The possibility of rescuing people instead of recovering dead bodies from landslide hit Wayanad is looking less likely as time passes.
Published Aug 01, 2024 | 8:40 PM ⚊ Updated Aug 02, 2024 | 12:25 AM
Wayanad landslides survivors
Even as officials involved in rescue operations are fighting against all odds to rescue people stuck in unprecedented landslides that struck Wayanad on Tuesday, 27 July, it is becoming obvious that there are fewer chances of finding people who are alive and more chances of recovering dead bodies.
And even when the bodies of victims are found, most are beyond recognition that families and loved ones can identify them only through the jewellery they wore or the colour of their clothes.
Officials have confirmed that the death toll from the landslides that hit Wayanad around 2 am on Tuesday stands at 177 while unofficial sources put it as high as 240. But with at least 100 people still stuck in landslides-hit areas as rescue operations enter the fourth day, the gut-wrenching agony and cries of survivors who have either lost their friends or relatives to the landslides or the ones who are clueless as to what happened to their loved ones can be heard from far away.
In a ground report, this correspondent spoke to survivors who recalled the nightmares that have been haunting them since the day of the devastating tragedy.
Bashid, a resident of Mundakkai, told South First, “At around 1.30 – 1.45 am on 30 July I experienced a tremble. Immediately I woke up my wife Farshana. Though we tried to awake up our three children they didn’t get up. We had to drag them out. It was raining heavily. As we felt that the situation prevailing is dangerous, we ran towards a resort which was in a higher ground. There were other families there.”
Describing what was likely a second landslide, he recalls, “As we settled ourselves in a corner there, we heard another noise that kept getting closer to us. We knew what it was and as we thought that was our end, we all started crying. I held my three children and wife tight. They were all crying. But somehow the debris didn’t touch us. At around 4 am another landslide struck. In the daylight we saw what had befallen us.”
The area and the houses that they knew, loved and lived in were engulfed in mud and debris. “My children are traumatised. They start crying whenever there is rain and wind. I lost my father, brother and other family members. I lost everything and I don’t know what’s ahead for us,” says Bashid with a heavy heart.
Abdulla, a 70-year-old resident of Puthoorvayal is clueless about what happened to 11 members of his family. He had lost 12 members of his family, but one of his relative’s body was recovered recently.
Speaking to South First, he said, “I was in search of 12 members who belong to two families. The missing persons were those of my sister’s son’s family. When the first landslide occurred, they shifted from their houses to another that is near the mosque. That area is less prone to being impacted by the landslide. But the second landslide impacted that area too and all 12 were lost.”
Speaking about the difficulties of identifying a loved one’s body, he elaborates, “Yesterday one’s body was recovered from Nilambur, Malappuram. The problem is that the bodies being fished out and brought to the mortuaries are beyond recognition. We can’t identify them with the birth marks. One way out is through the gold ornaments they wear. Yesterday a woman’s body was recognised through the pendant she wore. The family knew the jewellery, and through that they could identify her. My humble request is that authorities should send (the jewelleries) also with the dead bodies.”
#WayanadLandslide: Abdulla, a resident of Puthoorvayal, shared his harrowing experience with @TheSouthfirst.
He is currently searching for 11 members of two families, specifically those from his sister’s son’s family. These individuals had initially moved from their homes to a… pic.twitter.com/Cty9XNosPx
— South First (@TheSouthfirst) August 1, 2024
It is because of my mother’s phone call that I am alive now says the resident of Mundakkai. “At around 2 am I received a call from my mother. She asked me to immediately get out of the house. With a mobile phone in my hand I jumped out. The debris had reached us by then. We somehow managed to get out and ran towards a higher place. As we reached there we heard a noise, it was the second landslide. At around 4- 4.30 am we reached a tea estate bungalow.” Fida Fathima told South First.
Leela,who hasn’t just survived the landslide but also survived an attack by wild elephant shares her story. “My house is near the river. At around 3.30 am on 30 July, I received a call. I first thought it might be to alert us to the presence of wild elephants. But the person at the other end told me that the water level of the river is rising dangerously and I will have to shift immediately. This is for the third time that we are experiencing an incident like this. I lost my house. My sisters lost their houses.My request to the government is that it should provide houses to those who lost them.”
