Jammu, October 25, 2025 – The sleepy hamlet of Mundhar in Doda district woke to a rumbling nightmare early this morning when a massive landslide roared down the slopes, prompting the administration to slap a full ban on public movement and evacuate families to safer grounds. DC Harvinder Singh, rushing to the site by 8 AM with a team of 20 officials, zoned the area into Red (high-risk core), Orange (moderate threat), and Yellow (watch-and-ward) sectors, relocating 50 households – about 200 souls – to relief centers in nearby Gandoh. “Safety first – this slide’s a warning from the hills; stay out till we clear it,” Singh told a cluster of reporters at 10 AM, his boots still caked in mud from the debris-littered path.
The landslide, triggered by overnight rains loosening the fragile terrain, buried stretches of the Doda-Kishtwar road and cracked a dozen homes on the village edge. No lives lost, thanks to a timely alert from the district’s early warning system, but the damage is stark: 5 acres of farmland swallowed, livestock sheds crumpled, and power lines snapped, leaving 100 houses in the dark. By noon, NDRF teams from Jammu joined the fray, hauling boulders with JCBs while locals pitched in with shovels, a mix of resolve and worry hanging in the air.
Doda’s hills have a history of betrayal – 2019’s landslide killed 10 in Bani, 2023’s in Kishtwar buried 20, and August 2025’s toll in the district hit 50. With PoK unrest bubbling (nine dead last week over 38 demands), cross-border tremors add to the instability. Singh, at a 3 PM update, pledged Rs 5 crore for immediate fixes and a geological survey by November: