ONMANORAMA@GROUND ZERO

How gigantic boulders bulldozed Chooralmala: Scores of residents still missing

Meppadi (Wayanad): Vilson C Daniel trudges through the ploughed-up School Road at Chooralmala, his heavy steps betraying his devastated heart. "Almost all the houses on this road belonged to my students or their children," said the former head teacher of Government Vocational Higher Secondary School at the end of the 2 km road. "I cannot recognise this place anymore," said Daniel, a native of Pathanamthitta credited with upgrading the government primary school to a high school decades ago.

Gigantic boulders and uprooted wild trees from the hills have bulldozed around 85 of the nearly 100 houses on either side of the 2 km stretch, said Noorudeen C K, Meppadi panchayat member representing Chooralmala ward. "At least 100 residents of my ward are missing. We have got the bodies of only 31," he said.

According to official data released at 7 pm on July 31, 167 people have died and 240 people are missing in landslides that hit Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Attamala of Meppadi grama panchayat. But every resident knows scores who are missing. "Leelamma Thekkilakattil, Joy, Anushree, who is only 22... they are all missing," said Jayan, a resident. "My house was spared but I have lost many children who were like my own," he said, choking on his words.

When the first landslide struck Chooralmala past midnight on July 30, Jayan's neighbour was caught under a jeep. "We could see only his hand. We gave him water and were trying to pull him out when we heard another loud burst up the hill," he said. Jayan and two other rescuers ran to safety. When they returned, there was no trace of the jeep or his neighbour. He is yet to be found.
Earthmovers deployed on the School Road mostly unearthed crushed cars and motorcycles that looked like damaged toys.

Moideenkutty, a farmer, said he heard sounds similar to that of helicopters in the night and rushed to Chooralmala junction to see what was happening. "The air was thick with the scent of fired clay in a kiln," he said.
When he saw rainwater bringing down slush, he escaped to safety. In the morning, when he saw the mighty boulders that invaded the School Road, he realised the smell came from the granite grinding against one other. "There is no trace of the asphalt road or the community that lived here. The only thing that can be set up here is a stone crusher," he said.

Down the road, the boulders and floating timbers had hollowed out the school building and destroyed the school grounds. "When I was the head teacher, I used to warn students not to go to the river," said Vilson Daniel. "It was not a river. Just a babbling stream. We had a one-acre playground between the stream and the school buildings. They were surrounded by tea gardens," he said.

The ground, which had two football grounds and a volleyball court, has been completely run over by the river, said Uwais MP, a resident of Puthumala, 5km away, and an alumnus of the school. "The destruction here is nothing like we have seen before," said Uwais in his twenties.

In August of 2019, he lost his house when a massive landslide wiped out Puthumala. (Eighteen people died in the landslide, the bodies of six were never found.) Uwais now lives in a 657-square-foot house built by the government as part of a rehabilitation project.

Uwais said he was on his way to Mundakkai when police stopped him at Chooralmala. (The concrete bridge connecting Chooralmala and Mundakkai across the stream was washed away.) Uwais said 11 of his relatives at Mundakai are dead. "We have got the bodies of only five and wanted to go there and search for the rest," he said.

Jameela, another resident of Chooralmala, said her paternal uncle and aunt Kunhimoideen and Ayesha died in the landslide at Mundakkai. "But their son, two daughters-in-law and their six grandchildren are missing and we cannot even search for them," she said. "My uncle's second son escaped because he works in the Gulf," said Jameela. "But what will he come back to?"
Velayudhan PM, who retired from Harrisons Malayalam after 34 years, said his friend Jayaprakash K C called from the hospital to check on his elderly parents, Ramankutty and Lakshmi. "I know their house but when I went there, the house was just gone," said Velayudhan, who is known as 'supervisor Mani'.

When Jayaprakash's family was trying to escape, his son got trapped in the coffee shrubs. Jayaprakash came back for his son. But Ramankutty could not walk and Lakshmi decided to stay back with her husband. "Rescue workers cannot reach there because the place is covered in waist-deep debris," said Velayudhan.

He said he knew all the people who were missing now. "They made their small houses on three to five cents of land brought with their PF and gratuity," he said. The landslide snatched everything.