India: Six houses in Dhanbad’s Dharmabandh locality collapsed in the wee hours of Sunday while over 20 houses developed cracks.

July 15, 2013

Six houses in Dhanbad’s Dharmabandh locality collapsed in the wee hours of Sunday while over 20 houses developed cracks. However, no person was injured in the mishap.

The incident has rendered more than 100 people homeless and they had to spend the night under trees.

The area is situated in the coal belt of Dhanbad and illegal mining is considered to be the reason behind the incident.

A source said around 5am people could feel tremors in their sleep.

First they thought a quake had hit Dhanbad and rushed out to escape.

After sometime, six houses collapsed to the ground, some were razed to the ground while others were partially damaged.

The local administration has started relief activities to help the victims Dhanbad SP Anoop T Mathew said no person has suffered injuries in the incident. “I have come to know about the development.

Some houses have collapsed but no one suffered injuries,” said Mathew. A victim, Sunita Devi told reporters that the ceiling fan in the asbestos-roofed house started shaking suddenly.

The lady said she realized that some quake had hit the area and raised a cry for everyone to vacate the house. Several household items were buried in the incident.

A similar situation was faced by other households in the locality. The district administration has launched an investigation into the incident.

The Dhanbad-Ranchi main line is situated just 500 meters away from the place of the incident.

Dhanbad DC Prashant Kumar said the district administration had started the process of rehabilitating the affected families. “I had sent a team of experts to the affected place.

The process of rehabilitating them has also begun,” said Kumar.

Source