Two more jolts felt in Sylhet again

Two more earthquakes were felt in Sylhet city on Monday evening, triggering fear among locals.

The first earthquake occurred at 6:27 pm and the second one at 6:29 pm, according to the local office of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department (BMD).

Many locals rushed out of their homes and offices when the earthquake hit the Sylhet zone.

According to the BMD, the two earthquakes struck in the evening with a magnitude of 3.8 on the Richter scale.

Experts say such light tremors often occur in this region. Having a high frequency can cause awkward tremors with vibrations for a brief time, but rarely cause major damage.

BMD Meteorologist Mominul Islam said, "Since 2019, there have been four earthquakes with a magnitude of between 2.77 and 4, in Sylhet and surrounding areas. Out of the five earthquakes on Saturday, two had a magnitude of 4 on the Richter scale. The earthquakes were not detected by seismographs in Dhaka and the data could only be recorded in Sylhet."

"Small tremors can occur before or after a large earthquake. So there is a possibility of large tremors in the Sylhet region. On the other hand, repeated earthquakes release stored energy, which is good because the energy required for big earthquakes weakens through small tremors," he added.

History says that a 7.5-magnitude earthquake struck in 1869 in the same area of Sylhet. In 1989, a 7.6-magnitude earthquake happened there. The last one, a 7.1 magnitude Durgapur earthquake occurred in 1923.

In the past, three major earthquakes, including small ones, struck in a 60-70 kilometre area of Sylhet. Last month, there was an earthquake in Assam which did not affect Bangladesh but caused damage there. 

Small earthquakes indicate a large scale earthquake in the future. Over 150 years, high-magnitude earthquakes have been occurring from time to time in the area.