Disaster strikes twice: Families lose home twice in Kotgarh

Losing a house to a natural disaster is tragic. Losing it twice within two years is just unbelievable. A couple of families in Shathla village of the Kotgarh region in Shimla are living with this trauma.

A joint family of three brothers lost their big ancestral house in the 2023 natural calamity. This year, they saw the land slipping from beneath the three houses they had constructed after losing the ancestral house.

“It’s unbelievable what we have gone through. When we lost our ancestral house, we decided to construct separate houses. Now, all those newly-built houses are gone too,” said Raghuvir Singh Jistu, the eldest of the three brothers. They built the concrete houses on a flatter land, away from their collapsed ancestral house. Unfortunately, the entire hillock started sinking following heavy rains this monsoon.

“Several houses have sunk three to four feet, or have slipped from their original place. Around 11-12 houses have suffered irreparable damage and have been vacated. Many other houses on the slope are also under threat,” said Sunil Chauhan, pradhan of gram panchayat Mangsu.

Jistu shares that he and his brothers have not only lost their houses but orchards as well. “The land is sinking and slipping down. Our orchards are also slipping away. We have lost whatever we had managed to build in our life time. The only consolation is that we did not lose any family member in this tragedy,” said Jistu.

Rapinder Jaret, vice-pradhan of gram panchayat Mangsu, is another victim of the disaster. Jaret’s house had suffered massive damage during the 2023 disaster, forcing him to shift elsewhere. “I did a lot of restoration work last year, including raising a protection wall and strengthening beams and pillars. We were planning to move back to our house after monsoon, but the house is gone and we’ve nowhere to go now,” said Jaret.

Even as the economic setback is massive, Jaret is more concerned about the psychological impact the tragedy has had on the family. “The tragedy has left deep mental scars. Everyone in the family, including children, is so stressed. We really don’t know how to cope with the loss,” said Jaret.

Having lost their houses and land, the affected families want the government to give them suitable land elsewhere so that they can restart their lives. “Whatever land we had was around our houses. As the entire slope is sinking and slipping, we can’t even think of constructing a house there. I hope the government will understand our plight and rehabilitate us at a safer place,” said Jistu.