The Bhutanese Leading the way.
A two- storey traditional house in Dotey, Paro that belonged to two sisters was gutted down by fire on the early morning of March 7.
About 60% of the house has been destroyed by the fire with no human casualty reported. The police in Paro managed to salvage some of the belongings of one of the sisters from the burning house.
The police faced a difficult time in containing the fire as there was no water source around the place and the irrigation channel was about 1.5 kilometers away. However, the fire fighters were able to use the water from three water tanks in the house and finally contained the fire
Talking with one of the victims, Yangzom Lhamo, 40, shared her grief over the house burning down before her own eyes. Yangzom, still reeling from the shock, is currently putting up with her sister and the family in a temporary shelter made from the burned CGI sheets. The condition is made worse by the cold and rainy weather as the shelter is not waterproof.
“For the last few days, because of continuous rain, it has made it more difficult for us to live in the temporary hut,” she said.
Yangzom, the first to witness the fire which had broken out from the kitchen, had alerted other family Gewog Gup, who had then informed the police.
Yangzom said, “We didn’t use a Bukhari (wood-fed stove) and the gas stove as well, as the gas cylinder was turned off by me during the day. I have no idea about the source of the fire, but all I know is by the time I saw the fire, it was already blazing.”
“Almost all belongings are burned down while my younger sister could at least save one-fourth of her belongings,” she said.
Yangzom said she had Nu 60, 000 in cash, and furniture and other accessories worth more than Nu 0.5mn.
“I was blank and the moment I realized what was happening, the fire had already razed down all my belongings,” she said.
However, the house was insured with Royal Insurance Corporation of Bhutan (RICB) and they managed to get Nu 0.14mn as the house was not burned down completely.
Yangzom was living in the house with her three children and her younger sister also stayed in the same house with her three children.
The house was built in 2005 with an amount of about Nu 1 million.
“Once we get the materials, we will have to start constructing again, and this is not easy for us. It is painful to see everything that you have made with hard earned money turn into ashes,” Yangzom said.
Though the cause of the fire is not known, however, police say electrical short-circuit could have started the fire.
