Jammu rain: Land sinks in Samba village, families evacuated as houses on verge of collapse

Jammu, Sept 1 (PTI) The sinking of a large chunk of land triggered by heavy rain has pushed houses to the brink of collapse in a hamlet of Jammu and Kashmir’s 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.

"We are 10 to 12 families living here. 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. PTI AB MPL MPL