Families evacuated after Hakha landslides

19 June 2015 — Heavy rains causing landslides in Hakha around 2pm yesterday forced at least 18 families to evacuate from their houses.

And more houses on Olive Road and Tlangbo Sang road were put in danger as there were cracks on the ground on a steep hillside.

However, no houses were destroyed and no casualties reported.

An Olive road resident told the Chinland Guardian that it had been the first time she had come across such a dangerous situation in twenty years.

“This actually happened soon after the road in front of our house was widened with big bulldozers and backhoes last month,” she said.

A resident on Tlangbo Sang Road said that the new roadwork had been left without a proper drainage system, adding: “Some waters are stagnating here and there and they make the soil damp and weak. That is what has made landslides happen.”

Hung Ngai, chief minister of the Chin State government, together with State ministers, visited the site, urging members of the fire brigade, the municipal department and the police force to build a wall to keep soil from moving downwards.

A community leader said: “What he told them to do is not a solution to the problems related to landslides. We need something practical that gives us a long-term solution. And he didn’t say anything about providing assistance to those affected families.”

The families are temporarily staying in the houses of neighbours and relatives.#