Rangamati residents continue to live in shadows of landslides

Autorickshaw driver Fazal Karim lost his youngest son Munna when a landslide buried his house in the Post Office Colony in Rangamati last year.

Fazal himself had been trapped underneath. His neighbour Badal Dutta had the same fate when his sons Sumon Dutta and Rupom Dutta died in landslides.    

Although Badal has moved out of the place selling his piece of land, Fazal along with the rest of his family has been living in a newly built house in the same place now known as ‘death zone.’

Although Badal has moved out of the place selling his piece of land, Fazal along with the rest of his family have been living in a newly built house in the same place now known as ‘death zone.’

Not only Fazal, but also others have been living in the neighbourhoods -- Notun Para, Sonatan Para, Kinamoni Ghona, Jubo Unnoyon, Shimultoli in Rangamati where landslides killed people and damaged homes.

Longing for the place drew them back to the risky area. Residents keep themselves awake at night when it rains.

However, some of the residents in the neighbourhoods where people died in landslides have moved elsewhere. Some of them have built new house but are living in a rented place elsewhere.

At least 120 people were killed in horrific landslides on Jun 12 last year in Rangamati. And 192 others were injured in the incident.

People started building new habitats in the same neighbourhoods in Rangamati just after a year of the incident.

Fazal has built a tin-roofed, two-roomed house in the same place where the hill caved in; The broken electricity poll next to the house still bears the sign of the horror of last year’s landside.  

“We were living in a rented house in the nearby neighbourhood. I rebuilt my house five months ago and came back with my wife and son Ramzan,” Fazal said.

“What else can we do? This piece of land belongs to me; I have rebuilt my house and started living here again as it costs more if we stay elsewhere,” Fazal replied when asked why they are living in the risk zone.

However, he acknowledged they spend sleepless nights in fear when it rains.

Gopal Mallick lost his son Liton Mallick, daughter-in-law Chumki and three-year-old grandson Ayush Mallick when landslides hit their house in Sanatan Para.

Gopal’s house has been renovated with a strong tin fence around it.

“Where can we go leaving our ancestral house?” said Liton’s mother Basona Mallick when asked why she was living in the same place where she lost most of her family.

At least 23 families used to live in the neighbourhood of Kinamoni Ghona at Bhedbhedi Jubo Unnayan neighbourhood before the landslide struck on Jun 12.

Among them, six people including local head Kinamoni Chakma died in the landslide while 10 households were totally damaged.

Only two families left the neighbourhood after the landslides.

Those who lost family members never came back to live in the same neighbourhood but those who got their houses damaged returned and rebuilt households within three to six months, Kalpa Chakma said.

Devi Chakma, in her forties, said she and her family lived in a shelter home for three months and had to return once the shelter home was closed.

Residents in neighbourhoods like Notun Para, Sonatan Para, Kinamoni Ghona, Jubo Unnoyon, Shimultoli in Central Rangamati are gradually returning and setting habitat again in the same place after last year’s landslide. 

Autorickshaw driver Nabi Hossain and six others living near the cliff area next to Bhedbhedi Notun Para Mosque died in the landslide on Jun 12, leaving behind two of his children Sumon and Rubel.

They have rebuilt a tin-house in the same place although nobody lives there.

“Nabi’s sons have built the house only to keep the ownership,” said Abdul Khalek, an auto-rickshaw driver and a neighbour.

Another five houses built in the hills face the looming threat of landslides.

The district administration identified at least 15,000 people from 3,378 families vulnerable to possible landslides.

At least 609 families are living in vulnerability in 34 neighbourhoods in nine wards of Rangamati Municipality.

The authorities are preparing to move them away, said Deputy Commissioner AKM Mamunur Rashid.

“Those who are staying in the risk zone are being taken to safety. Also, we are not allowing people to rebuild houses in the risk areas.”