. Figure 0.1 shows the complete model with instrument.

Figure 0.1 Complete Experimental Setup

Experimental Results
In-plane, out of plane and overall behavior of URM model was observed througheyewitnesses and recording devices. During the testing, notes were made on the visuallyobserved behavior of the test structures. The seismic action was applied to the structure in aphased procedure, with a sequence of incremental amplitude levels of accelerograms
110 | P a g e

imposed. Table 7.1 summarizes the test sequence with the actual Peak Ground Acceleration(PGA) measured from the base of the models, corresponding to distinct acceleration value ofthe seismic input.
Table 7.1 Seismic Input and corresponding Peak Acceleration at Shake Table
Table Acceleration (g) Table Acceleration (g) ofRun
of Reference Model
Retrofitted Model
1
0.27
0.195
2
0.36
0.25
3
0.41
0.328
4
0.59
0.38
5
0.66
0.52
6
0.76
0.77
7
0.83
0.9
8
0.92
1.02
9
1.05
1.15
10
1.24
11
1.34
12
1.45
13
1.49
14
1.45

It is clear from the recorded acceleration that retrofitted mode can sustain more than 1.4 times
acceleration than reference model. First crack was initiated at 0.83g in reference model while
in retrofitted model first crack was initiated at 1.49g, which is approximately 1.8 times morethan 0.83g. Shear diagonal stepped cracks developed at the unit mortar interface even in the
bricks, starting from the corner of the wall. In the east wall (out of plane wall-perpendicular
to the direction of loading), both horizontal and stepped cracks developed at the lower part.
Horizontal cracks also developed at the height of L/4 of height from the bottom. Mostly all
the cracks developed along the unit-mortar interface, some bricks also were also cracked.
Due to the lack of low flexural resistance and low vertical compression, These horizontal
cracks were developed. For retrofitted model, total fourteen seismic motion were run and novisible cracks were observed in the wall for the first eleven run in which acceleration range
was from 0.27g to 1.45g. In twelve run at an acceleration of 1.49g, which is the maximum
acceleration, cracks develop at the base of the model in all wall. This is due to the sliding of
the wall. After retrofitting, model become stiff- this stiffness as well as low verticalcompression accelerate the sliding of the wall. In the next following run, a vertical crackdeveloped at the bottom of north-west corner of the north wall and no other visible cracks
were observed in any other wall. The cracks along the base was further extended and the
111 | P a g e

model was totally separated from the base. The cracks distribution in in-plane walls and outof plane walls are shown in Figure 0.1.
Table 7.2 Crack Distribution in different acceleration of Reference Model

Run
1
2
3
4
5
6

Table Acceleration (g) ofReference Model
0.27
0.36
0.41
0.59
0.66
0.76

7

0.83

8

0.92

9

1.05

Crack Distribution
no crackno crackno crackno crackno crackno crack
visible crack in out of plane wall(east) in bed joint
visible crack in out of plane wall(east), in-Plane wall (north, south)along the head and bed joint
visible crack in out of plane wall(east), in-Plane wall (north, south)along the head and bed joint.
Previous cracks were extended

(b)

(a)

(c)

(d)

Figure 0.1 Cracks in in-plane wall (a,b) and out-of-plane wall (c,d)

112 | P a g e

Displacement Characteristics
For each test run, displacements at four points of the structure were measured by the laser
sensors; two at mid heights of the two walls (In-plane and Out of plane) and two at the top of
the two walls. It is to be noted that all the values of the displacements were relative to thebase of the structure. This relative displacement was measured by subtracting basedisplacement from the recorded displacement at top. Approximate deflected shape of the inplane wall and out of plane wall is shown in Figure 0.1and Figure 0.2.

Height from base of the wall (ft)

6
5

Run 1
Run 2
Run 3
Run 4
Run 5
Run 6
Run 7
Run 8

4
3
2
1
0

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

Defelection (mm)Figure 0.1 Approximate deflected shape of In-Plane wall for maximum top deflection

Height from base of the wall (ft)

6
5
Run 1

4

Run 2
Run 3

3

Run 4
Run 5

2

Run 6

1

Run 7
Run 8

0
-40

-30

-20

-10

0

10

20

30

Defelection (mm)Figure 0.2 Approximate deflected shape of Out-of-Plane wall for maximum top deflection
During the tests conducted after retrofitting, the displacement data of walls were taken with
one laser sensor for each wall. Two sensors were placed to record the wall top displacements,
each at the top of one In-plane and one Out of Plane walls; one sensor was placed to record
113 | P a g ethe displacement of the shake table. The displacements of one wall top relative to the table
was found by subtracting the table displacement from the recorded displacement at wall top.
Afterwards, the maximum displacement at wall top of in-plane and Out of plane wall for eachrun are plotted in Figure 0.3 and Figure 0.4 respectively.

Run 1

Height from base of the wall (ft)

5
Run 2

4

Run 3
Run 4

3
Run 5

2

Run 6
Run 7

1
Run 8
Run 9

0
-6

-5

-4

-3

-2
-1
Defelection (mm)

0

1

2

Figure 0.3Approximate Deflected shape of In-Plane wall for maximum top deflection

Height from base of the wall (ft)

5
4
3
2
1

-8

-7

-6

-5

-4

-3

0
-2
-1
0
Defelection (mm)

1

2

3

4

Run 1
Run 2
Run 3
Run 4
Run 5
Run 6
Run 7
Run 8
Run 9
Run 10
Run 11
Run 12
Run 13Figure 0.4 Approximate Deflected shape of Out-of-Plane wall for maximum top deflection

Load Characteristics
The lateral force was computed as a multiple of the roof mass (2.08-tons), slab weight andweight of upper half of the walls times the measured roof acceleration/total acceleration
ignoring damping force. Since the motion is unidirectional, the lateral force will mostly be
carried by in-plane wall. Therefore the force is divided by two. The lateral force is plottedversus the measured relative lateral displacement producing what are commonly referred to

114 | P a g e

as hysteresis loops. Figure 0.1and Figure 0.2 depicts the lateral force vs relative displacement
for reference model.

Figure 0.1 Lateral Force vs. Relative Lateral Displacement of in-plane wall for referencemodel

115 | P a g e

Figure 0.2 Roof Acceleration vs. Relative Lateral Displacement of out-of-plane wall forreference model
For the retrofitted model, lateral force is calculated multiplying the load of the upper half ofthe model with roof acceleration ignoring damping force. Lateral force at roof level iscomputed multiplying roof acceleration by roof mass, weight of slab and half of walls weight.
The lateral force is then plotted versus measured relative displacement. Using in-plane wall
displacement data following hysteresis loop was derived which is depicted in Figure 0.3andFigure 0.4.

116 | P a g e

Figure 0.3 Force-Displacement relationship for in-plane wall of Retrofitted Model

Figure 0.4 Force-Displacement relationship for out-of-plane wall of Retrofitted Model

Conclusions
Behavior of unreinforced masonry room (bare and with retrofit) under dynamic loading were
investigated in this study. Based on the results obtained from the experiment of thespecimens, the following observations can be drawn:

117 | P a g e

i.

The cracks in the bare sample are mostly localized in the corner of the wall and thoseare stair-stepped cracks. Lateral sliding along the bed joints are also visible in the inplane and out of plane wall. Cracks are mostly generated in the lower 1/3 length of thewalls (both in-plane and out of plane wall). Therefore, corners are mostly vulnerable
in earthquake.

ii.

First crack was observed in the out-of-plane wall. So special consideration need to betaken in case of design of masonry buildings.

iii.

In retrofitted sample, no visible cracks was observed in the wall except a verticalcrack in the in-plane wall. The failure was initiated along the intersection of base. So
proper precautionary measures should be taken in the base-wall connection.

iv.

The retrofitted model masonry structures was able to sustain 1.42 times more
acceleration than bare model structure.

v.

Retrofitting using wire mesh decrease the deformation of the structure around 4.3 to
4.8 times and increase the capacity of the structure to undergo more acceleration.

References
Asif, M. M., Alam, M. Z. and Ahsan, R., “Cyclic Load Test on Ferrocement Retrofitted
Masonry Wall Units,” Proceedings, International Conference on Disaster Risk Mitigation,
Dhaka, Bangladesh, September 23 - 24, 2017.
Capozucca, R. “Experimental Analysis of Historic Masonry Walls Reinforced by CFRP
Under In-Plane Cyclic Loading,” Composite Structures, Vol. 94, pp-277-289, 2011.
Derakhshan, H., and Ingham, J. M., “Out-of-plane testing of an unreinforced masonry wall
subjected to one-way bending”. In Australian Earthquake Engineering Conference, AEES
2008. Ballarat, Victoria, Australia.
Das, T., “Behaviour of Masonry Wall Retrofitted With Ferrocement Under Lateral Cyclic
Loading,” M. Sc Engg. Thesis, Dept. of Civil Engineering, Bangladesh University ofEngineering and Technology, 2016.
Elgwady, M.A., Lestuzzi, P., Badoux, M., “Dynamic In-Plane Behavior of URM Wall
Upgraded With Composites,” 3rd ICCI’02, San Francisco, USA, 2002, Paper No. 009.
Ersubasi, F. and Korkmaz, H. H., “Shaking Table Tests on Strengthening of Masonry
Structures Against Earthquake Hazard,” Natural Hazards and Earth System Sciences, Vol.
10, pp-2009-2020, 2010.
118 | P a g e

Fam, A., Musiker, D., Kowalsky, M., and Rizkalla, S., “In-Plane Testing of Damaged
Masonry Wall Repaired With FRP,” Advanced Composite Letter, Vol. 11, No. 6, 2002.
Hanazato, T., Minowa, C., Narafu, T., Imai, H., Qaisar Ali, Kobayashi, K., Ishiyama, Y. andNakagawa, T., “Shaking Table Test of Model House of Brick Masonry For Seismic
Construction,” The 14th World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Beijing, China, 12-17
October 2008.
Macabuag, J., Guragain, R., and Bhattacharya, S., “Seismic retrofitting of non-engineered
masonry in rural Nepal,” Proceedings of the Institution of Civil Engineers- Structures andBuildings, Vol. 165, Issue 6, pp. 273-286, 2012.
Simsir, Can. C., Aschheim, M.A., Abrams, D.P., “Out of Plane Dynamic Response of
Unreinforced Masonry Bearing Walls Attached to Flexible Diaphragms,” 13th World
Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Vancover, B.C., Canada, Paper No. 2045, 1-6
August 2004.

119 | P a g e

PART-IX

SEISMIC LOSS ESTIMATION FOR WARD
14 OF MYMENSINGH, BANGLADESHBANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Tamanna Akhter
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

120 | P a g e

1. Introduction
Mymensingh district is located at 24°45' north latitude and 90°25' east longitude in Dhaka
division on the west bank of Old Brahmaputra River. The municipality of Mymensingh wasestablished in 1869 and its jurisdiction area covers 21.73 sq. km. with a total population of
258,040 people and density of 9,414 persons per sq.km (BBS, 2011). Among the 21 wards ofMymensingh Pourashava, Ward no. 14 has been selected as study area for this research which
has an area of 0.54 sq. km. Figure 1 shows location of the study area in Mymensingh district
and Mymensingh municipality. The study area lies in one of the earthquake prone areas of
Bangladesh. The seismic zoning map of Bangladesh in which Mymensingh falls in Zone 3
with a seismic coefficient of 0.25g in BNBC 1993 (Table 1). However in the draft version
Bangladesh National Building Code falls in Zone 4 with a seismic coefficient of 0.36g (Twothird of the value is .24g) which is shown in Figure 2 (Proposed BNBC, 2017). In this paper acomprehensive loss assessment of 14 no. ward, Mymensingh is presented. The purpose of thestudy is to evaluate the potential losses of earthquake based on Bangladesh National Building
Code 2017 using Geographical Information System and to provide a basis for the study area
to plan and prepare effectively for future damage of earthquake and to raise public awarenessof the study areas' earthquake risk.
2. Geology of Study Area
Mymensingh district lies in the northern outlier of Madhupur Tract and within old
Brahmaputra flood plain. Old Brahmaputra flood plain is located in the northeastern part of
the Indian Plate which comprises low-lying alluvial plain of the latest Holocene period. The
plain is bordered by Modhupur Tract and the Sylhet Depression in the East which is shown in
Figure 3. Mymensingh is situated on the bank of Brahmaputra River and alluvial deposit ofthis area consists of flood sand to overbank silt and ponded clay (Sarker et. al., 2010). The
colors of the deposited materials are yellowish brown or gray to reddish-gray silt to clay.
Oxidized upper 0.5m unit includes highland alluvial (Alam et.al., 1990) and some Holocene
slope wash deposit adjacent to higher ground. According to PWD, the average elevation of
the floodplain is less than 15m (Sarker et. al., 2010). Other than Brahmaputra River,numerous channels; Sutia and Khiro River are the prominent one that drains this flood plain.
Old Brahmaputra River and these channels have formed the drainage network of
Mymensingh. In Figure 4 the Rivers in and around Mymensingh can be seen. Mymensingh issituated in the south of Sutia River, east of Khiro River and south-western of Old

121 | P a g e

Brahmaputra River. The out fall of Sutia River and Khiro River is the Banar River which is at
the southern part forms the outlier of Mymensingh.
3. Tectono-Geomorphic Features of Study Area
Tectonic activities of an area convey some expressions to the geomorphology of that area.
Tectono-geomorphic evidence of past and present is important for the understanding oftectonic activities of an area. Mymensingh lies in the eastern part of Jamuna valley which issituated in the central part of the Bengal Basin. On the regional context, the Bengal Basin lies
to the northeastern part of the Indian Plate which is characterized by complex tectonic
environment. Some tectonic elements are active and are creating many tectono-geographic
features. The examples of some lineaments produced by these features are Madhupur
lineament, Manikganj lineament, Nagarpur lineament. These lineaments depict four tectonic
blocks e.g. Nagarpur block, Saturia block, Jamalpur block and Madhupur block which isshown in Figure 5. Madhupur block is the raised one on the east of Jamuna valley. Eachblock is characterized by certain tectonic geomorphic features (Islam et. al., 1995).
Mymensingh is located on the northeastern part of the above-mentioned block.

Figure 1: Location map of Ward No. 14 of Mymensingh Municipality (Source:
Mymensingh Pourashava, 2017)122 | P a g e

Zone
I
II
III

Table 1: Seismic zones of Bangladesh in BNBC 1993
Area
South-East Bangladesh (Seismically least active)
Dhaka, Comilla, Noakhali and Chittagong
North and Eastern regions of Bangladesh (Seismically most active)

Figure 2: Proposed seismic zoning map for Bangladesh (Source: Proposed BNBC, 2017)123 | P a g e

Figure 3: Madhupur Tract and its surrounding floodplains (Source: Geological Group
Formation (Exposed): Bangladesh, 2015)

124 | P a g e

Figure 4: Madhupur Tract and Rivers in andaround Mymensingh

Figure 5: Tectonic and lineament mapof the eastern part of Jamuna valley(Islam et. al., 1995)

4. Study Area Profile
4.1 Demographic Profile of Study Area
The total population of 14 no. ward, Mymensingh is 12,142 and the population density is
22,485 per sq. km. The male and female population ratio of the study area is 47.06 percent
and 52.94 percent respectively. The total number of households in the area is 2,194 andaverage family size is 4.5 (BBS, 2011). The percentage of population aged below 30 years is
63.3% and 36.7% people of the study area are aged above 30 years (Field Survey, 2017).
The literacy rate of study area is 75.1%. The primary occupations of people in the study area
are: service (80.6%), agriculture (11.7%) and industry (7.6%). Mymensingh Medical
College and Hospital which is a regional health facility is situated in this area (BBS, 2011).
4.2 Land use Characteristics of Study Area
Figure 6 shows the existing land use of Ward No. 14, Mymensingh Pourashava. The major
land use of study area is agricultural use, open space, barren land, water body etc. (38.8%).
125 | P a g e

Road network covers a large portion of the land parcel (21.8%). Another major land use of
the study area is residential land use (15.1%). The share of land for health facility is 13.3% as
Mymensingh Medical College and Hospital is situated in the study area occupying a large
portion of the area.

