19 families evacuated as land sinks in J&K's Rajouri, Samba after rainfall

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Nineteen families were evacuated when a portion of land in Rajouri and Samba districts in Jammu and Kashmir started sinking due to incessant rains on Monday, officials said.

Eleven houses were vacated in Rajouri and eight in Samba, they said.

A vast portion of land started sinking due to incessant rains in Rajouri's Badhaal village, which has been declared a "risk zone", Additional Deputy Commissioner, Kotranka, Dil Mir said.

"We fear that these houses could suffer damages if the sinking continues. The families have been provided alternate arrangements by the administration," he said.

The sinking of a large chunk of land triggered by heavy rain has pushed houses to the brink of collapse in a hamlet in Samba district, prompting authorities to evacuate families to safer places.

"Due to the floods triggered by heavy rain over the past few days in Samba, cracks have appeared in roads and houses near Jamoda village. The village is located on the Samba-Mansar-Udhampur road. Land subsidence has pushed eight houses to the verge of collapse," an official said on Monday.

In view of the situation, a team of the administration rushed to the village and took immediate action by evacuating people from all the houses and shifting them to safer places, officials said.

The affected families have been provided with relief material and accommodation in a school and some government buildings, they mentioned further.

Mohammad Anwar, a villager who left the hamlet and shifted his family to a government accommodation, said the situation worsened following heavy rain over the past few days.

"The current situation is such that the land beneath our houses is sliding completely, and a long crack has developed across a half-kilometre stretch. This fissure has also extended to the middle of the main road along the Mansar route, running parallel to the hillside," said Anwar, who lives in the Scheduled Tribe basti of Jamoda hamlet.

The houses of the Jamoda settlement in the Nud block - built on a small elevated patch along the Samba-Mansar-Udhampur road have been severely affected, officials noted, adding that while some houses developed cracks after the first spell of rain, the situation has now worsened to the extent that every house in the area is on the verge of collapse.

"Most of the houses have developed big cracks, and these widen every day," another villager named Shoib Mohammad said, adding that it all began with the first spell of heavy rains on August 27. "Yesterday's rains did more damage," he added.

In a separate incident, five houses collapsed in Kangota village of Khawas tehsil following a landslide but those living houses escaped unhurt.

Mir said while three houses collapsed on Sunday, two others were damaged a day earlier.

The affected families have been provided necessary relief and efforts are on to ensure their proper rehabilitation, he said.

Over 21 residential houses have so far collapsed in Kotranka over the past one month owing to heavy rainfall in the district, the officials said.