Wayanad: Landslide toll mounts to 200; Kerala was pre-warned repeatedly, Shah tells RS

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday informed the Rajya Sabha that the Kerala government was given an early warning repeatedly from July 23 to 26 over very heavy rains and potential landslides in Wayanad and elsewhere in the southern state as the death toll in Tuesday’s tragedy climbed to 200 amid intensified rescue operations, the media reported.

Nearly 1,600 people had so far been rescued from the hillside villages and tea and cardamom estates in Wayanad district and 200 were still missing or feared buried in mud or debris, officials said on Wednesday.

More than 200 people were reported injured after devastating landslides hit Wayanad district, affecting at least four villages surrounded by hills. One of these villages was reported completely disappeared. Around 8,000 affected people have been sent to relief camps.

Shah said the Pinarayi Vijayan-led Kerala government was warned by the Centre a week before the landslides hit Wayanad, and added that the Centre had dispatched nine NDRF teams to Kerala after heavy rainfall was predicted for the southern state.

“Nine NDRF teams were sent in Kerala in advance. The Kerala government did not evacuate people in time,” Shah said.

“India is among the only four countries that can provide early warning on natural disasters at least seven days in advance,” he added.

The deaths because of the landslides could have been minimized had the Kerala government become alert after the advance arrival of NDRF teams.

“The Narendra Modi government is standing like a rock with the Kerala government and the people to deal with the Wayanad tragedy,” Shah said.

Union Minister George Kurian, who rushed to Wayanad on Tuesday night, said earlier that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is closely monitoring the situation.

“Both control rooms of the Ministry of Home Affairs are monitoring the situation 24×7 and providing all possible assistance to the state,” he said.

The Indian Army and the Indian Air Force are also engaged in rescue efforts. Two columns of army personnel and two IAF helicopters have been deployed. Additionally, NDRF, SDRF, and a dog squad are assisting rescue operations.

The media reported that the bodies of 83 victims have been identified so far and more than 50 houses, out of the 400 registered ones, were fully destroyed in the landslides.

The search and rescue operations, suspended late Tuesday night after 20 hours of operations, resumed on Wednesday morning. The Army has begun steps to construct a Bailey bridge connecting Chooralmala and Mundakkal villages.

Columns of the Madras Engineering Group (MEG) have also been deployed for the construction of 3 Bailey bridges. Two columns of the army with stores have been airlifted from Thiruvananthapuram to Kozhikode.

One 110-feet Bailey bridge and three search and rescue dogs have been airlifted from Delhi to Kozhikode. Helicopter reconnaissance of the engineering team to assess the damage was being done to work out further resources required, Kurien said.

The Indian Navy’s ship INS Zamorin has been deployed to assist in establishing the movement of rescue workers to the other side of the damaged bridge. The situation is being monitored by the Union Government at the highest level.

Meanwhile, soldiers and rescuers worked tirelessly through slush and rocks under steady rain, looking for survivors and searching for bodies in the hills.

Heavy rain in Kerala led to the monsoon landslides early on Tuesday, sending torrents of mud, water, and tumbling boulders downhill and burying or sweeping people away to their deaths as they slept.

It was the worst disaster in the state since deadly floods in 2018. Experts said the area had been receiving heavy rain in the last two weeks which had softened the soil and that extremely heavy rainfall on Monday triggered the landslides.

The landslides were mostly on the upper slopes of hills which then cascaded to the valley below, the media reported.

The Indian Navy said its disaster relief team had reached the area on Tuesday night and search and rescue helicopters were deployed early on Wednesday but “adverse weather conditions due to incessant rains” posed challenges.

The Kerala region hit by the landslide was forecast to get 204 millimeters (8 inches) of rainfall but ended up getting 572 millimeters (22.5 inches) over 48 hours, Kerala Chief Minister Vijayan said on Tuesday.

“The Arabian Sea is warming at a higher rate compared to other regions and sending more evaporation into the atmosphere, making the region a hotspot for deep convective clouds,” S Abhilash, head of the Advanced Centre for Atmospheric Radar Research at Kerala’s Cochin University of Science and Technology, was quoted as saying.