Figure 6: Existing land use of Ward no. 14, Mymensingh Municipality (Source: UDD,
2016 and Updated GIS Map, 2017)
4.3 Building Characteristics of Study Area
In the study area there are 1,611 buildings where 535 building are RCC structure, 208 ofthem URM structure and rest semi-pucca, kutcha and under-construction buildings. Most of
the buildings in the study area lack setback space around them and the adjacent road
networks in the study are too narrow for vehicular movements (Field Survey, 2017).
4.4 Storey and Average Floor Area of the Buildings of the Study Area
Figure 7 shows the cluster wise numbers of buildings with respect to number of storey. From
this figure it can be seen that most of the buildings are one or two storied (58%). The
percentages of two and three storied buildings are also prominent 17% and 16.7%
respectively. The high rise buildings (i.e. six storied or higher) are situated along the
Mymensingh- Dhaka highway.area (including 6 to 10 storey buildings). Figure 9 shows thenumbers of buildings with respect to average floor area. From the field survey it can be seenthat buildings having an average floor area of 500-1500ft are dominant. It has also been seenfrom the field survey that among RCC structures, the percentage of Soft storey is about 4%,
which are vulnerable in Earthquake.

126 | P a g e

No. of buildings

500
400
300
200
100
0
2
1 - 2 stories
3 - 4 stories
5 - 6 stories>6 stories

3

4

5

6

7

Clusters

Total

Figure 7: Cluster wise distribution of building according to storey (Source: Field
Survey, 2017)
Figure 8 shows the floor area of buildings with respect to building storey and number ofbuildings of 14 no. ward, Mymensingh. From the figure it is visible that the number of one
storied buildings is prominent in this area and the floor area is below 2500 ft. There are a few
multi-storied buildings found in the study area. For most of the 6 or more storied buildings
the floor area is >8500ft.

300

Number of Building

250
200
150

>7
6,7

100

4,5

50

2,3
1

0
<=2500 2500-4500 4500-6500 6500-8500

Number ofStorey>8500

Floor Area (sft)Figure 8: Cluster wise distribution of building according to storey and floor area
(Source: Field Survey, 2017)
From Figure 09 the average floor area of buildings within different clusters of 14 no. ward
Mymensingh can be seen. In most cases the average floor area of one storied buildings areless than 150 sq.m. For two and three storied buildings the average floor area is below 500
sq.m. On the other hand most of the buildings having four stories and more their average
127 | P a g e

floor area is greater than 500 sq.m. For cluster 2, the average floor area of any storiedbuildings are greater than other clusters as the area is the property of Mymensingh Medical
College and other clusters are basically privately owned land.

10000.0

Floor area

8000.06000.04000.07
6

2000.0
5
0.0

4
1

2

3
3

2

4

5
No. of storey

6

Clusters>6

Figure 9: Cluster wise distribution of average floor area of buildings
4.5 Construction Year of buildings of the Study Area
From figure 10 it can be seen that, among the surveyed buildings, major portions (58%) ofbuilding were constructed after 2000 indicating that the area is new development area of thepourashava. Although the construction of URM buildings have been decreased after 2015
which was high before 2005. Almost two thirds of the buildings are less than 20 years oldwhile around 16% is built before 1990.

Number of buildings

EMSB
EMSC

120
100
80
60
40
20
0
before 1990

1996-2000
2006-2010
after 2015

Year of Construction

Figure 10: Construction year of the surveyed buildings(Source: Field Survey, 2017)128 | P a g e

5. Methodology of the Study
5.1 Selection of Study Area
Among 21 wards of Mymensingh municipality, ward no. 14 has been selected as study area.
The area has density of 22,485 people per sq.km (BBS, 2011). In this region Mymensingh
Medical College has been located which is a regional health facility. The population densityof this area has been increased over time and the construction of buildings has been takenplaced without considering the vulnerability of earthquake. The road network of the study
area is too narrow for any rescue mission at any emergency situation (Field Survey, 2017). In
this regard the study aims to assess the potential loss of the study area after occurrence of any
earthquake event. To conduct the study the area has been divided into 7 clusters.

5.2 Seismic Exposure Assessment
For the purpose of seismic exposure assessment, data on ten (10) boreholes up to 100 ft.
depth and undisturbed soil samples of the study area and five Microtremor tests with fivesensors were collected from Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology. Fromprevious studies it has been found that the area is not susceptible to liquefaction (Sarker et.
al., 2010). So the liquefaction analysis is excluded from the study.

5.3 Building Vulnerability Assessment
In study area, 1611 buildings have been found in the field survey among them semi-pucca
buildings are predominant (52%). The percentages of pucca and katcha buildings arerespectively 38.5% and 9.5%. For building vulnerability assessment, 735 buildings weresurveyed among them 517 buildings were RCC buildings, 206 of them were URM buildings
and 12 of them were tin-shade structures.
Table 2: Building Classification (Field Survey, 2017 & BBS, 2011)
Cluster

Housing
Unit

EMSB1

EMSB2

EMSC

EMSF

2

56

0

35

22

0

3

131

21

26

84

2

4

136

8

15

110

3

5

97

31

28

34

5

6

198

27

19

150

2

7

117

0

0

117

0
129 | P a g e

Total

735

80

126

517

12

Table 3: Definition of Building Classifications (Sarkar et. al., 2010)
No.

Type

1

EMSB1

2

EMSB2

3

EMSC

4

EMSD

5

EMSF

6.

Description
1-storied brick masonry of fired bricks with cement or lime
mortar, roof is either of GI sheets or other materials
2-storied or taller brick masonry of fired bricks with cement
or lime mortar
Reinforced concrete frame with low ductility, designed forvertical load only
Reinforced concrete frame with moderate ductility, designed
for both vertical and horizontal loads
Mainly bamboo, wooden and steel structures

Assessment of Seismic Hazard

For the assessment of seismic hazard HAZUS a post-earthquake management model havebeen used in US (Schneider and Schauer. 2005). HAZUS can develop a risk management
tool. It is not suitable for Bangladesh to use the tool because of lack of data availability. For
the assessment of seismic hazard in 14 no. ward of Mymensingh Microtremor test has been
done in nine locations to calculate the Peak Ground Acceleration (PGA value).

Figure 10: Location of Microtremor test 14 no. ward of Mymensingh (Map Source:
UDD, 2016)130 | P a g e

From the test it has been cluster 6 has the highest PGA value (0.68g) whereas the average
PGA value lies between 0.4-0.5g. By using the following equation (Equation 1) the intensityof earthquake in the clusters of the study area have been determined by using PGA value.

log (PGA) = 0.014 + 0.3 (MMI)………………………………………………………………......(1)As the PGA value is high for the clusters of the 14 no. ward, Mymensingh; the area is highly
susceptible to a disaster event like earthquake. From Figure 12 it is visible that, theoccurrence of an earthquake event will have an intensity of VIII-IX in the study area. It canalso be seen that cluster 2A and cluster 6 are the most vulnerable areas resulting in severe
damage to structures and high fatality and injury level.

131 | P a g e

Figure 11: The intensity map of 14 no. ward, Charpara
7. Assessment of Seismic Damage
7.1 Distribution of Damage
In this study, fragility curves are used in the FEMA/NIBS methodology to estimate building
damage from ground shaking of earthquake (Whitman et. al., 1997). Fragility curves are lognormal functions that can predict the probability of structural and non-structural damage
states for a given level of earthquake response. For Indian Buildings, a number of fragility
curves are prepared by Arya (2000) and for Nepalese buildings prepared by Bothara et. al.,(2000). A number of fragility curves are also prepared for different types of structure and for
different earthquake intensities (Kircher et. al., 1997; Fah et. al., 2001; Yamazaki and Murao,
132 | P a g e

2000; Yamaguchi and Yamazaki, 2000; Bommer et. al., 2002). As there are no fragility
curves available for structures of Bangladesh, Indian and Nepalese curves may be the mostsuitable for Bangladesh. In this study, fragility curves for the buildings of study area wereprepared by calibrating the existing fragility curves of Arya (2000) and Bothara et. al.,(2000). But they didn’t mention the type of damages to be estimated by these fragility curves

Average Loss Ratio (%)

which was quoted for heavily damaged structures by Segawa et. al., (2002).

Intensity caused by earthquake
Figure 12: Fragility curves for different type of buildings based on EMS intensity(Source: Ansary, 2004)
From the previous section it has been found that the clusters of 14 no. ward, Mymensingh arelocated in severe earthquake zone. Incidence of an earthquake at the intensity of VII-IX will
result in heavy damage of life and property. The table below shows the possible damage ofdifferent types of structures in the clusters of the area. From the table it can be seen that 51%of the surveyed buildings will be affected by earthquake. As cluster 2A and cluster 6 are
more vulnerable to earthquake, there is a probability of heavy damage of buildings 73% and58%. The other clusters will also face severe destruction to earthquake. About half of thebuildings are estimated to be affected at an event of earthquake having VIII intensity level.
From the map it is also visible that cluster 3 and cluster 4 will be less affected to earthquake
compared to other clusters. When the damage is estimated in terms of number of buildings, it
has been found that cluster 6 will have highest number of buildings susceptible to bedamaged. As the cluster is large compared to others and densely populated and the roads are
too narrow for vehicular movement(Field Survey, 2017). On the other hand the buildingsof cluster 2A are URM structures which made the cluster vulnerable to earthquake.
133 | P a g e

Table 4: Estimation of Building Collapse as a result of earthquake

Cluster

Total No.
of
Buildings

Possible No. of Destroyed
Buildings

B1

B2

C

F

Total

Cluster wise
Total No. of
Destroyedbuildings/
Cluster wise
Total No. ofbuildings

Cluster wise
Total No. of
Destroyedbuildings/
Total No. ofbuildings

2A

18

0

13

0

0

13

73%

2%

2B

38

0

12

9

0

21

53%

3%

3

131

13

18

25

0

55

42%

8%

4

136

5

11

47

0

64

47%

9%

5

97

19

19

10

0

49

50%

7%

6

198

20

14

81

0

116

58%

16%

7

117

0

0

59

0

59

50%

8%

Total

735

58

87

230

1

376

51%

51%

134 | P a g e

Figure 13: Building damage of 14 no. ward Mymensingh
7.2 Human casualty
To assess the levels of human casualty as a result of earthquake, the estimation of average
fatality and injury levels have been used. To derive these figures, mortality prediction modelfor different types of structures has been used. This prediction model is prepared based on theinvestigation of human casualty of previous century due to occurrence of several major
earthquakes (Coburn et. al., 1992). The total number of people that may be killed due tobuilding damages can be represented by:
Ksb = Db*[M1b * M2b * M3b * M4b]135 | P a g e

Where Db= Total number of damaged household of type b,
M1= Occupant density (Population per household)
M2= Occupancy of buildings at the time of earthquake
M3= Proportion of occupants trapped by collapse of buildings
M4= Proportion of occupants killed or injured in the earthquake.
The occupancy cycle proposed by Coburn and Spence (1992) shown in Figure 14 forresidential and business structures.

The occupancy rate can vary for these buildings

depending on the occurrence time of the earthquake. Depending on the time of earthquake theoccupancy rate can be found (Figure 14). Human casualty also depends on the type ofbuilding. It has been observed that the number of death of trapped occupants due to building
collapse of multi-storied masonry and reinforced concrete buildings are high compared tomasonry buildings. For the purpose of the determination of occupancy rate, the figure is not
used as the occupancy of the clusters are available for 14 no. ward of Mymensingh.

Figure 14: Building occupancy at the event of earthquake (Coburn et. al., 1992)
From Table 5 the potential death of the occupants at the event of earthquake can be seen. In the study area
Mymensingh Medical College is located which is a regional health facility. People from all over Mymensinghcome for medical treatment. So the occupancy at the day is high in this cluster compared to night. The
occurrence of earthquake at night will cause more death and injury to the residents as most people will be attheir house and have a chance to get trapped. The injury and death rate is found to be high in cluster 6 as theoccupancy at the day time and night are high in this cluster.

Table 5: Possible human casualties on different clusters of Mymensingh 14 no. ward at
the event of earthquake (UDD, 2016 & Sarkar et. al., 2010)136 | P a g e

Clusters

Occupancy/
Day

2

4161

Injury/Day(6.6% of
total
population)
275

3

2006

132

110

1837

152

129

4

1635

108

90

1607

133

112

5

362

24

20

691

57

48

6

2719

179

150

2900

241

203

7
Total

1323
12206

87
806

73
672

2480
9888

206
821

174
692

Death/Day(5.5% of
total
population)
229

373

Injury/Night
(8.3% of
total
population
31

Death/Night (7% of
total
population)
26

Occupancy/
Night

8. Economic Loss Estimation
The potential damage of buildings and human casualty have been calculated in the preceding
section of the article. The economic loss of such damages will be calculated in Table 5. The
estimation is done based on the following assumptions

New construction cost of fully collapsed buildings- BDT 2000 per sq.ft

Retrofit of partially collapsed building- BDT 400 per sq.ft

Subsidy to the family members for one fatality- BDT 1000000



Medical bills for a hospitalized person- BDT 50000

In this study 376 buildings are estimated to be affected by an event of earthquake (Table 6).
In the field survey 269 buildings have been found to be vulnerable which are considered tocollapse totally. The remaining 107 buildings are considered to be partially collapsed. For the
purpose of economic loss estimation, cluster wise average floor area has been calculated. As
a result of partial and total collapse of buildings a monetary value has been estimated which
is 92369.3 lakhs and 7347.6 lakhs respectively (Table 5).

Table 6: Economic loss estimation of 14 no. ward, Charpara

ClusterNumberofbuilding

Possible
no. ofcollapsedbuilding

Possible
no. ofpartiallycollapsedbuilding

2

56

33

0

Averagefloor area

Cost ofretrofitti
ng (Inlakhs)

Possible
no. oftotallycollapsedbuilding

Averagefloor area

Cost ofnewconstruction (In
lakhs)

10953.7

0.00

3310953.7

7229.4

137 | P a g e

3

131

55

12

1316.763.20

431316.71132.3

4

136

64

14

1532.485.81

50

1532.41532.4

5

97

49

16

748.4

47.90

33

748.4

493.9

6

198

116

44

1146.8201.8472

1146.81651.4

7

117

59

21

1469.4123.4338

1469.41116.7

Total

735

376

107

17167.4

7347.62269

17167.492360.3

On the basis of the assumptions in this section, potential economic loss at the event of anearthquake occurrence in 14 no. ward of Mymensingh has been calculated. The direct
economic loss is estimated to be 114161.4 lakhs in the study area which is vigorous for award. The Mymensingh Municipality in co-ordination with Government should encourage
the residents and other stakeholders to follow the earthquake resistance guideline in order toconstruct buildings provided in national building code. An earthquake event may result in
massive destruction of lives and properties in the area so it is necessary to ensure minimum
loss to the individuals, society and nation.
Table 7: Total Economic loss of 14 no. ward, Mymensingh
ItemPhysical Damage

Loss (In lakhs)

Day

806

403

Night

821

410.5

Day

672

6720

Night

692

6920

Total collapse of buildings

269

92360.3

Partial collapse of buildings

1077347.6

Human Injury

Loss of human lives

Total Loss

114161.4

9. Major Findings and Recommendations
Almost 70% area will be affected by intensity level of VIII whereas 30% of study
area will be affected by intensity IX. Cluster 2A and Cluster 6 will be mostly
affected by earthquake compared to other clusters.



Occurrence of earthquake at night time will cause more casualties which is morethan 12% of total population (Table 5).

138 | P a g eAbout 376 buildings including RCC, URM and tin shade buildings are estimatedto be damaged.



A number of educational institutions and health facilities located in study area
including Mymensingh Medical College are found to be vulnerable (Field Survey,2017). Immediate actions should be taken to retrofit the buildings to reduce
vulnerability of the locality.



After occurrence of earthquake a large number of population will require
temporary shelters because of massive destruction of their residence. In thisregard, potential temporary shelters should be identified within the locality andfacilitated with necessary amenities.



For safe and immediate evacuation of the residents and others, Evacuation RoutePlanning should be introduced for the study area.



Many people will require medical facilities after earthquake. To provide medical
treatment to the injured people by an earthquake the safe and non-vulnerable
health facilities should be identified.



The massive destruction of an earthquake event will result in generation of tons ofdebris which should be removed for rapid evacuation. So Debris Management
Plan should be introduced in the study area.



Earthquake may also affect the utility lines of the study area. It may also cause
damage to emergency services. Proper planning and act should be introduced torespond during disaster.



From field survey it is found that the roads of study area are too narrow forvehicular movement. For proper evacuation roads should be widened so thatvehicular movement is possible within the ward.

Community level training and awareness program should be introduced. People of
all ages and socio-economic groups should trained to be responsive during
earthquake. The location of children, aged and disabled people within thecommunity should be identified for the rapid evacuation and the data base should
be continuously updated.

