A big landslide has recently been triggered in a local village near Muzaffarabad. Starting in the second week of August, 2023 the landslide has completely destroyed more than twenty houses and many more at risk. Thankfully, there has not been any loss of life due relatively slow onset of the landslide and timely rescue and evacuation operation by the local administration.
Located at the right bank of the river Jhelum, the small village of Abhyal (Domeshi) consists of about forty houses. The local road has also been wiped out cutting off the community into two parts. The local administration is providing the affected households cooked food, dry rations, tents, plastic sheets and other non-food items. The government has planned to provide these families land across the river, not far from their relatives, to construct their houses.
The 2005 earthquake has severely destabilised the soil in vast areas. Coupled with recent monsoon rains and heavy structures, the top soil gave in. Although experts have strongly recommended not to construct heavy structures at steep slopes, there is no mechanism to enforce these recommendations. There are no building codes for the rural areas either.
There are no building codes for the rural areas either. People usually do construction without any involvement of the engineers/technical people. They do the soil cutting ruthlessly at steep slopes by using heavy machinery and explosives. This destabilizes the soil. Events like these are a reminder of the risks that local communities face due to unplanned, unauthorized and inappropriate construction.
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