Hazardous Settlements in Chattogram Region Must Be Relocated

Fatalities caused by landslides in the Chattogram-Cox’s Bazar region during the monsoon season have become a tragic, recurring phenomenon. Once again, such unwelcome news has emerged.

According to media reports, landslides caused by heavy monsoon rains have killed at least eleven people, including eight Rohingya refugees, in separate incidents in Rohingya Refugee camps and the town of Ukhiya in Cox’s Bazar.

Hillsides collapsed at four locations in Cox’s Bazar refugee camps between late Sunday and early Monday morning, burying shelters under mud and debris while people sheltering there were sleeping.

Meanwhile, authorities have moved about 1,000 refugees from landslide-prone slopes and are planning to relocate several thousand more.

However, oofficials have warned that heavy rainfall is expected over the coming days, which could trigger further landslides.

In 2017, approximately 8,000 acres of forest land in Ukhiya and Teknaf were cleared to establish 34 refugee camps.

Currently, around 1.4 million Rohingya reside in these camps. Media reports indicate that at least 80,000 of them are at risk of landslides.

Fatalities due to landslides have occurred in these Rohingya camps in the past as well.

While landslides are natural disasters, human-induced factors have also contributed to them.

A group of influential individuals is indiscriminately cutting down hills-disregarding all laws and regulations-for housing projects, commercial developments, or road construction.

This practice loosens the soil’s cohesion; consequently, during heavy monsoon rains, the loose earth collapses and slides down.

It is the poor and homeless living precariously at the foothills who ultimately fall victim to these devastating landslides.

Experts observe that although the country has existing environmental conservation laws and penal provisions to protect hills and forests, instances of their enforcement are extremely rare.

While no casualties from landslides have been reported in Chattogram so far, concern has grown following the deaths of eleven people in landslides triggered by heavy rainfall in the Rohingya refugee camps in Ukhiya and in different parts of Cox’s Bazar town.

Administrative oversight also falls short of expectations. Consequently, hills and forests are being destroyed day by day, while new afforestation programmes are lacking the necessary scale.

As a result, the loss of life due to environmental disasters continues to rise.

We believe it is essential to take necessary measures to prevent loss of life due to landslides.

Merely issuing warnings to those living precariously on the hillsides is not enough; their safe relocation must also be ensured.