Landslide death in Chittagong

The death of a woman and five children last Sunday in a landslide in Chittagong has been deeply disturbing. The incident took place after the government-appointed Hill Management Committee (HMC) had earmarked 30 hills as vulnerable to landslip and recommended the relocation of 666 families. A year on, the administration has not taken any step to rid the hills of risky structures out of the danger zone. To make it even more grievous, some nefarious businessmen in connivance with political bigwigs cut hills and illegally build makeshift houses on the slope and at the foot of the hills. They are provided with utility connection and are rented out to poor people. As a result, with the advent of monsoon, the threat of landslide death looms large in the hills of Chittagong. In 2007, 127 people were buried alive in a single incident in the city's Lalkhan Bazaar area, with no lesson whatsoever learnt from that disaster.  

The administration needs to relocate the families living in hills susceptible to landslip. Retaining walls have to be constructed to stop mudslide and the recommendation of the HMC followed so as to take up afforestation programmes and erect barbed-wire fences around the hills that are prone to landslide. The authorities have to be more vigilant in order to prevent hill cutting, and those behind this debased business must be brought to book. Also, as experts suggest, soil protection measures have to be put in place to prevent landslides.