SRINAGAR - Landslides buried at least 15 people in Indian Kashmir on Monday as hundreds fled their homes after heavy rains triggered flooding around the mountainous region.
Police and witnesses said landslides had buried at least four houses in Chadoora, the worst-hit area of the Himalayan region, where hundreds were killed in devastating floods last September.
“The ground above the houses just collapsed early Monday morning and buried them,” villager Muhammad Sultan told AFP by telephone from Chadoora, around 15 kilometres west of the main city of Srinagar.
“All of them just suddenly got buried alive.
Now they are nowhere to be found,” he said.
Regional police chief Javid Mujtaba Gillani said 15 villagers had been in the houses when they were buried and a rescue effort was under way.
But an AFP reporter at the scene said earth-moving machines had been unable to get close because roads had been swept away, leaving police and soldiers armed only with shovels to search for the victims.
A local police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said there was no hope of finding anyone alive given the scale of the landslide.
Gillani said 237 families had been evacuated, most of them from Chadoora, after the government issued a flood alert early Monday when the River Jhelum swelled to dangerously high levels.
With more rain forecast for the next few days, the authorities set up relief camps in Srinagar and issued an alert asking people living near the River Jhelum to move to safer areas.
Many residents said they did not trust the authorities after devastating floods last September that killed around 300 people, left thousands more homeless and destroyed property and infrastructure worth $16 billion.
Srinagar resident Rafique Ahmed Wani said he had been forced to leave his home and shift to relatives after being flooded for the second time in less than a year.
“Ever since the last flood we have been asking the authorities to repair the embankment of the stream.
But nothing was done.
Now we are flooded again and had to leave our homes,” he said, calling the government callous.
Some complained that Srinagar’s drains had not been cleared since the last disaster, causing water to back up and flood the city again.
“My factory was not flooded the last time.
But now I have two feet of water on my factory’s floor.
This is all because of water logging,” said Ashraf Mir, an industrialist and president of Kashmir Federation of Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Local media said the main highway had been closed, while schools were shut for the day and both school and university exams cancelled.
The Kashmir government was heavily criticised for its response to the 2014 disaster, with many parts of Srinagar still cut off days after the floods hit and residents forced to organise their own rescue efforts.
Television footage at the time showed furious locals stoning army rescuers and helicopters carrying relief to flood-hit areas for being left to fend for themselves for days after the floods hit.
The then chief minister Omar Abdullah defended his government’s handling of the worst floods in a century, saying no one could have foreseen the disaster’s magnitude.
But voters later ousted his National Conference from power in state elections, a result attributed in part to public anger over the handling of the disaster.
LAKHVI CASE SUB-JUDICE, BETTER NOT JUMP THE GUN: BASIT
Agencies add from New Delhi: Pakistan’s High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit told reporters on Monday that India should “not jump the gun” as the case related to Mumbai attack’s alleged mastermind Zakiur Rehman Lakhvi is ‘sub-judice’, according to a media report.
India had expressed anger earlier this month after the Islamabad High Court ordered Lakhvi’s release and declared his detention illegal, although he was later detained again for 30 days.
“The case is sub-judice.
So let’s wait.
Better not jump the gun,” Pakistani High Commissioner Abdul Basit told reporters in New Delhi.
When asked about Union Minister of State for External Affairs VK Singh’s controversial tweets, Basit declined to comment.
“No comments.
He was our chief guest,” Basit said.
Shortly after representing the Indian government at Pakistan Day reception held at the Pakistan High Commission in Delhi, Indian Minister of State for External Affairs V K Singh tweeted with the hashtag ‘Disgusted’, hinting that he might have been unhappy at being deputed to it.
At an industry chamber function, Basit said that India’s economic growth will help the entire SAARC region.
Basit added that it is important to create a level playing field and inter-dependencies among the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) nations.
“We need to be more realistic in our perspectives because without promoting regional integration, one does not know as to how one would become part of the global supply chain,” Basit said.
“We are looking forward to work together to lift our people from the morass of poverty, illiteracy and disease because these are common challenges and common objectives,” the high commissioner added.
“So we are looking forward to work hand in hand with other SAARC member countries to achieve our shared objectives.
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