Cox’s Bazar: 22,000 homes on 51 risky hills, landslides claim 312 lives in 18 years

The areas of Pahartali, Teknaiffa Pahar, Badshaghona, Chattarer Ghona, Khwaja Manzil and Larpara in Cox’s Bazar town are surrounded by hills. Alongside the sound of heavy rain over the past few days, residents have been hearing another terrifying noise. A cracking sound blending with rain striking tin roofs.

Long-time residents know it signals hillsides beginning to split. During heavy rainfall, the softened, excavated slopes develop cracks before eventually collapsing onto nearby homes. Every spell of rain forces residents to spend the night in fear. Yet despite knowing the risks, many refuse to leave their homes.

Heavy rainfall over the past week alone triggered more than 400 landslides across the district, killing at least 22 people, including five madrasa students. Over the past 18 years, thousands of landslides have claimed another 290 lives.

Despite this, hill cutting and the construction of settlements in hazardous areas continue unabated. Land-grabbing syndicates exploit the desperation of poor families and remain involved in illegal hill cutting, making it difficult to stop. Around 300,000 people currently live in risky settlements across the district.

Whenever the monsoon begins, there is a rush to evacuate the vulnerable populations. However, once the rain stops, everything returns to the status quo. The destruction of hills and construction of illegal settlements resume.

Local representatives and environmental activists noted that the administration only becomes active when deaths occur. While some illegal structures are evicted, the overall situation remains unchanged. This results in the loss of lives among the poor, while deforestation destroys wildlife habitats and environmental balance.

The administration, however, repeatedly claims that there is no negligence in evacuating people from risky hill settlements. Cox’s Bazar Deputy Commissioner (DC) Md. A Mannan stated that it is difficult to evict hill settlements without alternative rehabilitation arrangements. Describing it as a long-standing crisis, he added that efforts to move people from risky positions are ongoing, with at least 5,000 people relocated over the last three days.

Badshaghona is a hill-encircled area in Ward No. 9 of Cox’s Bazar municipality. On a hill covering 1.5 square kilometers and rising 70–80 feet high, at least 600 tin-shed houses and several permanent structures have been built across the peak, foothills and slopes. Fresh signs of hill-cutting and newly constructed houses were visible at the site on Monday afternoon.

Among the new residents is Alamgir, a fisherman from Maheshkhali, who built a house halfway up the hill two months ago. His wife, Alam Ara, who was home with their two sons, said her husband paid Tk80,000 to take possession of about 1,728 square feet of hillside land from a local BNP leader before building the house. During heavy rain, water enters the house and strong winds shake the structure, but they have nowhere else to go, she said. She declined to name the BNP leader involved.

Six to seven access roads have been carved into the Badshaghona hill, while another one-kilometre footpath has been cut along its 80-foot summit. The path offers a stark view of the destruction caused by hill cutting. More than 300 semi-permanent tin-roofed houses have been built on the hill over the past 18 to 24 months.

The same pattern is visible on another 51 hills across the town, including those in Faterghona, Baghghona, ABC Ghona, Chattarghona, Isulughona, Ghonapara, Baidyaghona, Radar Station, Khwaja Manzil, Jianagar, Pahartali, Bacha Miar Ghona, Larpora, Gucchhagram, Adarshagram, Kolatoli and Dikkul, where illegal settlements have also been established.

Former Cox’s Bazar municipality mayor Sarwar Kamal alleged that 10 to 12 syndicates are using the names of political parties and Rohingya labourers to cut hills. He said the continued destruction of hills is also preventing the town from solving its waterlogging problem, as soil washed down by monsoon rains clogs drains and canals, leaving much of the town flooded after just half an hour of rainfall.

Several local residents, speaking on condition of anonymity, said hilltop housing construction accelerated during the previous government's tenure. At the time, several local Awami League leaders allegedly sold hillside plots in the name of a member of parliament. Since the July 2024 uprising, they claimed, some BNP leaders and activists and members of its affiliated organisations have been using Rohingya workers to cut hills.

Ashraful Haque Siddiqui, former councillor of Ward 7 and a member of the municipal BNP, said multiple syndicates had previously cut hills using the Awami League's name, while hill cutting is now continuing under the name of the party currently in power.

There is no official record of how many houses have been built by cutting hills. However, environmental groups estimate that more than 22,000 homes have been constructed over the past three decades on 51 government-owned hills of varying sizes across five wards of Cox’s Bazar municipality.

The settlements include more than 2,000 one- to three-storey concrete buildings, around 9,000 semi-permanent tin-roofed houses, while the rest are makeshift shelters built with tarpaulin and bamboo. More than 200,000 people live in these homes, about 80 per cent of whom are floating labourers and climate-displaced people. More than 37,000 Rohingya are also among the residents.

Municipal Administrative Officer Chhaiyadul Haque Azad said a survey conducted three years ago identified more than 9,000 people living in highly vulnerable locations on the hills. However, they could not be relocated due to the lack of alternative rehabilitation, and the number has since increased.

Karim Ullah, president of the district chapter of the Bangladesh Poribesh Andolon (BAPA), said hill cutting is not only removing soil but also destroying thousands of trees that once covered the slopes. The loss of wildlife habitats is severely disrupting the ecological balance, while the hills are also losing their natural ability to absorb rainwater.

As a result, landslides are becoming more frequent. At the same time, instead of soaking into the ground, rainwater now rushes directly into drains, with sand and soil clogging drainage channels along 20 to 25 roads in the town, worsening waterlogging.

There is no official record of the total number of people killed in landslides in Cox’s Bazar. However, a survey by the environmental organisation Youth Environment Society (YES) found that 312 people died in landslides between 2008 and 8 July, 2026.

According to the survey, annual fatalities were 13 in 2008, five in 2009, 62 in 2010, 29 in 2012, five in 2015, 17 in 2016, 26 in 2017, 28 in 2018, 22 in 2019, 29 in 2020, 25 in 2022, six in 2023, 10 in 2024 and 35 so far in 2026. Of the total victims, 54 were Rohingya.

YES Chairman Mujibul Haque said the deadliest landslide disaster occurred on June 15, 2010, when continuous heavy rainfall killed 62 people across Cox’s Bazar district.

Since 2010, the Department of Environment has filed 340 cases against more than 500 alleged encroachers, including 220 related to hill destruction. Despite the legal action, illegal hill cutting continues, said Khandaker Mahmud Pasha, deputy director of the department's Cox’s Bazar office.

He said most hill cutting takes place during the rainy season, particularly from evening until late at night, when enforcement teams cannot safely conduct operations.

Over the past year, the Forest Department filed 304 cases against hill cutting in the district. Although hundreds of people have been named as accused, only a small number have been arrested. Officials attributed the weak enforcement to manpower shortages and limited technological capacity to monitor remote hill areas and bring offenders to justice.