10. Conclusion
In recent times earthquake has become a regular phenomenon in Bangladesh. The impact ofan earthquake having such high intensity will result in vigorous destruction to cities like
139 | P a g e

Dhaka, Chittagong, Mymensingh. The impact of such events should be reduced for both
structural and non-structural features by taking initiatives. Immediate response to affected
communities should be ensured by proper planning, response and management. The local,
central government and other agencies should collaborate with each other for proper
functioning during disaster. Emergency vehicles should be ensured for the rescue andtransporting injured to the hospitals considering the road width of the area. Regular
maintenance of the electricity, water and gas pipelines should be ensured and the firefighting
and rescue teams should be well aware of the connectivity lines. Debris removal should bedone within the shortest hours for the evacuation of the trapped people. In this study thepotential damage caused by earthquake has been estimated for 14 no. ward of Mymesingh.
Such studies should be introduced for the other wards of Mymensingh and integrated
Earthquake Management Plan should be introduce to reduce the potential loss. Regular
workshop and training should be held for awareness raising and capacity building of these
localities. Government, public and private sectors and the individuals should come forward toensure the minimum loss of life and property at the event of an earthquake.

References:

Alam M.K. (1988). Geology of Madhupur Tract and its adjoining areas in Bangladesh.
Geolsurv Bangladesh Rec. 5:23.
Alam M.K., Hassan A.K.M.S., Khan M.R. and Whitney J.W. (1990). Geological Map ofBangladesh. Government of the People’s Republic of Bangladesh, Geological Survey ofBangladesh.
Alam, M., Ansary, M. A., Chowdhuary, R. K., Uddin, A. J., Islam, S., & Rahman, S. (2008).
Evalution of Building's Vulnerability to Earthquake in Old Part of Sylhet and Construction
Safety Rules. IUST International Journal of Engineering Science, Vol. 19, No.3.
Ansary, M.A. (2003) Economic Loss Estimation of Dhaka Due to an Earthquake of Intensity
VIII. Journal of Bangladesh Insurance Academy, Vol. 52, pp.107-132.
Ansary, M. A., Noor, M. A., & Rashid, M. A. (2004). Site Amplification Characteristics ofDhaka City. Journal of Civil Engineering (IEB), 32(1), 1-16. Retrieved May 25, 2014, from:http://www.jce ieb.org/pdfdown/ce320101.pdf
Ansary, M.A. (2004). Seismic Loss Estimation of Dhaka for an Intensity of VII. Oriental
Geographer, Vol. 48(1), pp.1-16.

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Arya, A. (2000) Non-Engineered Construction in developing countries-An Approach toward
Earthquake Risk Prediction, Proc. of 12th WCEE, No. 2824
BNBC (1993). Bangladesh National Building Code, HBRI-BSTI
Bommer, J.R.Spance, M.Erdik, S.Tabuchi, N.Aydinoglu, E.Booth. D.del Re and O.Peterken(2002). Development of an earthquake loss model for Turkish Catastrophe Insurance Journalof Seismology, Volume 6
Bothara, J.K., Y.K. Parajuli, A.S. Arya and R.D. Sharpe (2000). Seismic safety in ownerbuilt buildings, Proc. of 12th WCEE, No. 2130.
Coburn A.W., Spence R.J.S. and Pomonis A. (1992). Factors Determining Human Casualty
Levels in Earthquakes: Mortality Prediction in Building Collapse, Proceedings of the 10th
World Conference on Earthquake Engineering, Madrid, Spain, Vol. 10, pp. 5989-5994.
Fah, D., F. Kind, K. Lang, D. Giardini (2001). Earthquake scenarios for the city of Basel, Soil
Dynamics and Earthquake Engineering, Volume 21, pp.405-413
HBRI. (2015). BNBC (Bangladesh National Building Code-Draft). (2015). Retrieved 28
May, 2017, from www.scribd.com: https://www.scribd.com/document/363364110/33951114BNBC-2015-pdf
Islam M.K., Hassan M., Majlis A.B.K. and Nizamuddin M. (1995). Structur n e and tectonics
of the eastern part of the Jamuna valley, Bangladesh: a tectono-geomorphic approach.
Bangladesh J Geol 14:15-23.
Kircher, C.A, A.A. Nassar, O. Kustu and W.T. Holmes (1997). Development of building
damage functions for earthquake estimation, Earthquake Spectra. Volume 13 (4).
Mymensingh

Municipality.

Retrieved

28

May,

2017,

from

http://www.mymensinghmunicipality.gov.bd/
Sarker, J.K., Ansary, M.A., Rahman, M.S. and Safiullah A.M.M. (2010). Seismic hazard
assessment for Mymensingh, Bangladesh. Environ Earth Sci 60: 643.
Segawa, S., F. Kaneko, T. Ohsumi, H. Kagawa, and H. Fujitani (2002). Damage
Estimation of Buildings in Kathmandu Valley and Proposals for Improvement oftheEarthquake

ResistingCapacity,

Proc,

11th

Japan

Earthquake

Engineering

Symposium (Paper No. 410, CDROM).
Shahid, M.H. (2016). Assessment of Lessons Learned in Rana Plaza Disaster. A Dissertation
Submitted to Postgraduate Programs in Disaster Management. Dhaka: Brac University.
UDD, Ministry of Housing and Public Works, GoB. (2015). Mymensingh Strategic
Development Plan (MSDP) Project, 2011-2031. Retrieved 28 May, 2017, from:http://www.msdp.gov.bd/MSDP_Monograph.pdf.
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Yamazaki, F. and O. Murao (2000). Vulnerability Functions for Japanese Buildings
Based on Damage Data due to the 1995 Kobe earthquake, Proc. of 3rd Japan-UK
Workshop on Implications of Recent Earthquakes on Seismic Risk, London: 1027 to 10-38
Yamaguchi, N. and F. Yamazaki (2001). Estimation of Strong Motion Distribution in
the 1995 Kobe Earthquake Based on Building Damage Data, International Journalof Earthquake Engineering and Structural Dynamics, Volume 30, pp.787-801

142 | P a g e

PART-X

VULNERABILITY OF READY MADEGARMENTS FACTORY BUILDINGS IN
BANGLADESH: AN ASSESSMENT UNDERVERTICAL AND EARTHQUAKE LOADSBANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By: Uttama Barua
Tanmay Das
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

143 | P a g e

1. Introduction
The safety of workers is endangered by accidents in an industry, which in turn adversely
affect livelihood of their workers, their families, and those living in the vicinity of theindustry. According to the International Labour Organization (ILO) every year over 0.35
million fatalities are caused by occupational accidents, and about 2.8 trillion (1012) USD(around 4 per cent of the world’s gross domestic product or GDP) is lost annually in direct
and indirect costs (ILO 2014). Among different types of hazards in industry, building
collapse is strongly related to structural safety.
In Bangladesh, Ready Made Garment (RMG) industry is one of the most important sectors,
which emerged as a niche market for Bangladesh’s export sector (Ansary and Barua 2015).
The RMG sector has enjoyed a significant growth in Bangladesh for the last three decades
resulting in impressive growth of RMG exports from Bangladesh (Wadud, Huda, and Ahmed
2014). Since this is a highly labor intensive industry (hence Bangladesh’s competitive
advantage through its abundant supply of unskilled cheap labor), the sector is also the largest
industrial employer in the country with around 3.6 million people directly working in thesefactories. Thus, apart from its contribution in export earning, the RMG industry emerged as
an important player in the economy in terms of employment generation, poverty alleviationand empowering of women (Rahman and Hossain 2010).
In recent years the sector is facing challenges regarding compliance with the international
standard to ensure workplace safety and better working conditions for the millions of garment
workers. Among different factors responsible for such condition the most important factor isthe violation of the RMG factory buildings from minimum standards and construction
legislation to ensure structural safety. RMG is a highly competitive industry and cost-saving
is highly valued. Consequently, given the lack of a safety culture in the country in general,
cost-cutting measures often affect the structural safety RMG buildings. The reluctant attitudeof the stakeholders towards the structural and workplace safety compliance issues resulted indifferent occupational disasters in RMG factories in Bangladesh resulting in significant lossesof lives, livelihoods (through injuries), equipment’s and materials (Ahmed and Hossain2009). Among different occupational disasters in RMG factories in Bangladesh Rana Plaza
accident is one of the most significant. Rana Plaza collapsed on 24 April 2013 due toviolation in building construction and occupancy resulting in 1,134 deaths and more than
2,500 injuries. It is the most fatal industrial accident in the history of Bangladesh RMG
sector, and one of the deadliest industrial disasters in the world. This tragic accident received
144 | P a g e

global attention, and brought forward diverse issues concerning millions of workers,
employers, brands and consumers in Bangladesh RMG sector.
After Rana Plaza accident, several diverse national and international commitments andinitiatives resulted as part of the reform and restructuring of the RMG sector aiming at
improvement of workplace safety to safeguard the lives of over four million RMG workers
and to retain the confidence of global buyers following the Rana Plaza accident. Among
different initiatives, actions regarding structural safety of all active export-oriented RMG
factories were addressed in all the action plans with a vision to ensure a safe working
environment for all in the RMG sector. For this purpose, representatives of the Governmentof Bangladesh (GoB), employers’ and workers’ organizations, and the ILO agreed on initialstructural integrity assessments of buildings housing RMG factories.
Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology (BUET) and two private engineeringfirms TUV SUD Bangladesh (Pvt.) Ltd and Veritas Engineering & Consultant on behalf of
the National Tripartite Committee (NTC), the Accord, and the Alliance are responsible for
conducting structural and fire safety assessment of RMG factory buildings. To carry out theassessment with common approach, Guidelines for Assessment of Structural Integrity andFire and Safety including harmonized standards have been developed by the technical experts(structural engineers, fire safety experts, etc.) from the BUET on behalf of the NTC, theAccord, and the Alliance. A review panel along with a review mechanism has also been
established under Department of Inspection for Factories and Establishments (DIFE) tohandle urgent safety issues in garment factories. Finally, in November 2013, the assessment
activity has been officially commenced, led by professors from BUET.
Bangladesh is possibly one of the most vulnerable countries to potential earthquake threat
and damage. An earthquake of even medium magnitude on Richter scale can produce a mass
graveyard in major cities of the country, particularly Dhaka, Sylhet and Chittagong. Thus,
assessment alone is not enough to ensure a safe working environment for all in Bangladesh
RMG sector (Barua and Ansary 2016). The weak factory buildings are required to bestrengthened to withstand both vertical and earthquake loads and consequently to prevent
them from collapse. For this purpose it is necessary to understand the factors that are
responsible for vulnerability of RMG factory buildings in Bangladesh to collapse due tovertical and earthquake loads.

145 | P a g e

Several studies have been carried out worldwide to understand vulnerability of buildings.
Some researchers have focused on vulnerability assessment of buildings particularly forearthquake (Hassan and Sozen 1997, Porter, Kiremidjian, and LeGrue 2001, Cardoso, Lopes,
and Bento 2005, Lagomarsino and Giovinazzi 2006, Lourenço and Roque 2006, Michel,
Guéguen, and Bard 2008, DeJong and Vibert 2012, Wieland et al. 2012, Lagomarsino et al.
2013, Betti, Galano, and Vignoli 2014, Penna, Lagomarsino, and Galasco 2014, Chian 2016),
tsunami (Dall'Osso et al. 2009, Dall'Osso et al. 2010, Suppasri et al. 2013), windstorm(Khanduri and Morrow 2003), hurricane (Pinelli et al. 2004), etc. Some studies focused on
vulnerability assessment of particular building structure type, e.g. masonry buildings(Cardoso, Lopes, and Bento 2005, Lourenço and Roque 2006, Caliò, Marletta, and Pantò
2012, Lagomarsino et al. 2013), unreinforced masonry buildings (Betti, Galano, and Vignoli2014), stone masonry structure (DeJong and Vibert 2012), reinforced concrete building(Hassan and Sozen 1997), etc.
Some researchers have studied structural behaviors or vulnerabilities using different models.
Orsini (1999); Lagomarsino and Giovinazzi (2006); Lourenço and Roque (2006); Michel,
Guéguen, and Bard (2008); and Lagomarsino et al. (2013) have developed and used models
for the seismic analysis of buildings. Dall'Osso et al. (2009) and Dall'Osso et al. (2010) havedeveloped and applied enhanced version of Papathoma Tsunami Vulnerability Assessment(PTVA) model that takes account of new understanding of the factors that influence building
vulnerability. Lagomarsino and Giovinazzi (2006) have presented macro seismic andmechanical models for the vulnerability and damage assessment of buildings. DeJong andVibert (2012) have created and used physical model and a discrete element computationalmodel to investigate collapse under constant horizontal acceleration, impulse base motion,and earthquake ground motion for stone masonry structure. Caliò, Marletta, and Pantò (2012)
have presented an innovative discrete-element model for simulation of the in-plane behaviorof masonry buildings. Zhang et al. (2013) have applied automated safety rule checking using
Building Information Models (BIM) for analyzing a building model to detect safety hazards
and suggest preventive measures to users. Betti, Galano, and Vignoli (2014) have reported acomparison among different methods of analysis and different numerical models to estimate
the seismic behavior of unreinforced masonry buildings. Chian (2016) have proposedengineering based building damage estimation model based on established theories of seismic
wave propagation and structural resonance. None of these studies have focused on modelingvulnerability of buildings to understand the factors that increase vulnerability considering
146 | P a g e

particular use of the building, especially for industrial use. In Bangladesh, some studies havebeen carried out focusing on structural assessment of RMG factory buildings in Bangladesh(Ansary and Barua 2015, Hodgson et al. 2016). But hardly any of these studies have focusedon understanding the factors responsible for vulnerability of buildings to vertical andearthquake loads in Bangladesh considering particular use of the building.
There are many statistical modeling techniques that have been utilized by researchers tomodel different contexts, e.g. regression model, conditional logit model, multinomial logit
model, multinomial probit model, ordered probit model, etc. Among them, the ordered probit
model is most suitable when the specification of the utility is defined on a discrete andordered scale to score the severity of factors (Daykin and Moffatt 2002, Greene and Hensher
2008, Garrido et al. 2014, Russo et al. 2014, Ye and Lord 2014). Ordered probit model has
been utilized by researchers in different fields of researches for modeling injury severity inaccident researches (O'donnell and Connor 1996, Duncan, Khattak, and Council 1998,
Kockelman and Kweon 2002, Abdel-Aty 2003), impact of factors on transit use (Eboli et al.
2016), economic researches (Winkelmann 2005, Pietrovito, Pozzolo, and Salvatici 2016),
household electricity saving behavior (Nakamura 2016), impact of family background, cohortand gender on educational attainment (Lauer 2003), job grading (Pudney and Shields 2000),
firm relocation decision analysis (Van Dijk and Pellenbarg 2000), poverty analyses(Guagnano, Santarelli, and Santini 2016), consumer and consumption analysis (Huang, Kan,and FU 1999, Verbeke and Ward 2006, Harris and Zhao 2007, Jiang et al. 2016), hazard
evacuation researches (Sadri, Ukkusuri, and Murray-Tuite 2013), risk assessment (Sakaguchi,
Miyauchi, and Misawa 2013, Cameletti et al. 2016), etc. Considering the application ofordered probit model in such wide range of research fields and its suitability for applicationin this research, this statistical modeling technique is considered in this research.
In this background, this study aims to develop two separate models to explore and determine
the key variables influencing RMG factory buildings’ “Vertical Load Vulnerability” and“Earthquake Load Vulnerability” using ordered probit model.
2. Methodology
2.1 Sampling and data collection
In Bangladesh, BUET and two private engineering firms TUV SUD Bangladesh (Pvt.) Ltd
and Veritas Engineering & Consultant on behalf of the NTC, the Accord, and the Alliance
have been responsible for conducting structural vulnerability assessment survey of the RMG
147 | P a g e

factory buildings due to vertical loads. Till March, 2016 survey and assessment of 3,746
factories have been completed. Among these factory buildings, Accord assessed 1,368
factories, Alliance assessed 829 factories and NTC assessed 1,549 factories, which includes
164 common factories assessed by both Accord and Alliance (DIFE 2016).Thus, structuralvulnerability assessment data of all these 3,746 RMG factory buildings have been used in thisresearch to understand the vulnerability of buildings to vertical loads. Among, these 3,746
RMG factory buildings, 478 buildings have been assessed by BUET experts. For structuralassessment of RMG factory buildings, building vulnerability to earthquake loads have been
considered by BUET along with the vertical loads. Thus, structural vulnerability assessment
data of all these 478 RMG factory buildings have been used in this research to understand thevulnerability of buildings to earthquake loads.
2.2 Variables for Modeling Structural Vulnerability of RMG Factory Building
2.2.1 Variables for Assessing Vulnerability to Vertical Loads
To ensure uniformity of the data collection and assessment, Guidelines for Assessment ofStructural Integrity and Fire and Safety has been developed by the technical experts(structural engineers, fire safety experts, etc.) from the BUET on behalf of the NTC, theAccord, and the Alliance including harmonized standards to understand building
vulnerability to vertical loads for RMG factory buildings. All the responsible groups carriedout data collection and assessment of RMG factory buildings on the basis of this guideline.
Thus in this research, variables have been decided on the basis of this guideline. Based on
the guideline four variables have been selected for modeling building vulnerability to verticalloads. They are:a) Reduction in Column Capacity: Column capacity is one of the most important structuralqualities of buildings that determine safety of buildings from any type building collapse due
to vertical loads (Ansary and Barua 2015). Greater capacity of columns represents greater
capacity of the buildings to withstand vertical loads and vice-versa. For understanding thevulnerability of RMG factory buildings, firstly the key columns of the buildings werehighlighted to calculate their column capacity which was represented by Factor of Safety(FOS) of columns. FOS was calculated for each of the factory buildings, which is Column
Ultimate Strength, divided by the Column Working Stress. Here, the Column Working
Stresses were calculated comparing data set values and trigger points developed. Column

