As per the State Health Ministry, the death toll stands at 308 as of August 2. 226 bodies and 181 body parts have been recovered so far and 180 people are still missing…reports Asian Lite News
Kerala ADGP (law and order) MR Ajith Kumar said on Tuesday that the rescue and search operations in connection with the landslides that claimed over 300 lives in Wayanad have entered the last stage.
Ajith Kumar said that most of the accessible land area has been covered and the next focus will be to search the inaccessible areas.
Wayanad’s Chooralmala and Mundakkai were hit by massive landslides on July 30 claiming over 300 lives and creating widespread property damage. The search operations have entered the eighth day today.
“Rescue and search operation is getting into the last phase now. Land area is almost covered except for the slushy area where there are around 50-100 metres of mud. The mission is to reach inaccessible areas, with forest officials acting as guides since they know the area well.
He said that the focus for today will be on riverside and valley areas.
The ADGP further said that the weather in the area is not favourable and during the previous search operations, local volunteers got stranded in inaccessible areas so these commandoes will be airdropped on specific locations.
“The team consists of trained commandos, specifically SOG commandos. We are planning to airdrop the team within 6 km of Soochipara Waterfalls. After searching the area, if any bodies are found, we plan to airlift them,” Ajith Kumar said.
As per the officials, a scanning mission focusing on the Chaliyar River will be conducted today by a special team on a helicopter.
As per the State Health Ministry, the death toll stands at 308 as of August 2. 226 bodies and 181 body parts have been recovered so far and 180 people are still missing.
The Environment Ministry sources earlier said that the Kerala government allegedly approved numerous projects in Wayanad over the past four years, including those related to non-coal mining, without conducting a thorough study of the district’s topography and geomorphology.
“A combination of factors, including a lack of adequate study of the topography and geomorphology and insufficient safeguards against human activities such as large-scale urbanisation and tourism, have made the region more prone to disasters, appearing to be exacerbated by human impact,” the sources said.
Scientists from the state and beyond attributed the disaster to a deadly mix of forest cover loss, mining in the fragile terrain and climate change.
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Mass burial
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A week after the massive landslides, Wayanad district administration on Monday organized a mass burial ceremony in which the body parts of unidentified victims killed in the disaster were buried in the Puthumala region of the district.
A prayer of all religions was also conducted before the burial ceremony. The event started at around 3 pm.
Kerala Minister K N Balagopal said, “We cannot give an exact number of missing body parts… There is a mass burial going on for unidentified bodies.” Puthumala is a village close to Chooralmala. In 2019, Puthumala also witnessed a landslide. Meanwhile, the rescue and relief operations in landslide-hit areas of Kerala’s Wayanad entered the seventh consecutive day on Monday.
As per the State Health Ministry, the death toll stands at 308 as of August 2. A total of 53 camps have been set up in Wayanad as part of the relief operations. As per the latest update, 6759 people were shifted to these camps across the district including 1983 families, 2501 males, 2677 females, 1581 children, and 20 pregnant women.
The government has set up 16 camps in Meppadi and other gram panchayats, this includes 9 shelters and 7 rescue camps. A total of 2514 people have been shifted to these shelters as per the latest data. This included 723 families, 943 males, 972 females, 599 children, and six pregnant women.
Additionally, there are rescue camps at SDMLP school, D-Paul public school at Kalpetta, RCLP school at Chundel, GHS school near Rippon, WMO college at Muttil, Rippon new building, and Arappatta.
Earlier the Chief Minister’s Office informed that night patrolling of the police has been instituted in Chooralmala and Mundakkai areas.
The CMO statement warned action against those trespassing in the houses or areas of the victims at night. No one should enter the houses or areas of these places at night without the permission of the police for rescue operations, the statement added.
Upon the Kerala Government’s request, the Indian Air Force, on August 3, airlifted one ZAWER and four REECO radars from Siachen and Delhi for the search operations.