According to officials, at least six residential buildings in the Rainawari neighbourhood of the city have experienced damage and cracking from what appears to be land subsidence. As a result, the administration has evacuated the homes and formed an expert committee to investigate the situation and make recommendations for corrective action. According to the officials, on June 17, several residences in Rainawari's Khwajapora Surteng region began to show cracks. Over the next few days, the fractures widened. The villagers think that as some parts of the soil started to sink, that's when the homes started to fracture. Local resident Manzoor Ahmed mentioned that the cracks were widening with each passing day and that they had approached the administration. According to him, the administration had instructed them to vacate the houses. He also noted that the situation had caused panic among the locals. Officials indicated that Deputy Commissioner (Srinagar) Bilal Mohi-Ud-Din Bhat, who serves as the chairman of the District Disaster Management Authority, had formed an expert committee to investigate the matter and recommend necessary actions. They stated that the nine-member committee, led by Additional Deputy Commissioner (Srinagar) Syed Ahmad Kataria and including Ghulam Jeelani, a professor of Earth Sciences at the University of Kashmir, had been tasked with submitting its findings within a week. The committee's mandate was to propose measures aimed at preventing environmental damage and addressing other associated issues related to land subsidence in the area. In 1999?2000, the area experienced land subsidence, prompting a case study led by Bikram Singh Bali from the Department of Earth Sciences at the University of Kashmir. The study, which utilised ground-penetrating radar, attributed the surface changes to extensive underground mining activities historically linked to the pottery industry in the region. It was noted that the area had been witnessing land subsidence for several decades, resulting in significant damage to most structures. The study highlighted underground cavities, room and pillar mining structures, and voids as major sub-surface observations caused by historical mining activities. It also observed surface deformations in the form of cracks appearing in construction. Recent incidents of land subsidence in Jammu and Kashmir were also mentioned, including the displacement of families in Pernote village of Ramban district in April, cracks developing in residential buildings and a mosque in Garsu village of Doda district two months earlier, and cracks on the riverside road in Batengo of Anantnag district in July 2023. In the Halmatpora area of Kupwara, cracks on Tingshore Hill were followed by land subsidence, causing damage to several tin sheds in April of the same year. Experts attribute land subsidence to natural factors such as groundwater dissolution and earthquakes, as well as human activities like groundwater extraction, mining, and urban development, which contribute to ground compaction and subsidence.