An early morning fire that broke out in Sarbhang bazaar February 15, razed eighty one houses and shops to ashes. The inferno is suspected to have started in a shoe shop, according to the Kuensel, Bhutan’s national daily.
Prime Minister Tshering Tobgay tweeted and updated about his visit to the rubble site in his facebook status. According to a news source in Sarbhang, the fire destroyed major part of the bazaar and it could not be contained because of the wind blowing.
It took more than two hours to contain the fire by two fire extinguishing engines, police, army and volunteers. There is no report of casulty. The victims are evacuated to multipurpose hall of district office in Sarpang, as per kuensel report.
The bhutan broadcasting service (BBS)reported a little more details of the fire. According to BBS, none of the shop owners had insurance to get the claims processed for rebuilding their shops. Even worse is the situation for most of them having no land to mortgage against the loan they asked to the government.
Department of disaster management is to investigate the cause of fire.
