Four earthquakes strike near Bangladesh border, triggering nationwide tremors

Series of overnight tremors

Four earthquakes struck near Bangladesh's borders within the space of four hours overnight, shaking homes across the country and waking residents in several major cities.

The consecutive tremors began just after midnight on Sunday, with epicentres located along Bangladesh's frontiers with India and Myanmar. Although the shaking was felt nationwide—from Cox’s Bazar in the far south to the capital, Dhaka—disaster management officials have not received any immediate reports of casualties or major structural damage.

The timeline of the quakes

The seismological activity began at 12:12 am on Sunday when a magnitude 4.9 earthquake hit the border region between Myanmar and Bangladesh. The European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) registered the event, which triggered noticeable shaking in Chattogram and areas close to the Cox’s Bazar-Teknaf border.

Only sixty seconds later, at 12:13 am, a stronger magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck India's Mizoram state. The epicentre was located in the Lunglei district, near the Indian border with Bangladesh. Because of its strength and location, these tremors were felt across a broad swath of eastern Bangladesh, including Cumilla, Feni, Noakhali, and Chattogram.

An hour later, at 1:27 am, a third earthquake measuring magnitude 3.8 struck near Agartala, the capital of India's Tripura state. India's National Centre for Seismology confirmed the tremor originated in the Dhalai area of Tripura. This quake was strong enough to cause mild shaking in Dhaka, located dozens of miles to the west, as well as in several neighbouring districts.

A fourth and final earthquake was recorded just as dawn approached. The Bangladesh Meteorological Department reported a magnitude 4.8 earthquake at approximately 4:00 am, placing its epicentre roughly 443 kilometres from Dhaka. The department did not immediately release details on the exact coordinates of this fourth event or any reports of its localized impact.

Growing anxiety over repeated shaking

The rapid succession of earthquakes—particularly the first three, which occurred within a 75-minute window—sparked widespread concern among residents. Social media was flooded with accounts of people waking up to rattling windows and swaying ceiling fans, especially those living in high-rise apartments in Dhaka and Chattogram.

The region sits near the junction of several active tectonic plate boundaries, making it highly susceptible to seismic activity. This overnight series is the latest in a string of minor to moderate earthquakes recorded around Bangladesh and its neighbouring Indian states in recent weeks, keeping local geologists and disaster response teams on high alert.