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Ultimate Strengths of the key columns were calculated using equation (1) according to
Bangladesh National Building Code (BNBC) (BNBC 1993).
Pn  0.8 [0.85 f c' ( Ag  Ast )  f y Ast ] ……………………………………………………. (1)Where,

Pn = Ultimate Strength of a column

 = strength reduction factor (= 0.7)
f c' = compressive (cylinder) concrete strength
Ag = gross area of concrete section

Ast = area of reinforcementf y = steel strength

Based on FOS, the column capacity of the RMG factory buildings were categorized into threescales, where lower value of FOS were identified through higher scale which represents
greater vulnerability. They are: low (1) for FOS value greater than 1.86, medium (2) for FOS
value between 1.50 and 1.86, and high (3) for FOS value less than 1.50.
b) Structural System: In Bangladesh, generally two types of structural system are used toconstruct a RCC building, i.e. (i) Beam-Column and (ii) Flat Plate. Inherently, Flat Plate
system lacks alternate load path making this system weaker than the Beam-Column system(Durrani and Du 1992). Combination of both of the systems makes it weaker to withstandvertical loads. Moreover, tin shed structures have least capacity to withstand vertical loads.
Based on these findings, the RMG factory buildings were categorized into three scales basedon structural system where higher scale represents greater vulnerability. They are: BeamColumn (1), Flat Plate (2), and Mixed (3).
c) Construction Materials: Structural capacity of a building to withstand vertical loads isgreatly affected by ultimate strength since the elastic modulus is related to the ultimate
strength. This ultimate strength largely depends on the properties of construction materials
used (Kwon and Elnashai 2006). Thus, it can be said if the concrete strength is lower, thebuilding will be more vulnerable. Generally in Bangladesh, two types of construction
material are used, i.e. Brick, or Stone, or their combination. Average strength of Stone (3312
psi) is higher than the average strength of Brick concrete (2805 psi) (findings from laboratory
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test in BUET Lab).Thus, the RMG factory buildings were categorized into three scales basedon construction materials where higher scale represents greater vulnerability. They are: Stone(1), Brick (2), and Mixed (3).
d) Bearing Capacity of Soil: The RMG factory buildings were categorized into three scales
based on bearing capacity of soil where higher scale represents greater vulnerability. They
are: Good (1), Fair (2), and Poor (3).
Table 1 shows summary of the variables and associated likert scales of measurement formodeling vulnerability to vertical loads for RMG factory buildings in Bangladesh. The model
frameworks used to assess the RMG buildings’ vulnerability to vertical loads is shown in
Figure 1.
Table 1: Variables for modeling vertical loads vulnerability of RMG factory buildings
Name of Variables

Scale (Greater value represents greater vulnerability)
1

2

3

Low

Moderate

High

Structural System

Beam-Column

Flat Plate

Mixed

Construction Materials

Stone

Brick

Mixed

Bearing Capacity of Soil

Good

Fair

Poor

Reduction in Column
Capacity

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Figure 1: Model framework to assess RMG buildings’ vertical load vulnerability
2.2.2 Variables for Assessing Vulnerability to Earthquake Loads
BUET experts have carried out the assessment of RMG factory buildings for vulnerability
to earthquake loads on the basis of the standards mentioned for TIER-1 analysis in ASCE3103 (ASCE 2003). This outline was used in this research to decide on the model Variables formodeling vulnerability of buildings to earthquake loads. Thus, twelve variables have been
selected for modeling vulnerability of buildings to earthquake loads in this research. These
twelve variables include four variables used for modeling building vulnerability to verticalloads, i.e. reduction in column capacity, structural system, construction materials and bearing
capacity of soil. The reason is that, if the column capacity, structural system and construction
materials of building do not have the capacity to withstand imposed live and dead loads
certainly it will not have the capacity to withstand lateral loads like earthquake loads.
Additionally, post-earthquake observations and experimental testing have shown that in such
structures, lateral movements induced by earthquake ground motions combined withgravitational pull can make the connections between slabs and columns susceptible topunching shear failures (where the slab fractures around the column as if the column were
punching through the slab), which can consequently cause floors or entire buildings tocollapse (Durrani and Du 1992). Rests of the nine variables are:a) Column slenderness: A column is identified as slender when, l/r ratio is greater than 35(where “l” represents column height and “r” represents minimum dimension of column).
Column slenderness reduces capacity of columns to withstand loads by a factor 1.180.009*(l/r) (Nilson 1997).Thus, the RMG factory buildings with l/r ratio greater than 35 havebeen identified to have column slenderness and consequently have been categorized asvulnerable.
b) Building shape: Building with equal or close to equal proportional width, length andheight dimensions is identified as regular shaped building for which effect of lateral loads
will be minimal. If the proportion varies, then the building is identified as slightly irregularshaped building for which the effect of lateral loads will be high. In case of, buildings withgreater variation in the proportion of the dimensions (e.g. L-shaped building) the effect oflateral loads will be much higher which may cause building damage (FEMA 2015,
1998).Thus, the RMG factory buildings have been categorized into three scales based on

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building shape where higher scale represents greater vulnerability. They are: Regular (1),Slightly Irregular (2), and Irregular (3).
c) Soil liquefaction: Liquefaction-susceptible, saturated, loose granular soils that could
jeopardize the building's seismic performance shall not exist in the foundation soils at depths
within 50 feet under the building for life safety and immediate occupancy (ASCE 2003). If
foundation soil is susceptible to liquefaction, then the building is considered as vulnerable. If
soil beneath the building is loose sand and water table is shallow, the probability ofoccurrence of liquefaction is high. If soil beneath a building is liquefiable, the building ismost vulnerable to earthquake loads. Liquefiable soil will not have any stiffness in case oflateral loads such as earthquake loads (Bird et al. 2006). Soil liquefaction cause serious
damage to structures in case of earthquake loads. O'Rourke et al. (1991) provides an
overview of areas in San Francisco which have been affected by soil liquefaction andsignificant ground deformation as a result of the Loma Prieta earthquake. Thus, the RMG
factory buildings with liquefiable soil beneath have been categorized as vulnerable.
d) Building adjacency (pounding): There should be minimum distance between adjacentbuildings for life safety and immediate occupancy. The clear distance between the buildings
being evaluated and any adjacent building should be greater than 4 percent of the height ofthe shorter building. If the actual clear distance is less than this minimum distance, then there
shall be pounding effect (FEMA 2015, 1998). The phenomenon is mostly observed in the oldbuildings that have been constructed before the advent and popularity of earthquake havebeen categorized as vulnerable.
e) Irregular Internal Frame: Building with beam-column system placed in a regular grid
will behave well during an earthquake, whereas if the beams are not placed in a regular grid,
the building will behave poorly (Yee et al. 2011). This condition is termed as irregularinternal frame which increases vulnerability of a building to earthquake. Irregular frame
structures lead to torsion, instability and localized damage (FEMA 2006). Thus, the RMG
factory buildings with irregular internal frame have been categorized as vulnerable.
f) Column Shear Stress: The shear stress in the concrete columns should be less than thegreater of 100 psi or 2

` psi ( `equivalent compressive cylinder concrete strength) forlife safety and immediate occupancy in context of Bangladesh (Ansary and Barua 2015). If
the shear stress in the concrete columns is greater than the maximum value, then the building

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is considered as vulnerable. Thus, the RMG factory buildings with column shear stressgreater than the maximum value have been categorized as vulnerable.
g) Soft Storey: The stiffness of the lateral-force-resisting system in any story shall not be lessthan70 percent of the lateral-force-resisting system stiffness in an adjacent story above or
below, or less than 80 percent of the average lateral-force-resisting system stiffness of thethree stories above or below for life safety and immediate occupancy. If it is not so, then it
should be notified as soft storey (FEMA 2015, 1998). Presence of soft storey represents thatthe building is vulnerable (Dolšek and Fajfar 2001). Thus, the RMG factory buildings with
soft storey have been categorized as vulnerable.
h) Site Amplification: Ground shaking is the primary cause of earthquake damage to manmade structures, but at such event some place in the same area may experience stronger
seismic shaking than others. The effect of local soil conditions on the amplitude andfrequency content of earthquake motions define the characteristics of the seismic motions thatcan be expected at the free surface (or at any depth) of a soil stratum, which is called the soil
amplification effect (USGS 2016). Hough et al. (2010) have found site amplification to be
one of the most important variables to assess vulnerability of structures to earthquake loads.
Thus, the RMG factory buildings with site amplification effect have been categorized asvulnerable.
Table 2 shows summary of the variables and associated likert scales of measurement formodeling vulnerability to earthquake loads for RMG factory buildings in Bangladesh. The
model frameworks used to assess the RMG buildings’ vulnerability to earthquake loads isshown in Figure 2.
Table 2: Variables for modeling earthquake loads vulnerability of RMG factory buildings
Name of Variables

Scale (Greater value represents greater vulnerability)1

2

3Reduction in Column Capacity

Low

Moderate

High

Structural System

Beam-Column

Flat Plate

Mixed

Construction Materials

Stone

Brick

Mixed

Column slenderness

≤ 35

>35

N/A

Site Amplification

Negligible

ModerateHigh

Building shape

RegularSlightly Irregular

Irregular

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Soil Liquefaction

Negligible

ModerateHigh

Building adjacency (pounding)

No

Yes

N/A

Bearing Capacity of Soil

Good

Fair

Poor

Irregular Internal Frame

No

Yes

N/A

Column Shear Stress

Low

Moderate

High

Soft Story

No

Yes

N/A

Figure 2: Model framework to assess RMG buildings’ earthquake load vulnerability
2.3 Modeling Structural Vulnerability of RMG Factory Building
The collected data have been used to estimate key factors responsible for vulnerabilityof RMG factory buildings in Bangladesh to vertical and earthquake loads using ordered
probit model. The model proposed by McKelvey and Zavoina (1975) adapts random utility
theory to discrete and ordered answers, such as, those delivered by the qualitative scaleoffered in this research to express the severity level of factors responsible for vulnerability of
RMG factory buildings in Bangladesh to vertical and earthquake loads.
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The models are based on random utility theory explained in equation (2):Q i   x i   i ........................................................................................(1)Here,i = index for each observation (each RMG factory buildings interviewed),
Qi = vector form of vulnerability of RMG factory buildings (unobserved);
xi = K-dimensional vector of factors (observed),
β =K-dimensional vector of coefficients that affect the observed attributes,
εi = error term (assumed to be a random variable, normally distributed in the ordered probit
model, with mean zero and unit variance).
Since the dependent variable Qi is unobserved, here standard regression techniques
cannot be applied to compute equation (2). Yet, as suggested by O'donnell and Connor(1996), it can be reasonably assumed that high vulnerability (Qi) is related to a high level ofobserved parameters (xi). According to Ye and Lord (2014), this relationship can betranslated as follows:yi  1, if Qi  1,

yi  k , if  k 1  Qi   k , ..........................................................................................................(2)yi  K , if Qi  k 1Here,µ = threshold values for all vulnerability severity levels threshold values for all vulnerability
severity levels (where

K is the highest vulnerability severity level) = [µ1, µ2,..........................,µk-1, ........................., µk].
The thresholds values (µ) are unknown parameters to be estimated jointly with themodel parameters (β), which have been estimated through the maximum likelihood method inthis research. In turn, the probability that RMG factory building surveyed is i and building
vulnerability level k is equal to the probability that the unobserved severity of building
vulnerability (Qi) assumes a value between two fixed thresholds. In other words, given thevalue of xi, the probability that the vulnerability of RMG factory building i related toobserved parameter is:

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P ( y  1)   (   x i ) ;P ( y  k )   (  k  1   x i )   (  k  2   x i ) ; ...........................................( 3 )P ( y  K )  1   (  K 1   x i )Here, = cumulative normal distribution function
According to Washington, Karlaftis, and Mannering (2010), the relation can be representedas:P( y  k )   ( k   xi )   ( k 1   xi ).......................................................................(4)Here,µk = lower threshold for the building vulnerability severity level kµk+1 = upper threshold for the building vulnerability severity level k
For all the probabilities to be positive, the thresholds values must satisfy the
restriction µ1< ....... µk-1 < ..........<µk. Computation of these probabilities allows theunderstanding of the effect of individual estimated parameters. Indeed, a positive value of β
implies that an increase in xi will clearly generate the increase of the probabilities of thehighest ordered building vulnerability severity levels and vice versa. However, it is not
obvious what effects a positive or negative β will generate on the probabilities of theintermediate levels. For this reason, the computation of marginal effects for each level issuggested. According to Washington, Karlaftis, and Mannering (2010) these marginal effects
provide the direction of the probability for each level as follows:P( y  k ) / x  [ ( k   xi )   (  K 1   xi )] .......................................................(5)The computation of equation (6) is appropriate only if the variable is continuous. The
variables considered in this research support this condition. In this research variables having
Z value greater than 1.64 at 90 percent confidence level is considered significant.
2.4 Reliability of the Developed Models
Reliability test is done to assess the precision of the measurement procedure. Although, there
exist a number of different reliability tests, one of the most frequently used is the Cronbach’s
alpha (Rahman et al. 2016). It quantifies internal consistency of dataset, i.e. how closely
related a set of items are as a group. According to Byrne (2016), the minimum acceptable
limit for Cronbach’s alpha value is 0.60. This means that if Cronbach’s alpha value for a
156 | P a g e

model exceeds acceptable limit of 0.60, then it can be remarked that the model dataset issatisfactorily consistent.
2.5 Model Validation
To investigate the validity of the model specification, firstly both the datasets (structuralvulnerability assessment data of 3,746 RMG factory buildings for vertical loads andstructural vulnerability assessment data of 478 RMG factory buildings for earthquake
loads)have been split into two parts (i.e. Sample 1 and Sample 2) each having about half ofthe observations. For each dataset, two separate models have been estimated with the same
specification using these two samples. The hypothesis for this specification test is that model
parameters are equal for the models estimated on these two samples for each dataset. It has
been assumed that, if we fail to reject the hypothesis, the validity of the specification isestablished. A test statistics has been calculated for each dataset based on likelihood ratio(LR) as shown in equation (7):LR  2[ LL(  full  data )  LL(  sample1 )  LL(  sample 2 )]........................................................................(6)Here,
LL (  full  data ) = log-likelihood at convergence of the model estimated using the full data,
LL (  sample1 ) = log-likelihood at convergence of the model estimated using Sample 1, andLL (  sample 2 ) = log-likelihood at convergence of the model estimated using Sample 2.

