Fire Service and Civil Defence Department Permanent Expert Panel Seminar Held

The seminar of the ' Permanent Expert Panel', formed by the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department to receive opinions and suggestions from experts on dealing with earthquakes , fire accidents and other disasters, was held on Wednesday afternoon , December 3 , 2025. The seminar , which started at 3 pm and lasted until 8 pm at the conference room of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department, was attended by the country's leading engineers , architects , disaster experts , teachers and media representatives. The seminar of the ' Permanent Expert Panel' was inaugurated by Brigadier General Muhammad...

১০৬

The seminar of the ‘ Permanent Expert Panel’, formed by the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department to receive opinions and suggestions from experts on dealing with earthquakes , fire accidents and other disasters, was held on Wednesday afternoon , December 3 , 2025. The seminar , which started at 3 pm and lasted until 8 pm at the conference room of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department, was attended by the country’s leading engineers , architects , disaster experts , teachers and media representatives. The seminar of the ‘ Permanent Expert Panel’ was inaugurated by Brigadier General Muhammad Zahed Kamal, ndc, afwc, psc, Director General of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department. Then, the keynote paper was presented by the Director ( Operations and Maintenance ) of the Department, Lt. Col. Mohammad Tajul Islam Chowdhury, SGP, psc. Then the Director General took charge of conducting the next seminar . He presented the current capabilities of the Fire Service and the steps taken to deal with earthquakes . At the same time, he invited experts to speak , highlighting the need to improve institutional preparedness in the country regarding urbanization, industrialization, high-risk buildings, chemical management and earthquake risk .The experts present mentioned the inadequacy of Bangladesh Fire Service stations and manpower compared to other developed countries including Asia . They recommended further increasing the existing capacity of Fire Service and Civil Defence by considering the gap area and area -based risks . It was suggested to take initiatives to establish fire brigade connections for the use of Fire Service at all WASA pump stations . Stating that government offices are more vulnerable to earthquakes , it was urged to first make all fire stations in the country earthquake- resistant . It was suggested that if space is not available to increase the number of fire stations in the city , initiatives can be taken to use the lower 2 floors of various government buildings as fire stations. In addition, the seminar suggested increasing the number of volunteers and conducting regular refresher courses for them , conducting mock exercises on post – earthquake issues with the participation of all service organizations , building a fire academy , involving the media more in publicity , conducting extensive publicity on various disasters including earthquakes in educational institutions , adding marks as a co-curricular program in assessment tests , moving chemical godowns from residential areas on an emergency basis , and continuing training exercises at various levels . The seminar was addressed by Professor Dr. Md. Maksud Helali, Vice – Chancellor, Khulna University of Engineering and Technology, Khulna; Professor Dr. Md. Zillur Rahman, Professor, Department of Disaster Science and Environmental Science, Dhaka University; Brigadier General Abu Naeem Md. Shahidullah (retd), former Director General of Fire Service; Vice President of Safety Awareness Foundation Architect Iqbal Habib; Former Director General of Fire Service Brigadier General (Retd.) Ali Ahmed Khan ; Executive Editor of Ekushey TV Mr. Harun Ur Rashid; Professor Dr. Mehedi Ansari, Bangladesh University of Engineering and Technology ; Dr. Abdus Salam , Professor , Department of Inorganic and Analytical Chemistry , Dhaka University ; Major AKM Shakil Newaz (Retd.), Former Director ( Operation and Maintenance ); Mr. Md. Fuara Khatun, Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Home Affairs; Mr. Dinmani Sharma , Deputy Director ( Retd ), Fire Service and Civil Defence; Mr. Md . Abdul Halim, Deputy Director (Retd), Fire Service and Civil Defence ; Architect Ishtiaq Zahir, Secretary General of Safety Awareness Foundation Engineer Zakir Uddin Ahmed, ISAB representative Engineer Md. Manjur Alam, etc. At that time, senior officials including directors of the Fire Service and Civil Defence Department were present directly and all the divisional deputy directors and district officers of the Fire Service and Civil Defence were connected online. In the meeting, everyone agreed that the’ Permanent Expert Panel ‘ will play an active role in regular consultation, research and policy formulation in the future to ensure the overall public safety of the country. The Director General expressed his sincere thanks and gratitude to all the experts and said, ‘ I hope that this panel will play an important role in upgrading disaster management to a modern , information-based and scientific level. The Director General expressed his sincere thanks and gratitude to all the experts and said, ‘I hope that this panel will play an important role in upgrading disaster management to a modern, information-based and scientific level .