Aftershock rocks Bangladesh as quake death toll rises to 10

• The government has activated Bangladesh’s emergency operation center to assess the scale of the damage and to coordinate relief and rescue operations
• Bangladesh’s geography makes the country of 170 million people prone to earthquakes, says an official at Met Department’s Earthquake Observation Center

DHAKA, Bangladesh: A low-magnitude tremor hit Bangladesh on Saturday, the national meteorological service said, a day after a powerful earthquake struck outside the capital Dhaka and killed at least 10 people.

Updating earlier tolls from Friday’s 5.5-magnitude quake, disaster management official Ishtiaqe Ahmed told AFP that “the number of casualties has reached 10, while a few hundreds were injured.”

The first earthquake was felt in Dhaka and neighboring districts, causing widespread destruction.

Toriful Newaz Kabir of the Bangladesh Meteorological Department said Saturday’s 3.3 magnitude jolt was recorded in the town of Palash, Narsingdi district, 29 kilometers (18 miles) from Dhaka.

The met office had earlier said its epicenter was in Ashulia, just north of the capital.

“There was a mistake while analizing the data,” Kabir told AFP, adding they had revised the epicenter location.

Aftershocks are common after major earthquakes, but for some in Bangladesh it has added to fears of an even greater disaster.

“I don’t feel safe yet, as there was another jolt this morning in Ashulia. Maybe we are next,” said Shahnaj Parvin.

The 44-year-old, who lives near the epicenter of Friday’s earthquake, told AFP she had never experienced such a tremor.

Cracks have developed in dozens of houses in her area, she said.

“I was hanging my children’s clothes on the washing line when the tremor struck,” added Parvin.

“I held onto a mahogany tree, and when I returned home, I found my glassware broken.”

The government has activated Bangladesh’s emergency operation center to assess the scale of the damage and to coordinate relief and rescue operations.

Rubayet Kabir of the Meteorological Department’s Earthquake Observation and Research Center said Bangladesh’s geography makes the country of 170 million people prone to quakes.

“That’s why we experience earthquakes quite frequently, though they are not as strong as the one” on Friday, he told AFP.

“Some small tremors are expected after any major earthquake,” Kabir said.