The Kerala government's efforts to rehabilitate the survivors of Wayanad landslides seem to have ignored the socio-economic and psychological aspects. Ignoring the core issues will make rehabilitation a Procrustean bed for the survivors.
Published Sep 04, 2024 | 1:00 PM ⚊ Updated Sep 04, 2024 | 1:00 PM
Mundakkai and Chooralmala that existed in Meppadi panchayat have been wiped away. (Supplied)
The government of Kerala has taken up the responsibility of rehabilitating the landslide survivors of Mundakkai and Chooralmala in Wayanad.
The savage, pre-dawn disaster on 30 July brought people together, who voluntarily contributed crores of rupees to the government’s disaster relief fund. They aim to help their brethren in the disaster-hit areas to get back on their feet and restart life, though it would never be the same again.
The phrase the government has been using for the rehabilitation exercise is “Rebuild Kerala”. The aim is to reconstruct man-made structures levelled by the landslides. However, it seems the government has forgotten that natural calamities destroy not only man-made structures but also culture and nature’s core structure.
Mundakkai and Chooralmala that existed in Meppadi panchayat have been wiped away. Their topography has been altered completely. People have left the area devoid of topsoil filled with small and huge boulders, uprooted trees, and debris. The culture that flourished in these two areas has been completely obliterated.
Culture means the social and economic life that developed through decades of exchanges among the people living in Mundakkai and Chooralmala. Most of those who were a part of that life have been killed in the landslide. The remaining humans have been scattered to many places.
The phrase “scattered” is deliberate. The people initially housed in government camps are now living in rented houses in many places in the district. They say they are haunted by loneliness, memories of losses, and financial hardships.
The government spends only ₹6,000 as rent for a family. Nobody got a house for that amount. Additional rent, advance payment, infrastructure and other maintenance costs of the house, are also to be met. This is in addition to their daily expenses.
Another fact is that none of them are ready to be imprisoned by loneliness in their new rented accommodations. All of them are travelling daily to meet the scattered people like them. Many have been visiting Meppadi from their temporary settlements in Kalpetta and elsewhere, in search of familiar faces.
The government’s approach, ignoring the economic survival of those living, have left people helpless. They have nothing to remember but losses. Many victims of the landslides were estate workers, especially the older generation. Their huts were the remnants of decades of toil.
Many people were engaged in various occupations even after retirement, as they had no other provision. Those jobs no longer exist, and everyone is forced to live in environments that have nothing to do with them. They grapple with insomnia, stress, and mental tension created by the memories and lives snatched away by the disaster.
The state should see such conflicts of people who are translocated to unfamiliar environments different from their familiar socio-economic surroundings. First is the process of listening to those people to alleviate the inner conflicts they experience.
It does not mean that if officials convene a meeting the people will immediately open up. They may do so with the patient intervention of socially committed psychologists and social workers. This article is in the light of such an experience. But it is sad that the government has not made such an effort. The government system has failed to understand their pains and aspirations.
The survivors of Mundakkai and Chooralmala want to live together in one place for the rest of their lives. They think that is the way to heal the wounds in their minds. They know that a return to Mundakkai or Chooralmala is not possible in this lifetime. Nature and memories stand against it. But by being able to live together in one place, they hope that to recover their lost social life, at least partially.
They did not seem to share any ideas about economic life. However, there is no life without financial activities. Its structure and ideas regarding education and health systems, working conditions, and welfare activities must be hatched in the brains of those who plan for the state. But the government’s decision to wash its hands of by building thousand-square-feet houses in a township without listening to the survivors’ aspirations is disappointing.
The survivors remain silent not because they are satisfied but due to fear that if they disagree, that too will be lost. The government can understand the real needs of the people only by dispelling the myth that rehabilitation is only about construction. So long, rehab will be just another disaster.
(Dr MK Shahzad, a Kerala-based health and educational rights activist, wrote this article based on his experience working at a medical-rehabilitation camp run by the Medical Service Center in Meppadi. Views are personal. Edited by Majnu Babu).
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