7 people killed in Meghalaya landslide, two bodies recovered

Shillong : At least seven people have been buried under the mountain soil due to heavy landslide in Hatiyasia Songma under Gasupara in South Garo Hills district of Meghalaya. The team of the first battalion NDRF, which reached the spot, is engaged in relief and rescue work. The accident took place late night on 3 October. Due to continuous rain in the Northeast for the last few days, normal life has been badly affected. The situation has become even more serious due to landslides at many places. It is known that today, on the fourth day of this landslide incident, the body of a person has been recovered. The incident spot is located in a very inaccessible area. Due to which the administration got information about the accident on the second day. After which relief and rescue work has been started. The team of the first battalion NDRF based in Guwahati has reached the spot and started relief and rescue work. A senior NDRF official has said that the work of removing the debris has been started since yesterday. The body of a person has been recovered from the debris this morning. Relief and rescue work is going on at the spot. NDRF sources have said that as soon as the information about the incident was received from the district administration on October 4, the NDRF team left for the spot. Due to continuous rain, the team reached on foot on Friday night. After which the work of removing the mountain soil was started from Saturday. Two bodies have been recovered after hard work this morning. Relief and rescue work is still going on at the spot. Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has expressed his condolences on this incident and directed the District Magistrate to release the ex-gratia amount to the families of the deceased as soon as possible. During the review meeting on the flood situation, Chief Minister Conrad K Sangma has announced the removal of all wooden bridges and the construction of more durable and long-lasting Retrofitted Bailey bridges. There are about 30 such wooden bridges in the district, which get damaged even with minor wrath of nature. The deceased in the incident have been identified as Silji R Marak (60, mother), Merina R Marak (39, daughter), Sama N Sangma (50, son-in-law), Chengbe R Marak, (22, granddaughter), Desrang R Marak (14, grandson), Silbera R Marak (8, granddaughter) and Dimsey R Marak (1.5 years, great-granddaughter). District SP Shailendra Bamania said that connecting roads and other things are still not back on track and the number of affected people may increase as more information comes from other districts. South Garo Hills is completely cut off from West Garo Hills, as both the border road and the main national highway have been damaged. Meanwhile, residents of various affected areas have taken the initiative to come out of their homes and collectively provide relief to the affected people. In Chokpot, local MLA Sengchim Sangma along with the BDO, SDPO and GSU members provided relief to those they could come in contact with. However, as many areas are still cut off, they could not get in. The effort was resumed on Sunday. Dalu C&RD block in West Garo Hills is one of the worst-affected areas, where state Rural Development Minister AT Mandal visited to take stock of the situation. He was accompanied by the DC as well as other personnel from the district and disaster management teams. Many people are still staying in relief camps. They are being provided ration. In South West Garo Hills, according to latest reports, the water has started receding and residents are returning to their homes. Several relief camps have been set up. According to the administration, a total of over 2,900 people from 13 villages in the district have been affected. Network and power have been restored in most places, although the number of affected people is likely to rise as more remote areas are now accessible. In all, 54 villages with a total population of 4,954 from 330 households have been affected so far.