THE death of eleven people in a landslide in Chittagong raises all our old concerns about the precarious way lives are lived in this country. The fact that huge chunks of mud from a hill descended on fourteen homes, part of a slum, and took the lives of two families would be called by fatalists as an act of nature against which people have hardly any defence. But in reality this was courted, thanks to fiddling with nature and imprudent choice of site for habitation with commercial interests thrown in. There is here the very critical question of how we have in these past many years ignored the rampant felling of trees, indeed the indiscriminate destruction of forests, that has gone on everywhere and especially on the hills in the south-east of the country. There is the matter of the studies that have over the past year been made of the structures that have been precariously and illegally built on the hills and around them. Additionally, the relentless cutting down of trees on the hills, responsible for so much of the devastation that has taken place and may yet take place, raises the question of what, if any, steps have been taken for reafforestation of the hills. What is of importance here is a series of steps that will prevent landslides in future and at the same time restore a degree of balance in the eco system in the area. One cannot ignore either the fact that in the rainy season, such as the present, the hilly areas of the country are prone to vulnerability which only accentuates the risks to lives. It is a matter of record that following the landslides in Chittagong in June last year, a committee formed by the government decided to compensate the survivors as well as the families of the victims and also rehabilitate them in the port city. But that plan initially stumbled due to a controversial site selection. It is now known that an alternative site has been chosen at Jahan Ali'r Haat near Kalurghat bridge. It is expected that as many as 2,400 families will find accommodation at that site. Let the authorities speed up the process of rehabilitation encompassing the new victims. Clearly, long-term and viable measures are needed to prevent landslides in the first place and offset or minimise the damage caused by them. Among such measures must come the question of whether the laws pertaining to maintenance of the environment or its violation are being upheld rigorously. A state of vigil is important here.