This whole process is done for both of the models to validate them.
3. Results and Discussions
Readymade garments (RMG) sector is one of the most important export sectors in
Bangladesh. Yet the working conditions and safety records in the factories are often not up to
the standard. The battle of business is won to some extent; however, the battle for the safetyof workers’ has not been fully won yet. This research generates two separate ordered probit
models to assess the vulnerability of RMG factory buildings to vertical and earthquake loads
respectively.
3.1 Model Representing Building Vulnerability to Vertical Loads
Table 3 shows parameter estimates of indicator variables for building vulnerability to verticalloads in Bangladesh RMG sector including parameter estimates, z-statistics and marginal
157 | P a g eeffects for each indicator variables considering total dataset as well as parameter estimatesand z-statistics for two samples (Sample 1 and Sample 2). Table 4 shows correlation matrix
for building vulnerability to vertical loads in Bangladesh RMG sector showing correlation
among indicator variables as well as correlation of indicator variables with vulnerability of
the factory buildings considering vertical loads.
Table 3: Parameter Estimates Considering Vertical Loads
Total Sample
Indicator Variable

Sample 1

Sample 2

Estimated

Z

Marginal

Estimated

Z

EstimatedZ

Parameter

Statistics

EffectParameter

Statistics

Parameter

Statistics

4.142

10.72

0.0879

4.147

10.75

4.171

10.74

2.671

5.67

0.0161

2.379

5.60

2.485

5.48

0.924

6.62

0.0364

0.906

6.47

0.981

6.74

0.517

2.09

0.0281

0.505

1.99

0.521

2.11

Reduction in
Column Capacity
Structural System
Construction
Materials
Bearing Capacity

Table 4: Correlation Matrix Considering Vertical Loads
Indicator Variable

Reductionin Column

Indicator Variable
Reduction in Column
Capacity

Capacity

Construction

Structural

Foundation

Vertical Load

Materials

SystemType

Vulnerability

1Construction Materials

0.125

1

Structural System

0.381

0.293

1

Foundation Type

0.120

0.118

0.188

1

0.724

0.383

0.424

0.314

Vertical Load
Vulnerability

1

From the results it is seen that “Reduction in Column Capacity” is directly related tovulnerability of the RMG factory buildings’ to vertical loads (estimated parameter or coefficient 4.142; Table 3). This result is also supported by high correlation of “Reduction in
Column Capacity” with building vulnerability to vertical loads (correlation value 0.724:
Table 4). From the inspection of RMG factory buildings it was observed that with theincrease of “Reduction in Column Capacity”, critical visible defects in the factory buildings
158 | P a g e

were noticed which may result in immediate danger to structure and workers. Thus, RMG
factory buildings with low “Column Capacity” were found to be vulnerable to vertical loads,
which hardly have any capacity to withstand the imposed dead load and live load on it.
Marginal effect values of Table 4 show that one unit increase in “Reduction in Column
Capacity” increases the increases probability of building vulnerability to vertical loads by
0.0879. This result is supported by Ansary and Barua (2015), where the authors suggest that
“Column Capacity” is the most important structural quality of the factory buildings that
determines the workplace safety of RMG factories in Bangladesh from any type of building
collapse due to vertical loads.
According to the model estimation, “Structural System” plays a significant role indetermining the vulnerability of RMG factory buildings’ to vertical loads (estimatedparameter or co-efficient 2.671; Table 3). The correlation value of “Structural System” withbuilding vulnerability to vertical loads is 0.383 which indicates that RMG factory buildings’
vulnerability to vertical loads increase with the increasing disintegration in “Structural
System”. Thus in Bangladesh RMG factory buildings with flat plate or mixed (combinationof beam-column and flat plate) are more vulnerable to vertical loads than that of beamcolumn structural system. This finding is consistent with that of Durrani and Du (1992) who
have mentioned about the low resistance of flat plate structures.
“Construction Materials” influences the RMG factory buildings’ vulnerability to verticalloads significantly where “Construction Materials” has a coefficient value of 0.924 (Table 3)
and a corellation value of 0.383 (Table 4) with vulnerability of RMG factory buildings tovertical loads. Thus, it can be said that in Bangladesh RMG factory buildings’ vulnerability tovertical loads largely depends on “Construction Materials” used. That means buildings withbrick or mixed (stone and brick) construction materials are more vulnerable than that ofstone. Therefore, to reduce buildings’ vulnerability to vertical loads stone concrete is more
preferable then brick concrete. This result is consistent with the findings of Kwon andElnashai (2006).
From the above discussion it is clear that, “Reduction in Column Capacity”, “Structural
System” and “Construction Materials” are the most significant variables that influence thevulnerability of RMG factory buildings to vertical loads.
3.2 Vertical Load Vulnerability Model Reliability and Validation

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The Cronbach’s alpha value for the dataset used to model building vulnerability to verticalloads is 0.781, which exceeds Byrne (2016) acceptable limit of 0.60. Therefore, it can be said
that the dataset used in this research is satisfactorily consistent. For the developed model
representing vulnerability of RMG factory buildings to vertical loads in Bangladesh, LR isfound to be 11.78 by using equation (7), degrees of freedom is 4 and 

2
4 ,0.10

 13.277 . Thus, wefail to reject the hypothesis that the parameters across different samples are equal. Thus, thistest confirms the model measurement proposed in this paper.
3.3 Model Representing Building Vulnerability to Earthquake Loads
Table 5 shows parameter estimates of indicator variables for building vulnerability toearthquake loads in Bangladesh RMG sector including parameter estimates, z-statistics andmarginal effects for each indicator variables considering total dataset as well as parameter
estimates and z-statistics for two samples (Sample 1 and Sample 2). Table 6 shows
correlation matrix for building vulnerability to earthquake loads in Bangladesh RMG sector
showing correlation among indicator variables as well as correlation of indicator variables
with vulnerability of the factory buildings considering earthquake loads.
Table 5: Parameter Estimates Considering Earthquake Loads
Total Sample
Indicator Variable

Sample 1

Sample 2

Estimated

Z

Marginal

Estimated

Z

EstimatedZ

Parameter

Statistics

EffectParameter

Statistics

Parameter

Statistics

3.142

7.72

0.0678

3.137

7.75

3.171

7.74

Column Slenderness

0.446

1.93

0.0128

0.414

1.89

0.467

2.01

Structural System

2.321

4.67

0.0155

2.479

4.69

2.385

4.42

Building Shape

0.346

1.83

0.0228

0.314

1.79

0.367

1.91

Soil Liquefaction

0.702

3.41

0.0139

0.699

3.20

0.712

3.48

Pounding

0.271

1.74

0.0101

0.265

1.66

0.279

1.80

0.824

5.61

0.0261

0.806

5.47

0.871

5.74

-0.317-1.89-0.0181-0.305-1.82-0.321-1.91

Reduction in
Column Capacity

Construction
Materials
Bearing Capacity of
Soil

160 | P a g e

Irregular Internal

0.602

3.21

0.0127

0.587

3.25

0.612

3.49

Column Shear Stress

0.101

1.09

0.0014

0.099

1.08

1.102

1.12

Soft Story

0.291

1.89

0.0092

0.290

1.85

0.287

1.82

Site Amplification

0.122

1.25

0.0033

0.121

1.19

0.137

1.34

Frame

Italic numbers indicate 1.00 <Z_value< 1.64

Vulnerability

Earthquake Load

Site Amplification

Soft Story

Column Shear Stress

Irregular Internal Frame

Bearing Capacity of Soil

Construction Materials

Pounding

Soil Liquefaction

Variable

Building Shape

Indicator

Structural System

Variable

Column Slenderness

Indicator

Reduction in Column Capacity

Table 6: Correlation Matrix Considering Earthquake Loads

Reduction in
Column1

Capacity
ColumnSlenderness
Structural
SystemBuilding
Shape
Soil
Liquefaction
Pounding
Construction
Materials

0.120

1

0.281

0.188

0.035

0.089

0.289

-

-

0.114

0.024

0.040

0.216

0.313

0.078

0.002

0.024

Bearing
Capacity of

1

0.
083

1

0.014

0.13

1
0.012

0.009

0.290

-

-

-

-

0.011

0.081

0.002

0.014

0.012

0.141

0.210

0.119

0.230

0.121

0.017

0.055

0.054

0.123

0.021

0.089

0.084

0.078

0.058

Frame

Shear Stress
Soft Story
Site
Amplification

1-

Irregular

Column

0.019

-

0.008

Soil

Internal

1

0.025

0.011

0.121

0.022

0.001
0.002
0.005

0.045

0.182

1

0.261

1

0.008

0.008

0.008

0.035

1

0.045

0.007

0.004

0.201

0.008

1

0.102

0.001

0.078

0.018

0.022

0.010

1

161 | P a g e

Earthquake
Load

0.62

0.127

Vulnerability

0.328

0.247

0.304

0.014

0.317

0.241

0.409

0.006

0.105

0.002

1

From the results it is seen that “Reduction in Column Capacity” is directly related tovulnerability of the RMG factory buildings’ to earthquake loads (estimated parameter or coefficient 3.142; Table 5). This result is also supported by high correlation of “Reduction in
Column Capacity” with building vulnerability to earthquake loads (correlation value 0.62:
Table 6). Marginal effect values of Table 6 show that one unit increase in “Reduction in
Column Capacity” increases the increases probability of building vulnerability to earthquake
loads by 0.0678. This finding is similar to that of vertical loads as discussed earlier. If thebuilding does not have the capacity to withstand imposed live and dead load certainly it will
not have the capacity to withstand lateral loads like earthquake loads.
Similarly, RMG factory buildings’ vulnerability to earthquake loads is positively correlated
to “Column Slenderness” and “Column Shear Stress”. Model results show that “Column
Slenderness” has positive correlation with both “Reduction in Column capacity” (correlation
value 0.120; Table 6) and building vulnerability to earthquake loads (correlation value 0.127;
Table 6). Likewise, increase in “Column Shear Stress” reduces column capacity (correlation
value 0.055; Table 6) and increases building vulnerability to earthquake loads (correlation
value 0.006; Table 6). However, the model results show that “Column Shear Stress”(estimated parameter or co-efficient 0.101; Table 5) affects building vulnerability toearthquake loads less significantly than “Column Slenderness” (estimated parameter or coefficient 0.446; Table 5).
“Structural System” plays a significant role in determining the vulnerability of RMG factorybuildings’ to earthquake loads. This statement is also supported by model results forearthquake loads (estimated parameter or co-efficient 2.321; Table 5). The correlation valueof 0.328 with building vulnerability to earthquake loads indicates that RMG factorybuildings’ vulnerability to earthquake loads increase with the increasing disintegration in“Structural System”. This finding is similar to that of vertical loads as discussed earlier.
Additionally, “Irregular internal Frame” increases building vulnerability to earthquake loads.
From the marginal effect values of Table 5 the above mentioned statement is justified, where,
one unit increase in internal frame irregularity increases probability of vulnerability of RMG
factory buildings’ to earthquake loads by 0.0127. This result is consistent with the findings of
Yee et al. (2011). Likewise, “Construction Materials” influences the RMG factory buildings’
vulnerability to earthquake loads significantly. This statement is supported by the model
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results where “Construction Materials” has a coefficient value of 0.824 (Table 5) and acorrealtion value of 0.317 (Table 6). It is true for vertical as well as earthquake loads. Thisfinding is similar to that of vertical loads as discussed earlier.
If the building is robust having a good structural system with good construction materials andhaving columns with sufficient capacity, the building will not fail. But if the soil beneath abuilding is liquefiable then it will cause serious damage to structures in case of earthquake
loads increasing building vulnerability. The model results show that “Soil Liquefaction”
affects building vulnerability to earthquake loads significantly (estimated parameter or coefficient 0.702; Table 5) and has a positive correlation with building vulnerability toearthquake loads (correlation value 0.024; Table 6). Thus result implies that with the increaseof soil liquefaction RMG buildings’ vulnerability to earthquake loads increases significantly.
This result is consistent with the findings of Bird et al. (2006) and O'Rourke et al. (1991) who
concluded that soil liquefaction causes serious damage to structures in case of earthquake
loads. The reasoning used to understand the relationship between “Soil Liquefaction” andbuilding vulnerability to earthquake loads can be used to determine the relationship between“Bearing Capacity of Soil” and building vulnerability to earthquake loads. “Bearing Capacityof Soil” affects negatively (estimated parameter or co-efficient -0.317; Table 5) to building
vulnerability to earthquake loads. This result implies that the increase in “Bearing Capacity ofSoil” reduces building vulnerability to earthquake loads.
“Building Shape” influences building vulnerability to earthquake loads significantly(estimated parameter or co-efficient 0.346; Table 5). This statement is supported by thecorrelation value of 0.247 (Table 6). This value signifies that buildings with irregular shapeincrease the RMG buildings’ vulnerability to earthquake loading. “Soft Story” also plays avital role for determining the vulnerability of RMG factory buildings’ to earthquake loads(estimated parameter or co-efficient 0.291; Table 5). The marginal effect value (0.0092;
Table 5) and positive correlation (correlation value 0.105; Table 6) with buildings’ toearthquake loads indicates that creation of soft story increase building vulnerability toearthquake loads significantly. Similar results were found by Dolšek and Fajfar (2001), whoshowed that seismic response of RC frames are worst where a soft story is created by infilling
only the upper part of the structure, whereas the bottom story remains bare. Pounding is oneof the main causes of severe building damages in earthquake. From model results it is seenthat “Pounding” increases building vulnerability to earthquake loads significantly (estimatedparameter or co-efficient 0.271; Table 5). The principle reason for the “Pounding” effect for
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RMG factory buildings in Bangladesh is insufficient separation in between the adjacentbuildings.
According to the model results “Site Amplification” acts as a less significant variable tomodel vulnerability to earthquake loads of RMG factory buildings (estimated parameter orco-efficient 0.122 with z-statistics 1.25; Table 5 and correlation value 0.002; Table 6). This
result is dissimilar with that of Hough et al. (2010) who found “Site Amplification” to be oneof the most important variables to assess the earthquake load vulnerability to structures. The
reason behind such inconsistency is that, the sites of the RMG factory buildings surveyedshowed very low characteristics of site amplification and well compacted. Thus, wellcompaction of the soil surveyed is the main reason of less significance of “SiteAmplification” to building vulnerability to earthquake loads for RMG factory buildings in
Bangladesh.
From the above discussion it is clear that, “Reduction in Column Capacity”, “Structural
System”, “Construction Materials”, “Soil Liquefaction” and “Irregular Internal Frame” arethe five most significant variables influencing the vulnerability of RMG factory buildings toearthquake loads.
3.4 Earthquake Load Vulnerability Model Reliability and Validation
The Cronbach’s alpha value for the dataset used to model building vulnerability toearthquake loads is 0.714, which exceeds Byrne (2016) acceptable limit of 0.60. Therefore, it
can be said that the dataset used in this research are satisfactorily consistent. For thedeveloped model representing vulnerability of RMG factory buildings to earthquake loads in
Bangladesh, LR is found to be 35.25 using equation (7), degrees of freedom is 12 and212,0.10  37.566 . Thus, we fail to reject the hypothesis that the parameters across different samples

are equal. Thus, this test confirms the model measurement proposed in this paper.
4. Conclusion
Workplace safety is considered as an important aspect in international industrial sector for
ensuring safety of the workers. Workplace safety is greatly endangered by occupational
accidents among which building collapse is strongly related to structural safety. In
Bangladesh, Ready Made Garment (RMG) industry is one of the most important sectors,
which emerged as a niche market for Bangladesh’s export sector. Apart from its contribution
in export earning, the RMG industry emerged as an important player in the economy in termsof employment generation, poverty alleviation and empowering of women. Despite such
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contribution, the sector is facing challenges regarding compliance with the international
standard to ensure workplace safety. The reluctant attitude of the stakeholders towards the
structural and workplace safety compliance issues resulted in different occupational disasters
in RMG factories in Bangladesh resulting in significant losses of lives, livelihoods (throughinjuries), equipment’s and materials. Additionally, Bangladesh is possibly one of the mostvulnerable countries to potential earthquake threat and damage. In order to reduce the loss of
lives and to ensure sustainable development, an in-depth understanding of the determining
variables governing work-place safety in RMG industry is needed. Thus, the purpose of thisresearch was to develop two separate models to explore and determine the key variables
influencing RMG factory buildings’ “Vertical Load Vulnerability” and “Earthquake Load
Vulnerability”.
For this purpose, ordered probit model was used in this research. A number of variables arefound to influence the RMG buildings’ “Vertical Load Vulnerability” and “Earthquake Load
Vulnerability”. If a structure is vulnerable to vertical loads (imposed dead load and live load)that structure is sure to be vulnerable to lateral loads (e.g. earthquake loads combined withimposed dead load and live load). The above statement is very much prominent in the model
results where “Reduction in Column Capacity”, “Structural System” and “Construction
Materials” are the three most significant variables that influence the RMG buildings’“Vertical Load Vulnerability” as well as “Earthquake Load Vulnerability” most significantly.
In addition to the above mentioned three factors, “Soil Liquefaction” and “Irregular Internal
Frame” are the significant variables that influence the RMG buildings “Earthquake Load
Vulnerability”. Model results show prominently that “Reduction in Column Capacity” is themost determining variable to measure both RMG buildings’ “Vertical Load Vulnerability”
and “Earthquake Load Vulnerability”. However, to reduce “Earthquake Load Vulnerability”,
structures must have enough lateral force resistance. In that case “Structural System” and“Irregular Internal Frame” play a vital role. To get the design strength of the structuralmembers and thereby to get proper resistance against “Vertical Load Vulnerability” and“Earthquake Load Vulnerability” the best quality of “Construction Materials” should bechosen. In spite of a superstructure having adequate resistance to “Vertical Load
Vulnerability” and “Earthquake Load Vulnerability”, the soil beneath the superstructure mustpossess enough support for the proper transfer of load from superstructure to foundation andthen to soil. Thus, “Soil Liquefaction” has a significant role to measure “Earthquake Load165 | P a g eVulnerability” of RMG buildings. Superstructure having adequate resistance to lateral loads
will collapse due to “Soil Liquefaction” in case of an earthquake.
The findings of this research will enable factory owners to better weigh the influencing
factors increasing building vulnerability and thus make a decision better informed to increase
the workplace safety.

