CHITRAL/SHANGLA: A landslide buried four houses and a mosque and shook the foundations of 18 other houses in Azurdam Sheshi village of Drosh town, rendering the families homeless on Wednesday morning.

Mujahid Khan, a social worker in the village, told Dawn that the affected families were shifted to a nearby government primary school building.

He said ration was being provided to the families, while Al-Khidmat Foundation, a charity of Jamaat-i-Islami, had also erected a number of tents on the premises of the school to house the families.

Lower Chitral deputy commissioner Mohammad Imran Khan told Dawn that rescue teams led by the assistant commissioner were dispatched to the affected village soon after the incident was reported.

He said rescue teams also shifted the cattle of the affected families to safer places.

He said Booni Road had been reopened for traffic on Wednesday, while work was in progress to reopen the Garam Chashma and Kalash valleys roads.

Meanwhile, in Shangla, the district administration on Wednesday evacuated the inmates of 19 houses in Karora area of Chakesar tehsil to safer places for fear of landslides.

The administration provided them with tents and other essential items.

The administration said upper parts of the district had been affected by rainfall, which lashed the region for five straight days, triggering landslides.

A police official said Karora-Chakesar Road got blocked near Karora after a heavy landslide struck it on Wednesday afternoon, stranding passengers.

Shangla deputy commissioner Ziaur Rehman said inmates were evacuated from their houses for fear of landslides.

He said tehsil municipal administration, Chakesar, had started removing landslides from the road.

The DC said an excavator machine had been sent to Pagorai area, where nine houses were at risk of being hit by landslide.

Bisham assistant commissioner Adnan Khan said work on clearing Kormang-Bisham Road had started to restore traffic on it.

He said the Bisham-Swat Road had also been reopened to light traffic.

Travellers said debris of landslide was still lying on the main road as the National Highway Authority did not send the road clearance machinery there.

The district administration said the downpour caused death of two people, three injuries and damaged 25 houses in Shangla.

Published in Dawn, April 18th, 2024