Two people were injured when a building partially collapsed due to an "explosion that triggered a fire" in Nitaiganj of Narayanganj district town today (March 18, 2023). The injured were taken to a local hospital. Shahjahan Shikdar, deputy assistant director (media cell) of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said a fire broke out at the two-story building in the area around 9 am following an explosion. Also read: At least 10 people dead in house fire in Pakistan A part of the building collapsed after the explosion, he said. On information, six firefighting units rushed to the spot and are trying to bring the fire under control. However, what caused the explosion and fire could not be known immediately, he said. Read More: Gas explosion at residential, commercial buildings: Common causes and ways to prevent them 

BGMEA President Faruque Hassan has said they need more support from the advanced economy in terms of product and fiber diversification, innovation, technological upgradation, reskilling and up skilling their people. "We need to put emphasize on building up a resilient and sustainable business model to overcome the future challenges," he said while speaking at the 4th edition of Sustainable Apparel Forum on Thursday. Faruque Hassan said they have established BGMEA Centre of innovation, efficiency and OSH. The centre will works as an exchange hub of industry wide best practices as it endeavors to disseminate knowledge to beneficiary groups continuously in the area of product development, efficiency, use of technologies, process upgradation, environmental sustainability and social innovation. "We need assistance from all of our esteemed stakeholder to make this center more vibrant and useful," said the BGMEA chief. "So please come forward, collaborate, and exchange knowledge and expertise to ensure more decent employments, and build a resilient and sustainable fashion industry," he said. Commerce Minister Tipu Munshi spoke as the chief guest. The BGMEA chief said they have ensured 100% safety in terms of fire, structural and electrical remediation within the workplace which has restored global confidence in them. "We have taken a number of initiatives to ensure the better wellbeing of our workers," he said.

Two major earthquakes of magnitude 7.8 and later 7.5 killed thousands of people in southern Turkey and northern Syria, destroying almost all buildings to the ground. The published photos and videos are shocking. While a huge number of buildings collapsed in Turkey, other similar buildings remain standing. The collapsed buildings include the newly built apartment blocks too, which were earthquake-proof. However, according to the building code, all structures should maintain construction standards. That being said, either all of the structures should collapse, or all of them should remain standing.  But why were some buildings affected and some neighboring buildings did not face any problems? This occurrence raised questions about the maintenance of building safety standards and triggers corruption. Let’s find out the reasons why so many buildings collapsed in Turkey's earthquake.  Read More: Earthquake Safety: Do’s and Don’ts during an Earthquake What Experts Say Earthquake engineers at the University of Buffalo suggest that behind the seemingly random occurrence of collapses, there are likely some underlying causes. Extreme shaking from earthquakes like the Feb. 6, magnitude 7.8, and magnitude 7.5 can lead to a building's collapse. This is due to various factors, including shaking intensity and duration, building design and detailing, construction quality, construction documents, soil conditions, construction oversight, and structural modifications. Andrew Whittaker, SUNY Distinguished Professor in the Department of Civil, Structural, and Environmental Engineering, explains these contributing elements. In the United States, modern reinforced concrete buildings are designed to tolerate damage in the event of severe earthquake shaking and will not collapse. This same philosophy has been adopted in many other countries, and Turkey is not an exception. Nonetheless, these buildings may still collapse if the construction quality is poor, design errors have been made, the shaking is more intense than expected, or a combination of these factors has been present. These brought up so many questions, and the BBC started investigating to find out the answer. Read More: Post-Earthquake Cautions: Do’s & Don’ts

A suspected thief died after falling off a five-story building at Maddhya Sanarpar in Demra of the capital on Tuesday, said police. The deceased was identified as Raihan Hossain, 18. Read: Man dies after falling off under-construction building in Chattogram Inspector Bachchu Mia, in-charge of Dhaka Medical College and Hospital police camp, said Raihan climbed up to the fifth floor of the building  around 3:30 am in a bid to steal something. When local people raised a hue and cry seeing Raihan on the building, he jumped off it and sustained injuries. He was taken to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital where he succumbed to his injuries around 9:30 am on Tuesday.

Seven people were charred to death and five others injured in a fire that broke out at a residential building in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh early on Saturday morning. Officials said the blaze started around 4am in the basement of the building in Swarn Bagh colony of Madhya Pradesh's Indore city, 200 kms from state capital Bhopal, and soon engulfed the entire structure. Five fire tenders were pressed into service and it took them nearly four hours to douse the flames. "At the time, all the occupants of the building were fast asleep. Seven burnt bodies were recovered by the firemen from the building. Nine people were also rescued, of which five have been hospitalised," a senior fire officer told the local media. Police claimed to have detained the building's owner Ansar Patel in connection with the fire. "He has been booked for causing death by negligence for not installing any fire safety system in the building," a police officer said. READ: President declares disaster in New Mexico wildfire zone Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan took to Twitter to offer his condolences. "I pray to God to give place to the departed souls at his feet and give strength to the family members to bear this deep sorrow and to give speedy recovery to the injured," the Chief Minister tweeted. A probe has been ordered into the fire, the fire officer said. "Preliminary probe points to an electrical short-circuit in the basement." READ: Deadly India fire in one of thousands of illegal factories Building fires are common in India, and are often attributed to poor maintenance and absence of basic fire safety systems. A number of people die in such fires every year.

