On Sunday morning, Bilal Ahmad was attending to his shop when the structure suddenly began to groan and creak. Before he could understand what was happening, the floor beneath him split open with jagged cracks.
“I was terrified and rushed out immediately. The ground beneath us was slipping away,” Bilal recalled, still visibly shaken by the incident.
Within minutes, a nearby house collapsed completely. Panic-stricken villagers rushed out of their homes as the earth began to give way, triggering chaos across Kalaban village.
The road connecting Kalaban to the district headquarters has now fractured into two parts, cutting off the village from the rest of the region. Residents reported that the damage had rapidly intensified within a single day.
“Yesterday the cracks in the road were narrow, but today they have widened alarmingly,” said Reyaz Ahmad, a local resident.
The situation on the ground remains grim, with collapsed structures, houses marked by deep structural cracks, agricultural fields torn apart, and a large crater formed where the main road once existed. Families are losing their homes not due to conflict or sudden external disaster, but due to continuous subsidence of the earth itself.
The phenomenon began a week ago following an initial landslide and has continued without pause despite improved weather conditions. The ongoing ground movement has triggered widespread panic and extensive property damage across the village.
Villagers have reportedly lost hundreds of kanal units of fertile land, while dozens of structures have become uninhabitable. Many additional buildings have suffered partial damage and are no longer safe for residence.
Deputy Commissioner Rajouri, Abhishek Sharma, along with a team of revenue officials, visited the affected site to assess the extent of damage caused by the subsidence. According to preliminary field assessments, three houses have already collapsed, several others have developed severe structural cracks, and numerous buildings are partially damaged and unfit for habitation. Revenue officials continue to remain stationed at the site to evaluate total losses.
With the monsoon season approaching, fears among residents have intensified significantly.
“These structures are damaged to such an extent that they will not survive another spell of rain,” warned Munir, another villager.
Locals have urged the administration to provide immediate compensation and ensure their relocation to safer areas, citing the escalating risk to life and property.
Some residents have alleged that the subsidence is linked to National Highway construction in the region. They claim that heavy machinery used for cutting into the land loosened the soil structure, leading to the current ground instability.
As the earth continues to shift and the monsoon approaches, Kalaban village remains on edge, awaiting urgent relief and long-term rehabilitation measures.
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