Bangladesh News

A rain-induced mudslide at Matijharna in Chittagong city early yesterday left 11 people, almost all of two families, dead and two injured. The mudslide destroyed 14 houses of a slum built on a hillside from which the government was relocating families apprehending the danger.

Sources and eyewitnesses said a large chunk of Tankir Pahar, a hill in Chittagong city, slid down on the tin-roofed houses of Hossain Colony slum around 5:00am killing the 11 including six of a single family. Firemen with the help of locals recovered the bodies and sent the injured to Chittagong Medical College Hospital (CMCH).

The dead were identified as Johora Akhter, 35, her daughter Sumaiya Akhter, 7, her three sons Amirul, 9, Khairul, 11, and Zahirul, 13, and her uncle Taju Mia, 55, Suru Mia, 55, his wife Anwara, 42, Fatema Begum, 45, her sister-in-law Bilkis, 15, and Shahjadi, 7.

Suru Mia and Anwara’s daughter Kulsum, 10, was injured and she underwent surgery in her leg in CMCH. The other injured was identified as Ayjan Begum, 45.

END OF A FAMILY
Two years ago Johora came to Chittagong with her four kids hoping for a better life leaving behind her mentally challenged husband in Comilla.

She along with her kids and uncle Taju have been living in the single-room house at Matijahrna slum as the rent was cheap. Her husband Jasim joined them later and she brought in her brother Hasan to her home recently.

Jasim and Hasan were the ones mourning the death of almost all in the family yesterday.

Hasan yesterday said, “We were sleeping on the bed and on the floor last night. I woke up hearing a sound of something big falling and immediately found myself covered in mud and pinned down by the ceiling fan and the tin-roof. I could see nothing and had difficulty breathing.”

“I struggled desperately, freed one of my hands, removed the debris and found a way out,” said the 21-year-old. He then broke down in tears trying to say that he could do nothing for the others.

KULSUM BECOMES AN ORPHAN
Suru Mia and his wife Anwara worked together as chef’s help at a community centre in Chittagong and died together under the mud yesterday.

Anwara’s brother Mofiz was staying with her as he was having treatment for TB in the city.

“With the lower part of her body under the heap of mud Ano [Anwara] was moaning in pain and asking for water when I came out of the mud and debris around 7:00am,” said Mofiz.

“Locals helped me rescue my niece Kulsum… her leg was broken. It was all over before I could give Ano water,” said Mofiz with tears rolling down his cheeks.

Suru and Anwara’s bodies were recovered another three hours later while their only child Kulsum was undergoing surgery in CMCH.

Fifteen-year-old Bilkis went to her relative Fatema’s house to give her company yesterday as Fatema’s husband and children were visiting their village home in Chandpur.

Bilkis’s parents live only a few hundred yards away in the same slum. “I did not even know when my daughter went to Fatema’s home,” said her father Shahid Ali.

Bilkis’s body was recovered around 2:20pm.

Rescuers recovered the body of seven-year-old Shahajadi around 12:30pm under the debris of her home.

The district administration and Chittagong City Corporation (CCC) immediately moved around 40 families to a local school from the hillside slum.

CCC acting Mayor Manjur Alam, Chittagong Divisional Commissioner Hossain Jamil, and Deputy Commissioner Ashraf Shamim visited the spot.

The CCC also formed a five-member probe body led by CCC Chief Revenue Officer Mohiuddin Ahmed Khan. The other members of the committee are CCC Chief Conservancy Officer Saifuddin Mahmud Katebi, Estate Officer Ahmedul Haque and local ward councillors Kabir Manik and Monwara Begum Moni. The committee was asked to submit its report within three days.

The 14 destroyed houses were among around 150 structures advocate Abdullah Hasan Piko erected in the slum which was named after his late father Md Hossain.

The CCC acting mayor said they would file a case against the owner of the houses for renting houses when the CCC was relocating the families living in the area.

The district administration opened a relief camp at Lalkhan Bazar Govt Primary School and the 14 families, whose houses were destroyed, were moved there, said Divisional Commissioner Hossain Jamil.

The district administration would provide food relief, financial assistance and compensation to the victims’ families, he added.

Deputy Commissioner Ashraf Shamim said, “We have already sent one tonne of rice as immediate food relief for the affected people. We will provide Tk 5,000 for each victim’s burial along with the compensation. The compensation would be provided from a fund the district administration raised for landslide victims,” he said.

Ashraf said families would be provided Tk 50,000 in damages for losing one family member, Tk 70,000 for two, Tk 80,000 for three, Tk 90,000 for four and Tk 1 lakh for five or more.

Thousands of people still live on hillsides or in valleys which are vulnerable to mudslides and landslides.

On June 11 last year mudslides left 127 people dead in Chittagong.

Relocating people to safer areas have often failed to achieve the expected results.

Yesterday’s landslide happened during an ongoing relocation programme in the area.

A number of influential locals often build flimsy homes on risky hillsides and valleys and rent those to people of low-income group.

“Making the relocation drive twice a week we have so far demolished 230 shanties in Matijharna slums,” said Monwara Begum Moni.

“The houses that were destroyed were put under lock and key and the residents were asked to move,” said local CCC ward councillor Kabir Manik.

The members of the affected families alleged that they could not leave the shanties without clearing all the unpaid rent.

“Men collecting rents on behalf of Piko advised us to lock the shanties and leave during relocation drives,” said Ayub Ali, a tenant of Piko.

Over 3,000 shanties sprung up at Matijharna on railway land over decades.

Like Matijharna a good number of slums also developed on government khas land around the hills at Jamtali, Lalkhan Bazar, South Pahartali and an area west of Foy’s Lake.

These pieces of land mostly belong to Bangladesh Railway, Forest Department and Public Works Department.

Following the June 11 landslides last year, a committee led by the Chittagong divisional commissioner was formed to compensate and rehabilitate the people affected in landslides in Chittagong.

“A 27-acre khas hilly-land under Hathazari upazila was selected for rehabilitating landslide victims immediately after the incident. The site had to be cancelled as it fell under the firing range of Bangladesh Army,” said Chittagong Divisional Commissioner Hossain Jamil talking to The Daily Star yesterday.

The site was also way off from the city centre and discouraged working people to move there, he said.

As an alternative, the committee later selected another 5.92 acres of land worth Tk 53 crore belonging to Bangladesh Railway at Jahan Ali Hat near Kalurghat Bridge.

“We have sent a proposal for developing rehabilitation centres at the newly selected sites and as far as I know the proposal is now under consideration of the ministries concerned,” said the divisional commissioner.

He said around 2,400 families could be rehabilitated at Jahan Ali Hat site.

PRESIDENT’S CONDOLENCE
President Iajuddin Ahmed expressed profound shock at the loss of 11 lives in landslide in Chittagong yesterday, UNB reports.

Terming the incident shocking, the president in a message said local administration should be more active and people’s awareness must be raised to avoid repetition of such incident in future.

He urged all concerned to expedite rescue operations and provide quick treatment to the injured. He also prayed for the salvation of the departed souls and conveyed deep sympathy to the bereaved family members.