A building collapse one week ago in central China killed 53 people, state media reported Friday as the search of the large pile of debris ended after rescuers found 10 survivors. Authorities said at a news conference that all the missing had been accounted for as of 3 a.m., state broadcaster CCTV said in an online post. The residential and commercial building in the city of Changsha suddenly collapsed the afternoon of April 29. Aerial photos showed it pancaked to about the second story between other buildings about six stories tall. At least nine people have been arrested on suspicion of ignoring building codes or committing other violations. READ: Survivor found almost 6 days after China building collapse Survivors were pulled out of the rubble over several days. The 10th and last one was pulled out shortly after midnight on Thursday, 5 ½ days after the collapse. All of the survivors were reportedly in good condition after being treated in a hospital. The arrested include the building owner, three people in charge of design and construction and five others who allegedly gave a false safety assessment for a guest house on the building’s fourth to sixth floors. The building also had residences, a café and a restaurant. Rescuers used search dogs, hand tools, drones and electronic life detectors. In an account of Monday’s rescue of the eighth survivor, state media said rescuers faced an unstable pile of rubble that they had to work around rather than demolish. Prior to the rescue, they were able to feed in video equipment to communicate with the girl and establish that one of her legs was trapped. They also fed in saline solution for her to drink. An increase in the number of collapses of self-built buildings in recent years prompted Chinese President Xi Jinping to call for additional checks to uncover structural weaknesses. Poor adherence to safety standards, including the illegal addition of extra floors and failure to use reinforcing iron bars, is often blamed for such disasters. Decaying infrastructure such as gas pipes has also led to explosions and collapses.

Three people including two women received burn injuries in a fire that broke out in a building in the capital’s Mirpur area on Wednesday. The identitties of the injured couldn’t be known immediately. READ: Moving car catches fire in Dhaka The fire broke out in a building at Mirpur-1 around 5pm, said Md Shahjahan Shikdar, Deputy assistant director (media cell) of Fire Service and Civil Defence. On information, eight firefighting units rushed to the spot and doused the fire around 6:20pm, he added.

A three-storey building along Majhirghat Parbarti Pukur (pond) in Sadarghat area of the port city of Chattogram tilted towards a nearby building on Monday night, triggering panic among locals. According to the fire service control room, a rescue team from Agrabad Fire Service Station rushed to the spot around 11 pm to evacuate the residents of the building. READ: Earthquake: 3 buildings tilt in Chattogram Meanwhile, Assistant Director of the Fire Service (Ctg) Faruq Sikder, who was present at the spot, said the building tilted towards the adjacent building due to the ongoing excavation work of a drainage project. READ: 5-storey building tilts in Chattogram: Residents evacuated “We’ve already evacuated the residents of the building,” he said.

Two women were killed and more than 15 others injured after a five-storey building in Narayanganj’s Fatullah area partially collapsed following an explosion early on Friday morning. The deceased were identified as Maya Rani, 40, a resident of an adjacent building, and Mangali Rani, 35, a pedestrian. None of the victims was from the ill-fated house. READ: 5 injured in Sonargaon factory gas leak fire Narayanganj Fire Service assistant deputy director Abdullah Al Arefin said a gas leak led to the explosion at the building owned by Moktar Mia in Lalkhan Mor around 6am.  The explosion triggered the collapse of the walls of some flats in the building, which in turn, created a ripple effect and led to wall collapse in three adjoining houses, leaving Maya Rani dead on spot and eight injured in the immediate neighbouring building. The injured were sent to Dhaka Medical College and Hospital (DMCH) in a critical condition. Also injured were Mangali Rani who was talking a stroll with her daughter Purnima. Both were taken to Victoria Hospital in the city, where the mother succumbed to her injuries, the fire officer said. Another tenant of another house next to the ill-fated one, Binoy, his wife Nipa and their two children were sleeping when the wall fell on them, leaving them seriously injured. Narayanganj Deputy Commissioner Mostain Billah said a 10-member probe committee has been formed to investigate the case. READ: Narayanganj gas leak explosion victim dies Rakibuzzaman, officer-in-charge of Fatullah Model police Slstation, said eight people were undergoing treatment at DMCH. "The other injured are being treated at local hospitals." Legal action will be taken after the probe, the OC added.

A fire broke out in a multi-storey building at Chawkbazar  in Old Dhaka on Tuesday afternoon. The fire started on the third floor of the building around 4:30 pm and nine firefighting units are currently working to bring the blaze under control, said Dewan Azad Hossain, Duty Officer of Fire Service and Civil Defense control room headquarters. There is a plastic warehouse on the 3rd floor of  the building, he said.