Thudimutti, Nilambur: In the midst of search operations in the landslide-hit section of Muthappankunnu – where 72 people are believed to have been killed on August 8 – no one seems to have spared a thought for the people living in panic, on other side of the hill.

Their fears were compounded after a huge crack was detected on the hill recently. “Landslide threats deprive our sleep these days,” Sujith, a local resident, said.

Officials of the Mining and Geology Department of the state government has confirmed, after inspecting the cracks, that the village is prone to landslides.

“What you see there now is only a crack, but if it rains continuously for a few days, it may lead to landslides,” Malappuram district geologist M Raghavan told Onmanorama.

“Such cracks would have been developed on the other side of the hill prior to the landslides. No one would have noticed it,” he said.

Muthappankunnu, or Muthappan hill, in Pothukallu gram panchayat lies 65km north-east of district headquarters of Malappuram. Landslides hit only one side of the hill, destroying the Kavalappara village. It did not affect Thudimutti village that lies on the other side. Kavalappara is Ward No. 17 and Thudimutti is Ward No.16 of the Pothukallu gram panchayat.

Impact of the crack

On Friday, this correspondent waded through the slippery terrain to visit the landslide-threatened, rubber plantation-rich Thudimutti.

The land movement – which might have caused the crack - has washed away a temporary structure built for storing rubber tapping equipment. It also uprooted trees and widened the path of a stream originating from the hill.

Thudimutti residents said the crack was developed on August 8, the day landslides struck Kavalappara. “Water level in the stream rose and trees were washed away on August 8. We sensed some danger,” Sujith said.

The crack was spotted by local people who climbed the Thudimutti highland the next day.

People from the Thudimutti highland were relocated to the low lying areas of the gram panchayat a few years ago. If a landslide strikes the hill, the people in the downstream will be in peril.

“If a landslide similar to the one struck Kavalappara happens here, nothing will remain in the low lands,” Sujith said.