It will also aid corresponding authority to conduct a successfulinspection of factory buildings and thus reducing both vertical and earthquake load
vulnerability. In this research only material vulnerability (inherent weakness of the built
environment) was considered to assess the “Vertical Load Vulnerability” and “Earthquake
Load Vulnerability”. However, attitudinal vulnerability (fatalism, ignorance, and low level ofawareness) can cause serious loss to human resources in an event of disaster. In future,researches should be carried out to incorporate both material vulnerability and attitudinalvulnerability to assess the RMG factories vulnerability in case of an event of disaster.
To increase the workplace safety of RMG factories BGMEA (Bangladesh Garment
Manufacturers and Exporters Association) and corresponding authorities should be proactive
to improve its rules for constructing buildings and continue the good practice. As, RMG
industry is the single largest export sector in Bangladesh as well as for many developing
countries, proper strengthening of the variables considered in this research should be made to
reduce both “Vertical Load Vulnerability”, and “Earthquake Load Vulnerability”. Reduction
in vulnerabilities will result in sustainable growth of RMG industries in the developing
countries.

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PART-XI

ASSESSMENT OF PREDOMINANTFREQUENCIES IN DHAKA CITY,BANGLADESH USING AMBIENTVIBRATION: IMPLICATIONS FOR
EARTHQUAKE HAZARDSBANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FORURBAN SAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By MR Arefin
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

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INTRODUCTION
Bangladesh is a moderately seismic country of the world. The country is divided into four
seismic zones (Figure 1) according to the latest Building Code of Bangladesh (Draft BNBC,
2017). Figure 2 shows the scenario earthquake fault model of Bangladesh (CDMP, 2009).
Bangladesh is located close to the seismically active convergent plate boundary between theEurasian and the Indian Plates (Figure 3). Two major active tectonic belts are responsible forthe large and damaging earthquakes in Bangladesh, Northeast India, Nepal, Bhutan, andMyanmar. The tectonic elements are the Himalayan system in the north and the Arakan
subduction–collision system in the east (Figure 3). The Himalayan Frontal Thrust and the
Dauki Fault are the main components of the Himalayan system. The Chittagong–Tripura Fold
Belt and underlying megathrust are the manifestation of the Arakan subduction–collisionsystem (Steckler et al. 2008; Maurin and Rangin 2009; Wang et al. 2014).

Several historical earthquakes have occurred in Northeast India, Nepal, Myanmar, andBangladesh along these tectonic belts in the last 255 years (Ambraseys and Douglas 2004;
Szeliga et al. 2010). Among them, the 1762 Bengal-Arakan, 1869 Cachar, 1885 Bengal, 1897
Great Indian, 1918 Srimangal, 1930 Dhubri, 1934 Nepal–Bihar, 2015 Nepal Earthquakes areprominent in Bangladesh (Figure 3). The 1897 Great Indian Earthquake, epicenter located in
Assam (see Figure 4), has caused huge damage to buildings in Dhaka City killing 1542
people in the region (Oldham 1899).

The April 25, 2015, Nepal earthquake of Mw 7.8 and May 12, 2015, aftershock of Mw 7.3
that are located in the west of the 1934 Nepal–Bihar earthquake, also occurred along theHimalayan Frontal Thrust (Figure 3). The 2015 Nepal earthquake that occurred
approximately 80 km to the northwest of the Nepalese capital of Kathmandu, has killed 8790
people, has injured 22300 people and has caused an economic losses of US dollar sevenbillion (Lizundia et al., 2017). This earthquake has occurred as the result of the thrust fault
along the main boundary thrust interface between the subducting Indian Plate in the south andthe overriding Eurasian plate in the north (Lizundia et al., 2017). As the Indian Plate ismoving northward at a rate of 4 cm/year and northeastward at a rate of 6 cm/year, largemagnitude earthquakes between M 7.5 and M 8.5 are expected to occur in the tectonic belt ofHimalayan System (Bilham and Hough, 2006). Recent paleo-seismological investigation has
revealed that the Dauki fault, which has been considered as the source of the 1897 Great
Indian earthquake (Oldham, 1899), has been activated three times in the last thousand years
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(Yeats et al. 1997; Morino et al. 2011, 2014). Therefore, the rate of plate movement andfrequent occurrence of large-magnitude earthquakes along the plate boundary indicate that
northern and northeastern India including Bangladesh, Nepal, Bhutan, and Myanmar are
seismically active (Rahman and Siddiqua, 2017).

In the present study, we have analyzed the ambient vibration data recorded by triaxial
velocity sensors at 105 sites to study the predominant frequency to characterize groundconditions of Dhaka city, Bangladesh (Figure 6). The reliability of the observed predominantfrequency is corroborated with recorded earthquake data at three strong motion accelerometer(SMA) sites (Figure 6) and existing geological conditions. Finally, a map of the predominantfrequency distribution for Dhaka city, Bangladesh has been presented.

GEOMORPHOLOGY AND GEOLOGY
Dhaka, the capital of Bangladesh is situated in the central part of the country at the bank of
the river Buriganga (Figure 5a). The city having a population of around 9 million covers an
area of 321 sq km. Tongi Khal is located in the north, the Buriganga River is located in thesouth and south-west, the Turag River is situated in the west and the Balu River is situated in
the east of the city. Dhaka has been established as the capital of Bengal by the Mughals, a
little over 400 years earlier (Mamoon, 2010). Many buildings in the old part of the city are
non-engineered due to the unplanned civilization. The recent buildings, which are mostly
engineered and some non-engineered, have been constructed on the artificial sand fillings ofthe recent floodplains of the four surrounding rivers. Dhaka and its surrounding areas are
relatively flat. There exist some depressions as can be seen from Digital Elevation Model(DEM) of Figure 5b. The general slope of the city is from the north to south and south-east.

The southern part of the Pleistocene Terrace and the surrounding Holocene floodplains
mainly covers the Dhaka city. Six geological units based on geomorphology, stratigraphy andgeotechnical properties mainly cover the city. These units are Pleistocene terrace deposit,
Holocene Alluvial valley fill deposit, Holocene Alluvial channel deposit, Holocene
Alluvium, Holocene terrace deposit and Artificial fill (Figure 6) (after CDMP, 2009).

The central part of the city is generally composed of brown to reddish brown stiff silty clay
and medium dense to dense silty sand from the Pleistocene Modhupur terrace deposit. The
depressions or valleys of the Pleistocene terrace deposit, consisting of dark gray to gray soft
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silty clay, and yellowish brown, loose to medium dense silty sand of the Holocene Alluvial
valley fill deposit. The present river channels are formed of gray loose to loose silty sand of
the Holocene Alluvial channel deposit. The point bars, channel bars consisting of loose to
medium dense silty sand, and soft to stiff silty clay of the Holocene terrace deposit. The
eastern, southeastern and northwestern parts of the city where the Holocene Alluvium islocated is composed of gray very soft to medium stiff silty clay, clayey silt and loose to loose
silty sand. The artificial fills in the western and eastern parts of the city are composed of grayclayey silt, silty sand and sand. Hydraulic dredging from the river has been mainly used toemplace the artificial fills in the western and eastern parts of the city.
SEISMOTECTONICS
Figure 3 presents the plate boundaries and faults surrounding Dhaka region according to
Maurin and Rangin (2009) and Steckler et al. (2008). The figure also shows the locations ofsome historical earthquakes which have occurred in the northeastern parts of India, Nepal,
Myanmar, and Bangladesh during the last 250 years (Table 1). Among these earthquakes, the1762 Bengal-Arakan, 1869 Cachar, 1885 Bengal, 1897 Great Indian, 1918 Srimangal, 1930
Dhubri and 1934 Nepal-Bihar Earthquakes are important for Bangladesh. In a megacity ofthis region, an earthquake of magnitude 8 or larger may cause one million casualties
according to Bilham (2009). He has predicted this high level of casualties, since developed
countries of this region are less vulnerable than those of developing countries due to highpopulation density, unplanned urbanization, non-engineered construction practices,inadequate knowledge of the seismic design of structures, ignorance of building codes andpoor monitoring system of the concerned government authorities during any structural
construction.
According to Sabri (2002), the most critical earthquake for Dhaka City is the 1885 Bengal
Earthquake and the epicenter of this seismic event has been relocated near Sherpur Upazila ofBogra District. Middlemiss (1885) has located this event near Atia in Manikganj District. The
intensity of this earthquake at Dhaka City is VII in European Microseismic Scale (Ansary and
Meguro, 2003). A recent study indicated that this earthquake might have originated due to the
Madhupur Fault (CDMP, 2009). Due to this fact, for Dhaka City, the Madhupur Fault is oneof the important seismic sources (Figure 2). In the seismic zoning map, Bangladesh is divided
into three seismic zones based on peak ground acceleration (BNBC, 1993). The zones are
Zone I, Zone II and Zone III, where the values are 0.075g, 0.15g and 0.25g respectively
175 | P a g e(Figure 1a). The location of Dhaka City is in Zone II, where the peak ground acceleration is
0.15g. Recently (BNBC Proposed, 2017), this map has been updated (Figure 1b) and the zone
factor of Dhaka has been upgraded to 0.20g.

METHODOLOGY AND INSTRUMENTATION
The horizontal-to-vertical spectral ratio (HVSR) experiment consists of recording ambient
vibration with a three-component digital seismograph. In this study, GeoSIG Ltd’s VE-23
triaxial velocity sensor with a modulur multi-channel (fifteen) digital acquisition system (24bit) designed for ambient vibration measurement has been used. Study by Duval et al. (2004)
has revealed that the HVSR of ambient vibration is not dependent on the type of velocity
sensors.

In Dhaka city, seismic data recorded at 3 strong motion stations (SMAs) out of the existing 5
SMAs (Figure 6) using Kinemetrics triaxial accelerometer ETNA have also been used. The
data sets have been acquired and processed according to the recommendation of the
SESAME European project (D23.12, 2005). At each of the 105 sites, ambient vibrations havebeen registered during the daytime for 30 minutes at 200 samples per second. For reliable
experimental conditions, the guidelines proposed by Koller et al. (2004) have been followedin the framework of SESAME (WP02 of SESAME Project).

The ambient vibration HVSR technique (Nakamura 1989) is a widely used technique for theestimation of the predominant vibration frequency of the soils, mainly for seismic
microzonation purposes (Nogoshi and Igarashi 1971; Nakamura 1989; Lachet et al. 1996;
Bonilla et al. 1997; Bour et al. 1989; Parolai et al. 2001; Pando et al. 2008; Rodriguez andMidorikawa 2003). The technique gives a reliable estimate of natural predominant groundfrequencies of the investigated sites. The amplification factor estimated from ambient
vibration HVSR curve is not reliable, since often the ambient vibration HVSR predominantfrequency amplitude is lower than that estimated from earthquake recording. In order tocompute the ambient vibration HVSR, time series has been tapered with a 5 % cosine
function. The FFT is calculated for each component, and spectra are smoothed followed by
Konno and Ohmachi (1998). The instrumental response correction has been carried out. The
spectra of the NS and EW components have been merged to obtain the horizontal component
spectrum by means of computing their root-mean-square average. Then, the spectral ratios
between the horizontal and the vertical components have been calculated. Finally, the HVSR
176 | P a g e

using ambient vibrations have been estimated computing the arithmetical mean of all the
spectral ratios calculated for a given site. Figure 6 show the locations of 105 ambient
vibrations measurement sites. Figure 7a shows an example of ambient vibration waveformrecorded at station Hazicamp, where a SMA is located.
Furthermore, we have used 3 permanent accelerometer stations with 24-bit digital recordingwith internal hard disk (64 MB) and GPS timing systems to record local earthquake signals
maintained by the first author. Table 2 shows 12 earthquake events recorded by theseaccelerometers from 2005 to 2017. The table presents the date of the event, name of theevent, epicenter, magnitude, depth and stations those recorded that event. Recordings arecontinuous at a sampling rate of 200 samples per second. We have used single-station
estimate of HVSR. The time window of 5.0 s with start of 0.5 s before the S-wave arrival isused for all components following Bonilla et al. (1997). Figure 7b shows a record ofearthquake (Date: 10-09-2010; M=5.1) at Hazicamp station, which is located on Holocene
Alluvial Valley Fill Deposit. This time length has been chosen to contain most of the highamplitude direct S-wave energy. Bonilla et al (1997) and Field and Jacob (1995) have
however found no statistical variations in site response computed with spectra of different
time window lengths. Castro et al. (1997) has suggested that S-waves could be contaminatedby surface waves at a larger epicenter distance. The 5.0-s time traces for each station havebeen detrended, 10% cosine tapered, and Fourier transformed using the FFT. The resulting
H/V spectra for all events recorded at each site have been smoothed following Konno andOhmachi (1998). Then, the final HVSR has been obtained by arithmetic averaging the H/Vsof earthquakes at each site. The estimate of the HVSR using S-wave has been made for theselected time window in this study.
COMPARISON OF HVSR WITH THE AMBIENT NOISE AND EARTHQUAKERECORDINGSIn order to validate predominant frequency estimated from ambient vibration recording, it has
been compared with predominant frequency estimated from earthquake records (Figures 7
and 8). For this purpose, the authors have used the data of different accelerometer stations as
illustrated in Figures 7 and 8. It is observed that the estimated predominant frequencies by thetwo methods are similar at the three SMA sites. Figure 9 presents predominant frequency
estimated from ambient vibration recordings at six sites. The results obtained from all the 105
sites have been presented in Table 3.
177 | P a g e

RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS
It is commonly accepted that the single components of ambient vibration can show large
spectral variations as a function of natural and cultural disturbances in which the HVSR tends
to remain invariant, preserving the predominant frequency peak of the site (Field and Jacob
1993; Bard and Bouchon 1985; Parolai et al. 2001). Figure 9 shows that the predominantfrequencies of the sites are relatively stable, while the peak amplitudes of the HVSR,
representing the amplification factors, are found to vary. Similar observations have also beenreported from other parts of the world (e.g., Lermo and Chavez-Garcia 1993; Field and Jacob
1995; Mucciarelli and Monachesi 1998; Horike et al. 2001; Mucciarelli, et al. 2003;
Sukumaran et al. 2011). Table 3 summarizes the HVSR of 105 sites along with its
geographical position and the corresponding predominant frequency and amplification.
In the present study, the spectral ratios are presented in the 0.1–20 Hz frequency range, which
include the natural frequencies of buildings in the region. Figure 9 and Table 3 show theresonance peaks are mostly in the range of 0.40–1.6 Hz. Figure 10 shows the map of the
predominant frequency over the subsurface geology of Dhaka city. The geology of Dhaka isbasically Quaternary (composed of both Holocene and Pleistocene deposits) in nature and theaverage shear-wave velocity of the top 30 m varies from 127 m/s and 320 m/s (Rahman et al.,2018). According to Singh et al. (2014), lower predominant frequency at soft sediment sites
has greater potential for seismic hazard than that of hard sediments.
The HVSR results are presented in Table 3 and Figure 10; since many measurements do notevidence clear peaks in the analyzed frequency range, only examples of HVSR curveshowing clear peaks are used. It is believed that no sharp velocity contrast is observed at
depth at such sites.

To a first approximation, the relationship between the height of a building and its
fundamental period of vibration can be expressed as T = (number of stories)/10, we can
expect that in this area, the natural frequency of the soil matches the frequency of buildings
with six to twenty-five stories. This means that most of the buildings of Dhaka city may faildue to resonance and the buildings greater than five-storied need to be properly designed, andexisting structures may be retrofitted to avoid resonance.
CONCLUSIONS
178 | P a g e

The predominant frequency map obtained in this study is useful for ground improvement aswell as structural retrofitting and for future development of Dhaka city, Bangladesh. The
HVSR results using ambient vibrations and earthquake records in Dhaka city, Bangladesh areconsistent. The results reveal that weak-motion measurements can be used to estimate thepredominant frequency of sites with acceptable reliability. From the results of these ambient
vibration measurements, the predominant frequency determined at Quaternary sites is 0.4-1.6
Hz. In case of the Quaternary sites, the predominant frequency is due to deeper layers withlower resonance frequencies. We have presented the distribution of the detailed map offundamental frequency for the city of Dhaka, which shows important characteristics requiringconsideration in a study focusing on the mitigation of the seismic risk. The results of thisstudy may be taken into consideration for civil engineering and for future planning in thisregion for making the new urbanization as earthquake risk resilient.

