Kerala govt announces rehabilitation package for landslide-hit Wayanad

Wayanad (Kerala), Aug 5 (PTI) The Kerala government announced on Monday that it will implement a comprehensive rehabilitation package for the disaster-affected people of Wayanad, where rescue operations and relief missions are still ongoing in the landslide-hit hamlets, and stories of great loss as well as great courage continue to emerge.

Land, houses and other infrastructure facilities required for the rehabilitation procedure would be constructed at the earliest, the authorities said.

Several people from across the world have extended assistance for the rehabilitation efforts, Finance Minister K N Balagopal told reporters here.

He was speaking after visiting the landslide-hit areas of Chooralmala in the district.

"The government will implement a comprehensive package for the rehabilitation of the people affected by the disaster," the minister said. At present, the state government is giving top priority to the state of mind of the disaster-hit people housed in relief camps, he added.

Search operations in the affected areas are continuing vigorously, the minister said.

Meanwhile, the death toll in the landslides that rocked the hamlets of Wayanad last week has touched 222, the state government said on Monday.

Among the total dead, 97 were men, 88 were women, and 37 were children, as per the latest figures released by the Chief Minister's Office (CMO).

Among the 222 people dead, the bodies of 172 have been identified by their relatives, it said.

As many as 2,514 people belonging to 723 families have been housed in the relief camps. Among them, 943 are men, 972 are women, and 599 are children, officials said, adding that six of the women are pregnant.

As the challenging search for survivors and victims continues in the devastated landscape on the seventh day, authorities have turned to unmanned aerial vehicles to transport food packets to regions that still remain out of reach through traditional means.

In a bid to provide sustenance to the hundreds of personnel searching the treacherous terrain for signs of life, authorities employed modern drones capable of carrying food packets for up to 10 people at a time.

"A rapid food and water delivery system has been established to support rescue workers. Drone operations enabled the direct delivery of food to personnel operating heavy machinery, such as Hitachi and JCB (earthmovers) equipment," according to an official release here on Monday.

The mass burial of 31 unclaimed dead bodies and 158 body parts recovered after the July 30 landslide was carried out at graves prepared inside a nearby tea estate in the evening.

Earlier in the day, state Revenue Minister K Rajan said the graves would be marked based on the identification number allotted to each body, and for the body parts, according to the DNA samples recovered from them.

The minister, who met the media here, also said that the search operations to find the missing persons would continue.

"The service of more cadaver dogs from various parts of the country has been requested, and 15 more dogs are expected to join the search operations today," Rajan said.

Meanwhile, heartbreaking stories of various people who had lost their near and dear ones en masse continued to haunt the hamlets of Wayanad.

It was only three months ago that Naufal had left the hilly hamlet of Mundakkai and gone to Oman, seeking to provide a better life for his beloved family members. But the man had never thought that he was bidding farewell to them forever and would never meet any of them again in life.

As the devastating landslides claimed 11 members of his family, including his father, mother, wife, children, brother, sister-in-law, and their children, a shell-shocked and heartbroken Naufal's arrival on Monday at the landslide site left the onlookers in tears.

The sight of the hapless man, staring at the heap of debris and sand where his house once stood, was a heart-wrenching scene.

"Naufal left for Oman only three months ago. When he returned to the village today, nothing was left for him... Eleven members of his family have been lost in the landslides," one of his relatives said.

The touching story about the missing Prajeesh, a man hailing from the hamlet who had rescued several people stranded atop the hill, also came out from Wayanad on Monday.

Prajeesh drove his jeep up through the treacherous hill path twice and returned with many hapless people who were stranded atop it after the deadly landslides hit the high-range Mundakkai last week.

Just before he could move to safety a phone call came for a third 'mission,' but the ever popular localite is now missing, his damaged jeep seen at Chooralmala, leading to both fears of the worst and hopes for good news.

Risking his own life, the young man drove the vehicle up the hill for a third time but got lost midway in the gushing flood water and mud and the barrage of huge boulders that rolled down the mountains. PTI