She has also lost eight members of her family and only a few of their bodies have been recovered. As painful as the loss of lives is, the survivors are looking clueless not knowing what the future holds for them.
A resident of Thamarassery, Mujeeb’s wife is at Meppadi. So the couple were staying in the area when he lost his life to the landslides.
“It was at around 3.30 am on July 30 that I came to know about the landslide at Chooralmala. I was staying at Chooralmala – Attamala and some of my relatives were here. My wife’s house is at Meppadi. First I reached there and then to Chooralmala. I was in search of my childhood friend Azrath, who is also my relative. But when I reached Chooralmala it was beyond recognition. Then at around 10 am I got a call that Azrath’s body is at Meppadi Family Health Centre.”
Yet another victim of multiple tragedies, Savithri Palaniswamy, who lost her husband to suicide years ago has been the sole breadwinner of her family. A resident of Mundakkai town, she told South First:
“I constructed my house in 2002 with the support of a housing loan from the bank. My family consists of five members. My husband is no longer with us. he died suicide years ago. I was not at home during the landslide because I was working as a cook at a resort. Due to the rain, I stayed at the resort, which saved my life, but I lost my home. The loan was fully repaid – ₹2,40,000. I closed the dues by borrowing gold from friends as well. However, the documents from the bank regarding the closure of the loan are still pending. I need government assistance to obtain these documents.”
She too lost eight of her relatives, of whom only three bodies have been recovered. The rest might be buried under the soil is what she thinks. She asks a poignant question. “Where do we go from here? We need homes. Mundakkai is always a source of fear for us. During the rainy season, we used to shift to other places, and even in August, we are afraid of heavy rain. It is a beautiful place to live with natural resources and a pleasant climate, but this constant fear is always in the back of our minds.”
Sahadevan, another survivor from Mundakkai, shares about his grief. “I lost my mother and brother. His wife, and two children are also missing. I lost my house. Now, me, my wife and our two daughters stare at a bleak future. We now have nothing. We don’t know what to do. My daughters’ futures are also at stake. We hope the government will help us tide over the crisis.”
Kathrighatta resident Siddesh’s family might have been alive if the tragedy had struck a few days later or a few weeks earlier. His extended family originally hails from Karnataka’s Mysuru and his brother-in-law had returned from Europe only on 10 July.
Living in Mundakkai since their marriage, his sister and brother-in-law were staying with him until a few days about the landslides. ““We had invited including their parents to Kathrighatta. After staying for three days, they left as they were constructing a new house there. We called them for the festival but considering heavy rains and floods, they did not come to Kathrighatta.”
Informed of the tragedy by a call from “unknown number,” he says, “They said the entire village swept away in the landslide. People told us that my sister and her father-in-law are alive but my brother-in-law, his mother and son have been swept away. My brother-in-law survived with severe injuries. But his mother and my nephew are missing after the landslide.”
However, he still hasn’t gotten a chance to see the recovered bodies of some of his family members because he is busy tending to the survivors who have sustained severe injuries.
Can he rely on the Karnataka government to help him? “The Deputy Commissioner and Tahsildar had telephoned us but no other help has been extended for us. It will be helpful if they make any arrangements to carry the mortal remains to our state.”
He is unhappy that no help desk or relief camp has been set up by the his state government for the victims who are Kannadigas.
As if losing their loved ones isn’t enough, the survivors have also lost their houses, the areas they were born and brought up in that are beyond recognition and are looking at a bleak future. What lays ahead for them?
What about livelihood opportunities once they are out of rescue camps? Will they be conveniently forgotten?
Despite assurances from the Centre and state governments in general and financial loses aside, what will the governments do to help the survivors regain some sense of normalcy, whatever it means.
Besides the cost of human lives, properties and more tangent or visible things, what would officials do to address the mental trauma and agony the survivors can possibly never recover from?
And will anything be done to make sure that a tragedy of such magnitude doesn’t happen in the future? What they can do except wait, watch and hope.
(Compiled and edited by Neena)
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