179 | P a g e

(a) Existing BNBC (1993)(b) BNBC Proposed (2017)
Figure 1. Seismic zoning maps of Bangladesh

180 | P a g e

Figure 2. Scenario earthquake fault model of Bangladesh (CDMP, 2009).

181 | P a g e

Figure 3 Recent and Historical large earthquakes in the surrounding area of Bangladesh(after Rahman et al., 2018 and Sabri, 2002)

182 | P a g e

NArea of extensive damage to

BhutanV

Main Boundary Thrust

India

X

Th
ru

g
Na

t
us
hr
aT

Ha
flo
ng

IX

st

VII
Brahmaputra Fault

VI

Haluaghat Fault

Bangladesh
(a)

Dhaka

(b)

ld
ng Fo
ittago
ra Ch
Tripu

India

VII

Sy
lhe
tF
au
lt

Bo
gra

Fa
ult

Dauki Fault

Myanmar

Belt
0

Epicentre
Concealed Faults
Thrust Faults

100

200

kilometres

Bay of Bengal

Fold Axis
Normal Faults

Figure 4 (a) Isoseismal map of 1897 Great Indian earthquake and (b) La Touche’s epicentral
route superimposed on an isoseismal map of the 1897 earthquake (after Bilham, 2008)

183 | P a g e

(a) Dhaka city (Islam, 2012)(b) Digital Elevation Model of the study area
Figure 5 Location map of the study area
184 | P a g e

Figure 6 Surface geological map of Dhaka City (modified from geomorphological map of
CDMP (2009)) with locations of microtremor observations

185 | P a g e

90

EW (mm/s)

60
30
0
-30
-60
-90
0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

1400

1600

1800

1200

1400

1600

1800

1200

1400

1600

1800

Time (s)90

NS (mm/s)

60
30
0
-30
-60
-90
0

200

400

600

800

1000

Time (s)90

UD (mm/s)

60
30
0
-30
-60
-90
0

200

400

600

800

1000

Time (s)Figure 7 (a) An example of waveform recorded at Hazicamp station by microtremor. x-axis
shows the time, and y-axis shows the different components of amplitude namely, UD vertical,
NS north-south, and EW east-west. (b) Recording earthquake at three components (UDvertical, NS north-south, and EW east-west); ETNA accelerometer station at Hazicamp.

186 | P a g e

EW (cm/s2)

10

5

0

-5

-10
0

2.5

5

7.5

10

12.5

15

17.5

20

22.5

15

17.5

20

22.5

15

17.5

20

22.5

Time (s)NS (cm/s2)

10

5

0

-5

-10
0

2.5

5

7.5

10

12.5

Time (s)UD (cm/s2)

10

5

0

-5

-10
0

2.5

5

7.5

10

12.5

Time (s)Figure 7 (contd.) (a) An example of waveform recorded at Hazicamp station by microtremor.
x-axis shows the time, and y-axis shows the different components of amplitude namely, UDvertical, NS north-south, and EW east-west. (b) Recording earthquake at three components(UD vertical, NS north-south, and EW east-west); ETNA accelerometer station at Hazicamp.

187 | P a g e

MT

EQ

Comparison

50
40

20
18092005
5082006
906201118032012
Smoothed Mean

30
20

MT: Mean
EQ: Smoothed Mean

10
7
5
3
2

H/V Ratio

H/V Ratio

10
7
5
4
3

1
0.7
0.5
0.3
0.2

2

0.1
0.07
0.05

1
0.7

0.03
0.5
0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 0.6 0.70.8

1

2

3

4

5

6

0.02
0.2

7 8 9 10Frequency (Hz)

0.3

0.4

0.5 0.6 0.70.8

1

2

3

4

5

6

7 8 9 10Frequency (Hz)

BUET
100

30

70

100910180911
18031230117
20717
Smoothed Mean

50
30
20

10
7

H/V Ratio

10

H/V Ratio

MT: Mean
EQ: Smoothed Mean

20

7
5
3
2

5
4
3
2

1
0.7

1

0.5

0.7

0.3
0.2
0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 0.6 0.70.8

12Frequency (Hz)

3

4

5

6

7 8 9 10

0.5
0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 0.6 0.70.8

1

2

3

4

5

6

7 8 9 10Frequency (Hz)Hazicamp

188 | P a g e

MT

EQ

Comparison

1069062011
18092011
Smoothed Mean

7
6
5

5
MT: Mean
EQ: Smoothed Mean

4

4

3

2

H/V Ratio

H/V Ratio

3

1
0.7
0.6
0.5

2

0.4

1
0.9
0.8

0.3

0.7
0.6

0.2
0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 0.6 0.70.8

12Frequency (Hz)

3

4

5

6

7 8 9 10

0.5
0.2

0.3

0.4

0.5 0.6 0.70.8

1

2

3

4

5

6

7 8 9 10Frequency (Hz)PSC
Figure 8 Comparison of HVSR computed from earthquakes and ambient vibrations at three sites in and around Dhaka city

189 | P a g e

Basila Garden City (SBH-28)

Bashundhara River View (SBH-33)

Kuril (SBH-19)

CGS Demra (MT-57)

DRS Aminbazar (MT-34)

DRS Gulshan (MT-27)

Figure 9 HVSR computed from ambient vibrations at six sites in and around Dhaka city. The continuous solid line is the average spectral curves;dotted lines are ±1 standard deviation

190 | P a g e

Figure 10 Map of the predominant frequency over the subsurface geology in Dhaka city

191

Table 1 List of historical earthquakes occurred in Bangladesh and NE India (Ansary and Meguro,
2003)
Date
10/01/1869
14/07/1885
12/06/1897
08/07/1918
02/07/1930
15/01/1934
15/08/1950

Name of earthquake

Magnitude(Richter)
Cachar Earthquake
7.5
Bengal Earthquake
7.0
Great Indian Earthquake
8.7
Srimangal Earthquake
7.6
Dhubri Earthquake
7.1
Bihar–Nepal Earthquake
8.3
Assam Earthquake
8.5

Intensity at
Dhaka (EMS)
V
VII
VIII+
VI
V+
IV
IV

Epicentral distancefrom Dhaka (km)
250
170
230
150
250
510
780

Table 2 Earthquakes recorded by the free field stations
SL
No.
1

Date

Name of the
Earthquake

18-09-2005(07:27:37 UTC)
05-08-2006(14:39:18.49 UTC)
21-09-2009(19:38:42.33 UTC)
22-09-2009(08:27:59.31 UTC)
10-09-2010(17:24:16.61 UTC)
09-06-2011(07:34:27.43 UTC)
18-09-2011(12:40:51.83 UTC)

-

Local

-

Depth
(km)
-

Faridpur,
BD EQ
MR EQ

23.662N,89.885E

4.2

`10

BUET, Gazipur

20.404N,94.793E

5.7

84.2

BUET

BhutanEQ
BD EQ

27.289N,91.526E

4.0

27.9

BUET

23.407N,90.648E

5.1

50

Madaripur
BD EQ
Sikkim,
ID EQ

23.602N,89.655E

4.4

35

BBaria, Dhaka GSB
and Hazicamp
BUET and PSC

27.73N,88.155E

6.9

50

18-03-2012(2:56:13.39 UTC)
25-04-2015(6:11:25.95UTC)

BD EQ

23.662N,90.259E

4.5

44

NP EQ

7.8

8.22

10

26-04-2015(7:09:10.67UTC)

6.7

22.91

11

03-01-2017(9:09:02.08 UTC)NP EQ
(aftershock)
Ambasa,
ID EQ

5.7

32

12

25-07-2017(09:09:01.96 UTC)

Hajiganj,
BD EQ

28.2305N,84.731
4E 36km E of
Khudi, Nepal
27.7711N, 86.017
3E21km SSE of
Kodari, Nepal
24.015N,
92.018E 20 km
ENE of Ambasa,
India
23.376N,90.742E
18km NW of
Hajiganj

4.4

10

2
3
4
5
6
7

8
9

Epicentre

Magnitude

Note: BD=Bangladesh; ID=India, NP=Nepal

192

Recorded by
Stations
BUET

Bogra, Khagrachari,
Kurigram,
Hazicamp,
Meherpur, Natore,
PSC, Netrokona,
RuppurHazicamp and
BUET
Bogra, BUET,
Natore, JMB West,
Ruppur and Sylhet
Bogra, BUET, JMB
West, PSC and
RuppurComilla and
Hazicamp

Hazicamp

Table 3 Results of the microtremor stations in Dhaka city
Borehole No
LatitudeLongitude
Frequency Amplification(Hz)
SBH-0123.951290.3776
1.4
2.3
SBH-0223.941290.38310.85
2.6
SBH-0323.8273
90.42341.05
2.2
SBH-0423.9151
90.39520.65
3.8
SBH-0523.8956
90.40860.95
2.7
SBH-0623.8805
90.40070.45
2.3
SBH-07(A)23.8940
90.40070.52
4.3
SBH-07(B)23.880990.39400.72
2.8
SBH-0823.8970
90.3309
0.85
3.0
SBH-9
23.872990.4491
0.95
2.5
SBH-10(A)23.8972
90.28291.1
3.1
SBH-10(B)23.8418
90.37240.95
3.8
SBH-1123.8687
90.40143.2
1.6
SBH-12(A)23.8372
90.3638
1.2
2.6
SBH-12(B)23.8374
90.3759
1.4
2.0
SBH-1323.849390.41680.9
3.0
SBH-14(A)23.8118
90.5416
1.1
3.4
SBH-14(B)23.820390.6000
1.5
4.1
SBH-14(C)23.8643
90.51641.3
2.3
SBH-1523.812990.3459
1.24
3.0
SBH-1623.822790.36451
2.2
SBH-17(A)23.8132
90.42620.85
2.9
SBH-17(B)23.8157
90.4324
1.45
5.5
SBH-17(C)23.8263
90.43820.85
3.2
SBH-1823.7754
90.39190.55
2.9
SBH-1923.822290.4203
1.45
2.4
SBH-2023.801590.3478
1.05
3.0
SBH-2123.7861
90.43420.81
3.0
SBH-2223.7837
90.3362
1.11
4.1
SBH-2323.772490.35970.45
2.5
SBH-2423.7690
90.3779
0.72
2.3
SBH-2523.7638
90.44460.85
2.6
SBH-2623.8095
90.4210
SBH-2723.7549
90.4407
1.6
3.4
SBH-2823.7530
90.35280.85
3.8
SBH-2923.7508
90.3568
SBH-3023.7282
90.37110.81
3.6
SBH-3123.7175
90.3684
1.4
1.9
SBH-3223.7269
90.36160.45
6.0
SBH-3323.671390.4288
0.95
3.5
193

Borehole No

LatitudeLongitude

SBH-34
SBH-35
SBH-36
SBH-37
SBH-38
MT1
MT2
MT3
MT4
MT5
MT6
MT7
MT8
MT9
MT10
MT11
MT12
MT13
MT14
MT15
MT16
MT17
MT18
MT19
MT20
MT21
MT22
MT23
MT24
MT25
MT26
MT27
MT28
MT29
MT30
MT31
MT32
MT33
MT34
MT35
MT36

23.7090
23.6841
23.6633
23.6377
23.7576
23.8940

90.4598
90.4198
90.390290.451690.432490.4005

23.9049
23.8808
23.8741
23.8792
23.8487
23.851123.8492
23.830323.8296
23.832723.8573
23.8251
23.814423.806223.8071
23.802323.812223.7958
23.7936
23.8163
23.8133
23.8068
23.7969
23.7749
23.7832
23.7925
23.7733
23.771123.7605
23.7848
23.781323.793123.7891
23.7686
23.7567

90.4052
90.400390.3995
90.4248
90.372890.411590.3885
90.4191
90.3886
90.363790.3098
90.364290.3674
90.387890.3689
90.3580
90.4038
90.401090.408390.4163
90.421390.4218
90.4234
90.4262
90.4170
90.4151
90.4170
90.401190.3996
90.3532
90.3533
90.350490.318390.3692
90.3752
194

Frequency
(Hz)
0.72
0.85
1
1
1.05
0.42
0.51
0.48
0.75
0.41
0.44
0.59
1.48
0.46
0.46
0.44
0.58
0.46
0.44
0.5
0.46
0.44
0.45
0.92
1
0.4
0.42
0.46
0.42
0.44
0.46
0.44
0.42
0.48

Amplification
2.5
4.0
3.8
3.6
2.6
5.7
2.8
4.2
2.7
3.9
2.4
2.9
4.9
3.1
2.7
2.6
2.8
4.0
2.8
7.9
3.2
2.5
3.4
2.1
2.1
5.1
4.5
2.7
3.5
3.2
4.6
9.1
3.0
3.2

Borehole No

LatitudeLongitude

MT37
MT38
MT39
MT40
MT41
MT42
MT43
MT44
MT45
MT46
MT47
MT48
MT49
MT50
MT51
MT52
MT53
MT54
MT55
MT56
MT57
MT58
MT59
MT60

23.7461
23.7528
23.7667
23.7365
23.739023.7338
23.7382
23.728123.7250
23.7332
23.7262
23.751123.7359
23.7653
23.7925
23.688123.7457
23.700323.6737
23.6632
23.7130
24.0088
23.829623.8033

90.381190.3999
90.4245
90.3838
90.387390.402290.3948
90.402090.4098
90.4232
90.4288
90.3579
90.3352
90.3618
90.3980
90.4346
90.444890.4568
90.4392
90.4495
90.5033
90.4151
90.482590.4667

195

Frequency
(Hz)
0.41
0.56
0.63
0.36
0.49
0.41
0.42
0.53
0.88
0.9
0.41
0.4
0.92
1.06
1.36
1.3
1.5
1.5
1.6
1.45

Amplification
6.5
2.8
3.1
2.3
2.9
2.5
2.7
2.6
3.2
3.8
3.9
2.7
3.2
3.5
3
2.8
4.4
12.1
3.9
4.2

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198

PART-XIISHAHEED SUHRAWARDY MEDICALCOLLEGE AND HOSPITAL FIRE INCIDENCE:
14-02-2019
BANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FOR URBANSAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By Ayaz Mahmud
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary199

Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical College and Hospital in Dhaka’s Sher-e-Bangla Nagar caught fire on
Thursday evening, leaving Around 1,200 patients, including those at the intensive care unit (ICU)
and the surgery ward, under the open sky in dire situation for hours. The massive fire broke out
around 5:50pm on 14th February 2019. It has originated in the storeroom on the hospital’s groundfloor from an electric short circuit and then moved upwards.

The massive fire broke out at the Shaheed A massive amount of smoke billowing from
Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital.

an under-construction part of the hospital.

Firefighters of 16 units have brought the flames under control around 9:00pm.Though it had takemore time to put out all the small fires. The flames were completely doused around 11:30pm. The
children’s ward on the second floor was damaged most.

A patient is being evacuated from the hospital. An ambulance takes away patients from thepremises of the Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical
College Hospital.

200

Many of the patients found themselves under Some patients managed space on the outside
the open sky on the Suhrawardy Medical corridor of the Suhrawardy Medical College
College Hospital premises.

Hospital.

Some patients returned home after the Evacuated patients in front of the hospital
Suhrawardy Medical College Hospital caught Building.
fire.

A fire broke out at the hospital forcing Patients are being brought out from thepatients to be relocatedSuhrawardy Medical College Hospital.

201

The fire caused immense suffering to the patients and their relatives at the Suhrawardy hospital. The
patients were evacuated and sent to different government hospitals, including the Dhaka Medical
College Hospital (DMCH) and Mitford hospital. A child patient has died during evacuation. The
child was given oxygen, but the oxygen mask was removed during the transfer. Relatives brought thechild to the CARE Hospital, The CARE Hospital authorities declared the child as dead on arrival.

Child patient being transferred to another An emergency patient being wheeled out offacility.

the Hospital while an attendant squeezes thebag valve mask to help the patient breathe.

A patient is waiting to be relocated.

People waiting during relocation period.

Fire Service officials are saying that they had warned Shaheed Suhrawardy Medical Collegeand Hospital three times, immediately before the devastating fire incident. The firefighting
authorities had requested the hospital to upgrade their firefighting system and make several
other changes. Eventually Fire Service issued a letter that it would not take any
responsibilities in case of fire incidents, since the hospital had not paid heed to repeatedwarnings.

