Land sinking in Poonch’s Kalaban village damages 63 houses, displaces 70 families

Rajouri, Sep 9: At least 28 houses were destroyed and 35 others partially damaged due to land sinking in Kalaban village of Poonch district, forcing authorities to evacuate 70 families to safer locations, officials said on Tuesday.

The remote village of Kalaban is located in Mendhar and is surrounded by mountains, while a portion of this village is located on the downslope of a hill, where this sinking of land has taken place.

As per the details, after an initial landslide, sinking of land started in the village a week ago, and since then the land sinking has been going on continuously despite improvement in weather conditions.

The incident has not only sparked fear in the area but also caused a large-scale loss of property of villagers who have suffered not only the damage of hundreds of Kanals of land but also dozens of structures.

Sub Divisional Magistrate (SDM) Mendhar, Imran Rashid Kataria, said that as per the field assessment so far, twenty-eight houses have suffered complete damage, with many collapsed fully and the remaining ones developing huge cracks and being completely unsafe for living now.

He further informed us that around thirty-five structures were also partially damaged with cracks and were also unsafe for living.

SDM Mendhar said that seventy families have so far been evacuated from the affected area, with few families shifted to centres established by the government, while some families had shifted to their relatives.

The officer also informed us that one mosque, three schools and one graveyard also suffered damage in the land-sinking incident.