Dhaka, Nov. 28 -- The morning of November 21, 2025 - a Friday - is one that most Bangladeshis, but especially residents of Dhaka city, will likely remember for the rest of their lives. For years, despite various institutions, experts or even ordinary residents periodically voicing their concern over how the capital might cope in the event of a significant earthquake, the city's teeming masses - projected at a whopping 36.6 million by the UN this week - could be said to have lived a charmed life till now.

That's because despite several warnings, the big one never came. And eventually, we started believing it never would. Over a period covering at least three full decades, earthquakes felt in Dhaka happened to be distinctly mild, resulting...