At the same slum, about 500 to 600 shanties were turned to ash in a fire in the same slum in November 2020. Earlier in December 2016, more than 100 shanties were burned in another fire. COURTESY
Reshma Akhter (28) went to bed around midnight and woke up hearing people screaming “fire!” The fire started inside a shanty, which was just behind her room. “I couldn’t manage to get my valuables,” she said.
More than 500 shanties were gutted as a devastated fire broke out at Sattola slum at Mohakhali around 3:40 am on Monday. According to the fire service duty officer Lima Khanam, the fire started in the slum about 4:00am.
At the same slum, about 500 to 600 shanties were turned to ash in a fire in the same slum in November 2020. Earlier in December 2016, more than 100 shanties were burned in another fire.
This reporter was talking to Reshma, who was weeping outside the Sattola slum and trying to go to her shanty for her belongings. Hailed from Noakhali, Reshma arrived at the slum with her aunt when she was six years old. She got married to Saidur Rahman, a day labourer, here in 2007. They have a nine-year-old son and a seven-year-old daughter.
“I had gold jewellery weighing one tola. I worked hard, saved up, and bought the gold for my daugher’s marriage,” said Reshma. She works as a domestic help. “I kept Tk 5,000 cash in my room for rent which was also gutted in the fire,” she added. “This is the fourth fire in this slum that I have witnessed.” “I managed to save my furniture and valuables from the previous fires but this time I couldn’t,” she said.
Like Reshma, hundreds become homeless and proletariat in just one to two hours.
While briefing reporters on Monday morning, Brig Mohammad Sazzad Hossain, Director General of Fire Service and Civil Defence, said the fire might have originated from an electric short circuit or any illegal gas connection. “There are many tin-roofed houses in the slum …that’s why the firefighters had to struggle a lot in putting out the fire. Over 100 shanties were gutted,” he said. However, there was no casualty in the incident.
Replying to a query, Brig Sazzad said: “The fire spread so fast due to the existence of explosive substances in the slum.”
Meanwhile, the Fire Service and Civil Defence formed a five-member probe committee led by its Deputy Director Nur Hasan Ahmed to find out the exact reason behind the fire and damages caused by it. The committee has been asked to submit a report within the next seven working days.
Not only 2016 and 2020, but also many fires have razed this slum several times. On May 15, 2015, at least 32 shanties were destroyed and some people were injured in a fire at this slum. Also, on October 7, 2012, another fire had gutted over 100 shanties of the slum and left several people injured.
Fires at slums in Dhaka, home to many low-income people, are quite common and leave thousands of their residents homeless. At least 32 shanties were destroyed and some people were injured in a fire at this slum in May 2015, according to reports.
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