‘We were helpless’: Mon landslide survivors share experiences

Vishü Rita Krocha 
Kohima | July 27

On the fateful Sunday morning of July 19, 30-year-old Chempai Konyak, a resident of Mon was woken up by his mother around 6:00 am. It had been raining heavily since after midnight, his father had said. A bit later, “while I was in the washroom, I heard this loud noise, that came from the house(s) crumbling down,” he recalled of the day that unfolded tragedy right before their eyes. 

But not expecting any such tragic incident to occur, he initially imagined an aeroplane flying above them while still wondering how that was possible in that weather condition. 

When he rushed out to see for himself, he witnessed a terrifying sight of a devastating landslide just opposite to his house, that would later claim 8 lives in Mon headquarter alone including 4 males and 4 females out of which, two bodies were not

“The only thing that crossed my mind was, where is Hetwang’s house?” he related. Hetwang is the lone survivor of his immediate family, who lost both his parents, brother and best friend. 

“Hetwang’s mother grew up in my colony. After marriage, they lived just to above my house, where Hetwang was also born and when he was about 10, they moved to the current landslide spot,” Chempai Konyak recalled.

Further highlighting that the locality where the landslide occurred is relatively new, he remembered it being a dense forest during his childhood. In the subsequent years, he saw few houses mushrooming every time he came home for a holiday till it grew to about 50-60 households in the present day, all of which were unfortunately either washed away or buried in the landslide.

On that fateful morning, soon after he saw the landslide occurring from across his house, he tried reaching Hetwang. “His phone was ringing but he didn’t answer,” he said while adding that, “even when we saw the landslide happen, we were helpless, everybody was focusing on vacating their houses.”

He later learnt that both Hetwang and his father had gone two separate ways to clear the water path while his best friend was helping his mother cook, while in the meantime, his mother had called a neighbour to help clear the blocked drainage as it had rained heavily before the ‘Big Landslide.’

“Hetwang witnessed everything with his eyes. He saw his mother drowning in the mud, he saw his brother’s hand waving up and asking for help....he lost his parents, brother, his best friend and neighbour all at once,” Chempai Konyak said. 

His best friend, “Pangao Konyak was our 5th semester student, whose body could not be retrieved. His house was also completely swept away. He lost his laptop, camera etc. He was a good photographer in the making,” remarked Dr Tialila Kikon, Principal of Wangkhao College, Mon. 

Following the Landslide Tragedy, Mon remains cut off with disrupted power and unstable communication. Wangkhao College has also been cut off with 5-6 landslides in between. 

“We are coordinating and restoration work is on but we don’t know how long it will take for buses to resume. We are hoping to resume normal classes on July 29,” she also informed while expressing that, “everyone is still in a state of shock.”

As Chempai Konyak recalled, “last week was very hectic with everybody involved in the search and rescue mission. If you combine Sunday till Friday, at least 10,000-20,000 people from Mon must have participated. Some even came from their villages on foot although Mon was completely cut off from Aboi, Tizit, and Wakching as well as Phomching (the only possible road routes) just to participate in the search mission besides the involvement of the Assam Rifles, District Administration, Disaster Management, Police, Fire and Emergency Services, etc.”

‘Only hope is in God’
“I did not expect three family members to die within seconds,” expressed Naokhao, Hetwang’s first cousin, who is still trying to come to terms with the loss of three loved ones.  

When the landslide occurred, having failed to get through their numbers, they rushed to the spot and frantically looked for them but could not find them anywhere. It was only at the hospital that they later saw the dead bodies of the mother and brother as the father’s body was found only the following day. 

“We also met Hetwang in the hospital only around 9:00 am,” she recalled even as she spoke of his courage to try and save his family amidst the flow of stones, mud, water and debris.

“He is still very heartbroken. He lost his home, his entire family and the very plot of land his parents had secured,” she further related. 

However, despite the devastating landslide that completely shattered their lives, she said, “our only hope is in God now.”