Five districts—Chittagong, Cox’s Bazar and the three hill districts of Rangamati, Khargachari and Bandarban—are prone to landslides during the rainy season. As many people live on the hill slopes of these districts, the Chittagong divisional commissioner has drawn up several action plans to avert possible loss of lives in landslides during the coming monsoon. Md Nurul Alam Nizami, additional commissioner (development) of Chittagong division, said this at a "Symposium on Exploring Solutions: Landslide Susceptibility in Chittagong Region of Bangladesh,” organised by Songshoptaque and BITA at the Chittagong Zila Parishad Auditorium yesterday (Wednesday). He was speaking as the chief guest.

“We are considering the five districts as risky during the coming monsoon. In the meantime, we have sent letters to the deputy commissioners of these districts. The directives include relocating of people living on hill slopes before the advent of rains,” said Nizami.

"The people living on hill slopes are not conscious. We have to make them aware. If the people become aware, the risk of disaster would be reduced to a great extent. If we can create awareness, we would reduce the disaster created by men by 80 per cent . We have directed the DCs to temporarily relocate people from the hill slopes. It's not possible to relocate them permanently. To continue the development process, we have to make the people aware,” he added.

At the symposium, the additional seputy commissioner (ADC) of Rangamati, SM Shafi Kamal, and the ADC of Khargachari, Kazi Md Cahel Tastori, alleged that some unscrupulous people are extracting stones in the Chittagong Hills Tracts area, causing landslides. They demanded that extracting of stones and unplanned development of the CHT be stopped.

The ADC of Cox’s Bazar, Mahidur Rahman, said about two lakh Rohingyas are at risk of landslides. The Chittagong

University of Engineering and Technology’s (CUET’s) former vice-chancellor Dr Jahangir Alam, environmentalist Idris Ali, climate change, disaster and risk mitigation specialist M Abdur Rahman Rana spoke at the symposium.

They said that landslides have increased in the hilly region of Chittagong after 1967. Climate change and inefficient engineering systems contribute greatly to landslides.  With the rapid change in weather and soil erosion, landslides are increasing constantly, they added. The symposium was presided over by the Consumers’ Association Bangladesh (CAB) Chittagong chapter president, SM Nazar Hossain, and moderated by Sourav Barua, secretary of Songshoptaque. The welcome speech was delivered by the CEO of Songshoptaque, Liton Chowdury, and BITA manager Bappa Chowdhury.