Dhaka Fire

Some of you may have heard about a big fire in Dhaka which killed over 100 people last night. I just wanted to reassure you that I am fine. I did not actually know about the fire until someone asked me if I was ok. The fire was in Old Dhaka which is the opposite side of the city from me in a district called Nimtoli. If you look at a map of Dhaka that would be in the south, while I am all the way up in the North in suburb called Mirpur 1 and 2.

It is very unfortunate the way it happened though, and the streets apparently were too narrow which made it difficult for firetrucks and ambulances to respond. The fire was started by an electrical transformer exploded and then a chemicals shop on the ground floor caught fire. From there at least 7 other old buildings caught fire as well which did not have proper fire escapes. On every street in the city there are dozen and dozens of wires which hang from trees and buildings, so in some ways it is surprising that this sort of thing does not happen more often. Add in the fact that Dhaka is one of the most densely populated city and it is easy to see how something like this does happen.

PS - according to the BBC new report this does happen quite often, but that this was just an exceptionally deadly one