A strong earthquake shook Bangladesh on 21 November 2025 at 10:38 AM, registering 5.7 on the Richter scale. The tremor caused significant disruptions across the national electricity network, damaging grid infrastructure, affecting substations, and forcing several power plants to shut down. More alarmingly, experts caution that the country may experience an even larger earthquake possibly magnitude 7 to 8.5—in the foreseeable future. This warning raises urgent questions regarding national preparedness and the resilience of critical infrastructure.
In such a context, the Bangladesh Water & Power Engineers Association (BWPEA) asserts that Bangladesh’s highest immediate priority should be the development of a comprehensive Rapid Power Restoration plan—a national strategy aimed at restoring electricity in the shortest possible time after a major disaster. The reason is simple: without electricity, essential lifeline services such as hospitals, water supply, fire services, telecommunications, and public transport become instantly incapacitated. The resulting paralysis severely hampers emergency response, disrupts daily life, and inflicts heavy losses on the national economy. Power restoration, therefore, is not merely a technical task; it is the foundation upon which post-disaster recovery depends.
Despite the clear urgency, Bangladesh has yet to promulgate a National Rapid Power Restoration Protocol, a gap that poses significant risk to the stability of the power sector. This stands in contrast to global practices. Countries with high disaster exposure follow well-established frameworks such as the NERC Restoration Standards in the United States, the FEMA Lifeline Resilience Framework, CIGRÉ post-disaster restoration models, and the IEEE Power System Restoration Guidelines. These models ensure that the sequence of actions during an emergency is predetermined, coordinated, and efficiently executed.
Bangladesh urgently needs a similar framework. A National Rapid Power Restoration Protocol (NRPRP) would clarify what actions must be taken immediately after infrastructural damage, which power plants should be brought online first, which substations should receive priority energization, and which critical loads must be restored ahead of others. The existence of such a protocol would eliminate confusion during emergencies, streamline decision-making, and enable a coordinated response at the national level.
While immediate restoration planning is essential, long-term resilience cannot be ignored. Bangladesh must strengthen its power infrastructure through structural retrofitting of vulnerable substations and grid components, expand the fleet of mobile transformers and substations, and institutionalize regular nationwide restoration drills. In the longer horizon, the country must transition towards a zonal, islandable national grid architecture, supported by smart and self-healing grid technologies and mandatory seismic-resilient design for all new power-sector projects.
Yet BWPEA stresses that these future-oriented initiatives, though crucial, must not overshadow the most urgent requirement of all: the immediate formulation and adoption of a national post-earthquake power restoration protocol. For this to succeed, a unified and independent framework involving BPDB and all power utilities is vital.
BWPEA reassures the nation that engineers across BPDB, WDB, and every power utility are working with dedication and professionalism. With appropriate strategic guidance, they remain fully prepared to execute rapid restoration operations following any major earthquake.
Given the real and pressing threat of a severe seismic event, BWPEA calls upon the relevant authorities to take immediate steps toward the formulation of a post-earthquake National Rapid Power Restoration Protocol. Swift restoration of electricity after a disaster will reduce human suffering, enable faster rescue and relief operations, and shield the country’s economy from large-scale disruptions. At this moment, no other policy action carries greater urgency or national importance.
Engr. Md. Shahedul Azim Sazal
Secretary General, Bangladesh Water & Power Engineers Association (BWPEA)
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