Struck by twin tragedy

In a matter of 10 days, Bikram Chakma, 47, has lost two homes and all of his belongings.

After his ancestral home, where he lived with his father, was gutted in an arson attack by Bangalee settlers earlier this month, he took refuge in a Buddhist monastery while his wife and daughter continued to live in their home in Rangamati town.

"As that house went under the mud in Monday's landslide, my wife and daughter could barely manage to come out of it alive," the grieving man said.

Education certificates, documents of properties, jewellery and some cash were buried with everything else in the house, Bikram, who worked in a firm, said.

Hours after the landslide, he reached Udanti Adam area, where the house was, only to find that it was buried in thick mud. 

“I thank god they are alive. I have lost everything, but I have my family, which many people don't have after the deadliest landslide here,” the man said while talking to The Daily Star at Juba Unnayan Centre in Rangamati on Friday evening.

He and his wife and 17-year-old daughter, who passed SSC this year, now live there. His son is in Dhaka now for college admission.

One of his biggest uncertainties now is how he would provide for the education of the two.

"I lost my belongings in the arson attack in Tintila. My house was completely burnt,” he said.

On June 5, The Daily Star correspondents met Bikram at Longadu when he was hiding in a jungle, fearing further attacks by Bangalee settlers.

Over two hundred houses of indigenous people were vandalised, looted and burnt in the attack on three villages of Longadu on June 2.

Ten days later, on June 12, a devastating landslide killed at least 112 persons in the district and destroyed many houses.

“I do not have any place to live with my wife and daughter. The admission of my daughter Nabanita Chakma is scheduled on June 20 in a college. But all her books and other documents are gone,” he said.

"I can't think of a way to support the education of my son, daughter and build a house from scratch," he added.

Bikram alleged that the food provided by the government was inadequate and that the relatives and neighbours were providing food for 118 people who took shelter at Juba Unnayan Centre after the landslide.