At least five people were killed, including one child, and more than 450 injured after a 5.5 magnitude earthquake hit Bangladesh.
The epicentre of the earthquake was close to the Narsingdi district, about 30 kilometres (18.6 miles) from the capital, Dhaka.
People rushed from residential buildings as buildings shook and makeshift structures collapsed. At least 10 students were injured in a stampede as they tried to leave Dhaka University on Friday.
“We have never experienced an earthquake this powerful in the last five years,” said the country’s environmental adviser Syeda Rizwana Hasan.
At least three people were killed when a railing and debris fell from a five-storey building in Dhaka’s Armanitola area, deputy police commissioner Mallik Ahsan Uddin Sami said.
Nitai Chandra De Sarkar, director of the department’s monitoring division, said 461 people have been reported injured across the country, including 252 in the Gazipur district, north of Dhaka.
Sarker told the BBC: “Our main task at the moment is to assess casualties and damage. We are not yet seeing the challenge of rescue from the rubble or debris management at that level.”
Bengali Sadman Sakib told Reuters news agency: “I have never felt such tremor in my 30 years of life. We were at the office when the furniture started shaking.
“We rushed down the stairs on the street and saw other people on the road already.”
A student called Abdullah, who was sleeping at the time of the earthquake, told Reuters the “whole building was shaking”.
Tremors were felt in eastern Indian states bordering Bangladesh, but there were no reports of major damage.
The earthquake caused Ireland’s second cricket test match in Bangladesh to stop temporarily.
Coaches and players not involved gathered at the boundary, while those in the stands took shelter. The game was stopped for three minutes but play soon resumed.
Ireland’s head coach Heinrich Malan said: “I’ve been involved in a couple of earthquakes from my time living in New Zealand.
“It’s never a nice feeling and you’re trying to understand what is happening in the moment around you, but also the bigger impacts about where the earthquake struck.
“Everything stood still for a couple of minutes and we got back to business, but we’re thinking of everyone and hoping there wasn’t too much damage done.”
By BBC News
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