Amid debris, Wayanad residents piecing life back together

Amid the large-scale devastation, Sushant Nair continues to live in Wayanad in Kerala, although almost all his neighbours have moved away. When the Federal visited Chooralmala, the site of a major landslide that killed more than 250 people, Nair was staying put at his ancestral house,

The house, just 100 m from other affected areas, seemed abandoned with its doors closed and locked from the outside. But when we knocked, Nair emerged wiping his eyes, apparently disturbed from his sleep.

A petty vendor in Chooralmala, he explained that his father was no more and that his mother lived with his brother who had vacated the area.

Looking for cash box

He said that his small grocery shop was washed out by the landslide. Another vendor, Ashraf, whose shop was also destroyed, had vacated his house as per government reminders. He sought help from security personnel to retrieve his cash box.

He speculated that Nair might also be staying behind looking for his cash box.

Others have moved away

Nair, however, insisted that he had no fear for his safety and said he believes that no landslide will happen on the side of the hill where he was living.

But almost all other houses in that dangerous spot were found locked as the residents had shifted to safer places amid the continuing rains.

The Federal discovered a half-buried house in the Vallarmala area, near Chooralmala. In the debris lay a passbook from the Kerala Gramin Bank that belonged to Ramesh V, son of Vellikutty.

Bank passbook owner

Attempts to contact Ramesh using the phone number listed in the passbook were unsuccessful although the telephone rang. The passbook was handed over to Rajan J, a State Disaster Response Fund official.

Rajan said that many such documents have been found in these areas and the security personnel were trying to contact the owners.

If there was no response, the documents are handed over to the police for verification to determine whether the person is missing or safe.