Idukki landslide: A total of 12 persons have been rescued so far even as efforts are underway to find 57 others missing at the Nyamakad estate of the Kannan Devan Hills Plantation Company near Rajamala. (Source: IE Malayalam/screengrab)
Kerala Rains: At least nine people have died after a river of mud and debris washed over lines of settlements of tea plantation workers near the popular hill station of Munnar in Kerala’s Idukki district Friday. A total of 12 persons have been rescued so far even as efforts are underway to find 57 others missing.
The mudslide, caused by a bout of extreme rainfall in the area, was reported at the Nyamakad estate of the Kannan Devan Hills Plantation Company near Rajamala in Devikulam Taluk around 7 am Friday, though it could have taken place much earlier, even in the middle of the night. The debris is believed to have buried at least 30 settlements in which nearly 78 people resided.
Rescue operations, kick-started by the police, fire force and a unit of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) which had been stationed in Idukki district, have yielded bodies of seven persons as of 1 pm Friday, minister-in-charge of the district MM Mani told reporters. The rescued have been shifted to Tata hospital in Munnar to treat injuries. A 50-member special task force team of the Fire Force has also been deputed to assist the NDRF in rescue work.
Due to the remote area, broken power and communication lines, heavy fog and uninterrupted rainfall, relief operations have been impacted at site of the landslide. Rescue agencies moving to the site in the initial hours of the tragedy had to take a longer route after a key bridge at Periyavara collapsed. Read in Malayalam
Scary visuals of a wild elephant carcass flowing down the Periyar as monsoon rains intensify in Kerala. Spotted near the Neriyamangalam bridge. @IndianExpress pic.twitter.com/LjIxky7nSV
— Vishnu Varma (@VishKVarma) August 7, 2020
Due to the paucity of good hospitals in the area and several damaged roads, the state government has placed a request before the Indian Air Force (IAF) to use its choppers to airlift the critically injured to major hospitals in Idukki and Ernakulam, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan informed. However, reports say the conditions in the area are not conducive for flight operations.
Government agencies are reviewing the mudslide as a “major disaster”, especially if the extent of casualties, given the number of workers in those settlements, rises. In the backdrop of the landslides at Kavalappara and Meppadi during the monsoon last year that claimed over 60 lives, disaster agencies in the state have been better-prepared this time, relocating people to relief camps from landslide-prone zones in advance. The guidelines enshrined as part of the orange book of disaster management of the state are guiding local bodies to make required arrangements especially at a time when the state is in the throes of the rapidly-spreading Covid-19 pandemic.
The Met Department has issued red alerts, the highest code, for Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Idukki and Wayanad districts on Friday, indicating extremely heavy rainfall of over 204 mm. Idukki and Wayanad are hilly districts, particularly vulnerable to landslides. A low-pressure area in the Bay of Bengal is seen to have precipitated the extreme rainfall.