DHAKA, April 4: Bangladesh will set up a National Tsunami Warning Centre amid fears that earthquakes off the coast could trigger destructive waves, an official said on Monday. The need for such a centre in Bangladesh, already prone to natural hazards such as floods and cyclones, has risen after a tsunami triggered by a quake off Indonesia in December swept Indian Ocean shores, leaving nearly 300,000 dead or missing.

Only two people died in that disaster in Bangladesh but Mir Fazlul Karim, director for the Geological Survey of Bangladesh, told officials at the Ministry of Food and Disaster Management that the threat from locally generated earthquakes was very real.

“The threats of tsunamis in the coastal belt of Bangladesh can’t be ruled out. The 200-km long continental shelf is possibly susceptible to earthquakes,” Mr Karim told the officials.—Reuters