Cracks have appeared in most buildings, roads, and educational institutions in Narsingdi, the epicenter of the earthquake. Public panic has not yet subsided. A visit to different areas on Saturday morning (November 22) revealed scenes of devastation caused by the powerful tremor. Numerous buildings, educational institutions, shops, and roads suffered extensive damage.
An on-site inspection showed that the main road in front of the gate of Palash Residential Model College had developed cracks. At the nearby Lebupara area, the ground at a cattle farm had split open. The farm housed over a hundred cows. However, locals said that two establishments were constructed by filling a pond with sand, causing the land to tilt toward the pond and resulting in the cracks.

Following Friday’s devastating earthquake, the Department of Geology at the Dhaka University (DU) has begun examining cracked soil in various parts of Ghorashal in Narsingdi. On Saturday morning, a seven-member team from the department visited the damaged Ghorashal Dairy Farm and Palash Residential Model College to collect soil samples from the collapsed ground.

At the time, Dr. A.S.M. Obaidullah, former professor of DU’s Department of Geology, said they were initially collecting samples from the cracked soil. After laboratory analysis, they would be able to determine the type of earthquake and the depth at which it originated.

Meanwhile, different units of the district administration are working to assess the total extent of damage across the district. Additional Deputy Commissioner Abu Taher Md. Shamsuzzaman said that an official assessment of losses would be announced within the next three to four days.

However, Palash Upazila Project Implementation Officer (PIO) Kawsar Alam Sarker said that work is already underway to identify damage in various unions and municipal areas of Palash. So far, information has been collected on cracks and destruction affecting more than a hundred mud houses and over fifty government and private buildings. He expects these numbers to rise further.

Apart from this, the families of two people who died during the earthquake in Palash Upazila have been provided with Tk 25,000 each as financial assistance. Several affected people have also received support from the Ministry of Disaster Management and Relief.