Mumbai: Last year during Mumbai's killer floods, a landslide in the northern suburbs of Saki Naka killed scores of people.
The Saki Naka shanties dot precarious hillocks that are a permanent death threat. One year after the deadly deluge, CNN-IBN returns to find out how the suburb is facing the rains this time on.
Many families were wiped out in the July 26 deluge last year including 15-year-old Mohammed Afzal. The landslide last year buried more than 70 people and also wiped out his whole family but like everyone else here, he doesn't have the money to move away.
“Nine of my family members died in the landslide,” Afzal says.
The mosoons this year too brought rising tempers, fear and desperation at this slum colony that houses more than 3,000 people.
The families of those who died were given Rs 2 lakh as compensation others whose homes were crushed got Rs 5,000 - not enough to build new homes or lives.
“As the rainy season has begun, we feel scared for next four months. Where can we go?” Saki Naka resident Jehrun Nissa says.
“So many people have been buried under it. What did they get?” another resident Ram Charan Kanojia says.
Firemen say it's a Catch 22 situation at Saki Naka. Every year they warn people to move away from these illegal shanties but they can't afford to.
The lanes here remain narrow so they will prevent rescue workers from coming in quickly. The water pipes are crumbling so they will burst cutting water supply for firemen.
The only good thing is that the area now has more legal power points that reduce chances of a blaze.
Comments
0 comment