Phesama Landslide: Heart-rending And Detached - Eastern Mirror
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Nagaland

Phesama landslide: Heart-rending and detached

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By EMN Updated: Aug 27, 2015 1:30 am

Our Correspondent
PHESAMA, AUGUST 26

The sense of crisis caused by the massive landslide at Phesama continued to loom over the villagers as more houses are being affected and the village authorities on Wednesday informed that more than 200 people have been displaced.
The slide has cut off the National Highway-29 which connects Nagaland and Manipur, and caused damage to many houses, a good portion of forest and paddy fields of the Phesama villagers. The Village Council informed media persons that the number of affected households has gone up to 46 while several others are at risk.
“Our main concern is the affected families. They need immediate relief,” says Rovise Khale, the village council secretary. He said though this is a natural calamity, but in the view that the area being a landslide prone one, the government has to step in and initiate some long term measures so that such disasters may be avoided in future.
Supplementing to this, a ‘gaon bura’ (GB) of the village said this was the fifth major landslide that has occurred in this stretch of land. The others had occurred in 1962, 1990, 2003 and 2013.
One of the currently displaced families is said to have lost their house in the 1990 landslide and they relocated to another house towards the highway which they lost again this year’s landslide. The family, headed by the father Duolhoule, consists of ten members. They informed that they are presently being sheltered by relatives like the rest of the affected families. It was also learnt that five houses among those damaged belonged to five brothers who lived in the same area with their respective families. All the five families are reported to be putting up with close relatives.
The village council and the Nagaland State Disaster Management Authority are said to be contemplating to set up a relief camp for the displaced families however, final decisions are yet to be made regarding this. Meanwhile, the council chairman Vimedo informed that volunteers from Phesama and Southern Angami villages, students of St. Joseph’s College Jakhama, Japfü Christian College Kigwema and St. Paul School Phesama are working round the clock assisting commuters, ferrying the belongings of affected households and dismantling the affected houses.
He said the landslide was aggravated along with heavy rainfall since there was no proper channel for water to flow down. Towards this, he said that the village authority has appealed to the Border Roads Organization (BRO) to construct a durable drainage as well as a stable protection wall. He also informed that Phesama Village Council has put up a proposal for construction of a 2km by-pass road from St. Paul School to Kisama without linking to the landslide area, which can be used as an alternate route for light vehicles. He said the matter was pointed out to the Roads & Bridges minister and the minister has assured to take up the matter.
The chief engineer of Project Sewak in-charge of Nagaland and Manipur, Vinod Kumar and commander 15 BRTF, Col. SP Yadava were also present at the affected site on Wednesday and they said they understand the plight of the people of the southern villages as well as those in Manipur due to the blockade of the highway from the landslide.
The CE said maximum priority is being given to clear the road and provide passage for light vehicles. He said around 40-50 personnel were committed in the operations along with four machineries. He stated that he could not guarantee when the road will be ready for heavy vehicles to ply.
On whether the border roads authority is planning any measures for this landslide prone area, he said for that the Geological Survey of India (GSI) will have to first conduct a survey.
The National Highway on this stretch has been completely cut off from August 20. The Kohima district administration, NSDMA, police, medical team, different organizations etc have been giving efforts to ensure safety to the public and provide relief to the affected villagers.

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By EMN Updated: Aug 27, 2015 1:30:38 am
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