202

Children's ward on the second floor of the new Fire burnt the patient files and document.
building of the hospital was burnt.

Among the total, 1,174 patients -- 526 male, 576 female and 72 child patients were shifted to othergovernment hospitals. Four wards, out of total 13 wards and a burn unit, bore the strain in the fire
which will remain closed for investigation. Meanwhile, the hospital currently is not receiving childpatients as the children's ward was severely affected.

According to Fire Service sources, they had inspected the hospital on November 16, 2017.
They found a number of faults in the hospital buildings which made the hospital vulnerable
to fire, and increased possibilities of high causalities. In a report based on the inspection, thefirefighters said they found no fire hydrants, manual call points, alarms, emergency exit
lights and aviation lights at the hospital. The building also did not have a basement andramps. Fire Service also found no safety lobby on any floor, pump room, sprinkler heads,
hose reels with hydrants, smoke- heat- or multi-detectors with main panel and repeater panelboards on any floor or basement. The hospital did not have the requisite number of portablefire safety equipment. It did not have a fire control room, according to the inspection report.
An administrative officer of the hospital was present during the inspection, the report said.
The inspection team suggested installing proper firefighting systems in the hospital andregular maintenance of electrical wiring. The team also suggested that the hospital authority
clean the store room, where the fire would eventually take place. But necessary measures
were not taken by the hospital. On October 21, 2018, the Fire Service sent a letter to thehospital authorities mentioning previous inspections and warnings and requested them to
implement a fire safety plan to ensure public security. In the letter, the Fire Service wrotethat its inspection had found fire and public safety measures to be very poor at the hospital.
203

To develop fire resistance, firefighting capacity and public safety of the hospital, the Fire
Service recommended necessary steps in a previous letter. But they made no development onfire resistance, firefighting capacity and public safety. Therefore the hospital was always at
high-risk. The hospital did not obtain a no-objection certificate from the fire authorities,
which is also a must by law.Deadly fires are a persistent problem in Bangladesh yet for somereasons concerned officials are not taking required actions or failed to do so. It’s a colossal failure on
their part and as a result people are suffering204PART-XIII

RIVERBANK EROSION IN LOWER PADMAUSING REMOTE SENSING TECHNIQUESAND TERRESTRIAL LASER SCANNING
BANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FOR URBANSAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By Maruf Bilah
Sudipta Chakroborti
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary

205

Bangladesh has a unique hydro-geological setting and deltaic floodplain which is jointly formed by
the deposition of the Ganges (Padma), Brahmaputra (Jamuna) and Meghna River. The physicalcharacteristics of the geographic location, river morphology, and the monsoon climate render
Bangladesh highly vulnerable to natural disasters, primarily, floods, cyclones and bank erosion. In
recent the lower Padma has been experienced massive river erosion. Padma River was in a rising
trend and speedy current is engulfing houses and establishments rapidly in the Naria upazila of
Shariatpur district. The erosion swallowed houses, schools, dams, roads, business establishments,
mosques. The residents of riverbank are going through days of fear of further erosion while several
more houses are still at greater risk. Victims have to live under the open sky as their dwellings were
washed away by river waters. They face huge losses as their croplands have also been washed away.
Now, they are seeking assistance to reconstruct their houses. In this report, we have tried to denotethe present scenario of the affected area. This report has been developed based on the assessment of
this massive disruption in Shariatpur district with the assist of Geographic Information System (GIS),
terrestrial laser scanning and on field validation with transect walk.

Figure 5: Study area map (Shariatpur district)

206

Present situation of the study area:
Enormous erosion has been taken place in Shariatpur district in recent days. To assess the situation,
initially Landsat 8 (OLI) image has been used which is available in USGS earth explorer website(http://earthexplorer.usgs.gov) then a field observation has been conducted later. For detecting theerosion two images, one is before the incidence and another is after the incidence has been cast off.
Modified normalized different water index (MNDWI) has been carried out to detect the bank shifting
during this time (Pal, R. and Pani, P., 2016; Pal, R. and Pani, P., 2018; Islam, M.K., Dustegir, M.M.,
Rahman, M.M. and Rahman, M., 2018). Two different bands, band 3 (green) with the wavelength of
0.53-0.59 µm and band 6 (short wave infrared 1) as MIR with the wavelength of 1.57-1.65 µm havebeen used in this study.
MNDWI= Green-MIR/Green+MIR
Table 1: General information on used satellite data
Acquisition

Path

Row

Date

Land

Scene

CenterCenterGrid Cell Size

Grid Cell

Cloud

Cloud

LatitudeLongitude

Reflective

Size

Cover

Cover

Thermal

10/3/2018

137

44

4.06

4.1

23°06'44.86"N

90°24'21.96"E30

30

5/12/2018

137

44

1.59

1.9

23°06'44.86"N

90°24'21.96"E30

30

By image analysis it has been seen massive erosion in Sariatpur district basically in Naria Bazar,
Mulfat and Bashtala area. Huge landmass has been lost within a shorter period of time. To detect thebank shifting along the river 20 cross sections have been analyzed with Arc GIS measurement tools.

(a)

(b)

207

9000

12th May
3th October

8000
7000

Erosion600

Length in meter

500

6000
5000

400

4000

300

3000
2000

200

1000

100

0

A B C D E F G H I J K L MN O P Q R S T
Cross sectional Area

0‐100

A B C D E F G H I J K L MN O P Q R S T

(c)

(d)

Figure 2: 20 cross section to detect the bank shifting (a), cross section with eroded and shifted
land mass in red marked (b), length of the cross sections in meter (c), length of the eroded areawith respect to 20 cross sections (d).
The government has distributed relief among the victims in the affected areas, but these are notadequate, said the victims, adding that they are seeking financial assistance to build their dwellings.
Kabir Bin Anwar, Secretary of the Ministry of Water Resources, visited the area on September 15
and declared that immediate steps will be taken over the issue. Meanwhile, Cabinet Committee on
Economic Affairs on Wednesday approved a proposal to award a contract to Bangladesh Navy-run
Khulna Shipyard to protect the Zajira and Naria upazilas in Shariatpur from river erosion at a cost ofTk1077.58 crore (Dhaka Tribune, 19th September 2018).
A total of 5081 families have been rendered homeless in Naria Upazila due to the violent erosion of
Padma River in the district in recent weeks (Green Watch, 27th November 2018).“We don’t want
help, we want the embankment, people could make their livelihood by driving rickshaw or threewheeler if there was an embankment here,” said mother of two Mahamuda Begum, who has alreadybeen displaced four times previously due to river erosion. Another victim of Padma erosion Azizul
Madbar said “My house was 5 km away, this is the fourth time, I have brought down my house andrebuilt for river erosion, I have become depleted. Our rescue is only possible if the Prime Minister
looks upon us. Otherwise, there is no one to save us.” Juwel Bepari of the same area said he and his
family were passing their days only half-a-kilometre away from the point at which the river is now,
renting a place for Tk 6,000. Sufia Begum of Kedarpur village in the upazila had a large house andowned a shop at the historic but fast-disappearing Mulfatganj bazar, both of which were engulfed by
the Padma. “Within two months our wealthy condition turned into poverty,” she said. Within one
week different government and private buildings of Mulfatganj Bazar were vandalized. Most of theparts of the new building of Naria Upazila Health Complex went under the Padma water. Emergency
and Exterior departments of the hospital were operating in a residential building of the hospital
208

campus but its main entrance was lost creating disruption in service. No patients were seen taking
treatment there due to the erosion fear. Eleven more buildings of the hospital complex were undererosion threat while a crack has occurred in one building, witnesses said.
Detail Assessment with TLS
Terrestrial laser scanning TLS provides a rapid, remote sensing technique to model 3D objects(Olsen, M.J., Kuester, F., Chang, B.J. and Hutchinson, T.C., 2009). Terrestrial laser scanning TLS
provides dense range measurement data to model an object in three dimensions 3D. There are two
common types of laser scanning technologies and they are 1 phase-based scanners and 2 time-offlight based scanners (Maas, H.G., Bienert, A., Scheller, S. and Keane, E., 2008). High speed, phasebased scanners compare phase shifts in a modulated laser beam to determine distances to objects at
close range. Instead, TLS provides an excellent mechanism for pre- and posttest modeling andanalysis. Terrestrial laser scanners typically use low power lasers so that they are human safe. For
this study, a RIEGAL was used, which utilizes a class 3R laser. This means that there is potential foreye-safety damage if the laser remains fixed at a location for several seconds and the person is in
front of and close to the scanner within 1 m. Operators, however, must remain behind the scanner toavoid interfering with data collection. In this study to perform the detail assessment of riverbank
erosion, a work flow of laser scan survey has been followed.

• Determine number and locations of scan setup• Define reseulution nuds

Site Survey

Data
Acquisition• Scan reference targets• Obtain paranomatic image• Perform leasure scan
• Verify data visuality

PostProcessing

Analysis• Align scans (target on software)• Clean and filter data
• Surface (traingulate data)• Detect change/ deformation• Evaluate strategy efficiency

Figure 3: Workflow for laser scan survey project
209

(a)

(b)

(c)
Figure 4: Detail assessment of Naria bazar river bank slope. Real picture of the present situation(a), detail scan (b), slope elevation and angle (c)

(a)

(b)

210

(c)
Figure 4: Detail assessment of Bashtola river bank slope. Real picture of the present situation(a), detail scan (b), slope elevation and angle (c)

(a)

(b)

(c)
Figure 4: Detail assessment of Mulfat river bank slope. Real picture of the present situation (a),detail scan (b), slope elevation and angle (c)211Photographs of the Field Visit

(a)

(b)

212

(c)

(d)

213

(e)
Figure 3. Figures show the river erosion at the a) Noriabazar, b) Mulfat, c) Bashtola, d)Bilashpur and e) Jajirabazar.

Reference
http://greenwatchbd.com/riverbank-erosion-makes-5081-families-homeless-in-shariatpur/
https://www.dhakatribune.com/bangladesh/nation/2018/09/19/river-erosion-turns-serious-in-fivedistricts
Islam, M.K., Dustegir, M.M., Rahman, M.M. and Rahman, M., 2018. Changes in Planform andMeander bends of Rivers in Southern Estuarine Region of Bangladesh and Its Implications on
Development Project. Changes, 6(1).
Maas, H.G., Bienert, A., Scheller, S. and Keane, E., 2008. Automatic forest inventory parameter
determination from terrestrial laser scanner data. International journal of remotesensing, 29(5), pp.1579-1593.
Olsen, M.J., Kuester, F., Chang, B.J. and Hutchinson, T.C., 2009. Terrestrial laser scanning-based
structural damage assessment. Journal of Computing in Civil Engineering, 24(3), pp.264-272.

214

Pal, R. and Pani, P., 2016. Seasonality, barrage (Farakka) regulated hydrology and flood scenarios of
the Ganga River: a study based on MNDWI and simple Gumbel model. Modeling Earth
Systems and Environment, 2(2), p.57.
Pal, R. and Pani, P., 2018. Remote sensing and GIS-based analysis of evolving planform morphologyof the middle-lower part of the Ganga River, India. The Egyptian Journal of Remote Sensing
and Space Science.

215

PART-XIV

CHURIHATTA, CHAWKBAZAR FIRE
INCIDENCE: 20-02-2019
BANGLADESH NETWORK OFFICE FOR URBANSAFETY (BNUS), BUET, DHAKA

Prepared By Maruf Bilah
Sudipta Chakroborti
Mehedi Ahmed Ansary216

Chawkbazar is a standout amongst the most imperative territories in Old Dhaka, an architecturally
significant area built up around 400 years back amid the Mughal tradition. The area is crammedwith buildings separated by narrow alleys, with residences commonly above shops,
restaurants or warehouses on the ground floors. It is a hub of chemical businesses and local
perfume factories. There are thousands of chemical warehouses in old Dhaka, most of which are in
residential buildings. Only 2 percent of these warehouses have the city corporation's permission. The
avenues are pressed with rickshaws, little vehicles and individuals strolling around amid the day. The
paths are narrow to the point that traveler transports can't get past. Electrical, phone and web links
hanging over the restricted paths represent a genuine risk. In any case, the most genuine risk
originates from the way that private structures are utilized for business purposes, with ground floors
filling in as chemical warehouses. More than one fire takes place a day in old town mainly becauseof numerous chemical storage, plastic and other factories. Fire service data show at least 468 fireincidents struck the old town's Lalbagh, Hazaribagh, Sadarghat and Siddique Bazar, where more than
500 chemical warehouses and factories operate illegally.

On the night of 20th February, 2019 around 10:30pm at Nanda Kumar Lane in Chawkbazar’s
Churihatta area of Old Dhaka a colossal fire broke out. The affected area is under Dhaka south
city corporation at ward no. 64. The fire has originated from a compressed natural gas or CNG
cylinder explosion of a pick-up van first and then the fire spread to the vehicles and buildings on thestreet and spread to a chemical warehouse on the ground floor of a four-stored building named Hazi
Wahed Mansion. There also were expired perfume can, air freshener and electrical equipment’s on
the 1st floor of Hazi Wahed Mansion which further fed the fire. Hazi Wahed Mansion has caught fire
first among the other buildings and has been affected most by the fire. The flames then quickly
spread through three other buildings nearby.

217

Site location from google map.

Hazi Wahed Mansion on Fire.

The Fire lasted 12 hours before completely doused off. Thirty-seven units of firefighters from 13
fire stations brought the fire under control around 3:00am. 67 people were burned alive withinvery short period of time and 41 people got injured. Amongst the injured, 7 people were in
critical condition, 4 of them has died within 11 days from the incident. So, in total 71 people
has died as of today when the report is being prepared (03 March 2019).

Ruins of Hazi Wahed Mansion.

Ground floor and 1st floor wall cameoutwardDue to explosion inside.

218

Charred remains of a dining table on the Charred remains of a drawing room on thesecond floor of Hazi Wahed Mansion.

second floor of Hazi Wahed Mansion.

Charred wreckages of vehicles are piled up A dead body is carried out from a burnt
for disposal.

warehouse of wahed mansion.

Containers of chemicals found stacked in the

Sacks of melted plastic beads on the groundbasement of Haji Wahed Mansion.

floor of the building.

219

Burnt containers of perfumes stored on the 1st

Small explosion due to the perfume, airfloor of Wahed Mansion.

freshener can at 1st floor of Wahed Mansion.

Nasrin breaks down in tears holding the photo

Relatives rummaging through the charredof her missing father.

bodies at Dhaka Medical College morgue in a
desperate bid to identify their near and dearones.

The injured at Dhaka Medical College

Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina consoles a

Hospital.

relative of a Chawkbazar fire victim being
treated at the burn unit of Dhaka Medical
College Hospital.
220

The chemical business in Old Dhaka has been a family business. It's like a family tradition.
They don't want to go far. A lot of issues are related to this. One of the main reasons behindthe concentration of chemical storehouses in Old Dhaka is their cheaper rent compared tothose in other parts in the city. Besides, their locations also help businesses cut the chemicaltransportation costs. Storehouses are built in some almost unreachable and undiscoverable
rooms and buildings, meaning these are inaccessible to firefighters. Around 98 percent of thechemical warehouses are illegal and they operate at night.
In 2017, the Fire Service Department did a city wide inspection of over 5000 markets, schools,
hospitals, banks, hotels and chemical warehouses to find that an over overwhelming number of them
do not meet the basic criteria of fire safety. To date, this is the most extensive database of fire safety
violations. (Star weekend, March 1, 2019, The Daily Star)
Some bar charts showing the probability of fire accident in terms of risky and extra risky cases areshown below for 10 separate areas. The no. of major fires that happened in each area are of between‘2012 to 2019’.

The no. of major fires =14

The no. of major fires =36

The no. of major fires =16

The no. of major fires =20

221

The no. of major fires =18

The no. of major fires =28

The no. of major fires =4

The no. of major fires =9

The no. of major fires =22

The no. of major fires =26

After the Nimtoli fire in 2010, the government had pledged to relocate chemical warehouses fromOld Dhaka to a thinly populated area in Keraniganj. But it is yet to procure land to set up a chemical
warehouse zone. It is not possible to eliminate all the sources of fire hazard in the area but at least
some initiatives can be taken to minimize the loss. For example shifting warehouses to nonresidential
areas, enforcing Fire Prevention and Extinguishing Rules 2003 and Bangladesh National Building
Code, installing separate hydrant points in the city's different areas, forming a cross-functional
license issuing body and updating school and college textbooks to raise awareness from an early age.

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