WAYANAD LANDSLIDES

Wayanad landslides: Death toll touches 392, special search drive in Soochippara region today

Wayanad: The search to find the people who went missing in the multiple landslides at Meppadi panchayat of Wayanad will continue on Tuesday. Army, NDRF personnel, police, dog squad, forest department and Navy officials resumed the operation in the morning.
A special drive will be launched in the isolated region between Soochippara and Pothukallu. A special team of 12 personnel from the Army and forest department is deployed for the special search, official sources said. The 12-member personnel will be taken for the search in a helicopter as two teams. The mission was delayed due to the bad weather conditions. 

Manorama News reported that the mission will be launched by 12 pm.

If any body is found in this region, it will be airlifted, said officials. As per official records, around 180 people are still missing from Mundakkai and Chooralmala.

ADGP M R Ajithkumar said that there were inaccessible areas along the Chaliyar river where some local volunteers were stranded in the last couple of days and had to be rescued. "So, we decided to avoid local volunteers and create two teams of police SOG and army commandos who will be air dropped into those areas," Ajithkumar said. He also said that the search operations were entering the last stages and areas that remain to be searched on land are places where the mud is around 50 meters deep. "It is not possible to send people and heavy machinery there," the officer said.

District Collector Meghashree D R told reporters that the search operations will be concentrated on the river near the school, village and downstream areas. "Intensive search operations are going on," she said.

Revenue Minister K Rajan told media that a list of the missing people will be prepared with the help of local bodies and ASHA workers.  As many as 1,174 personnel from various forces took part in the search mission in six zones in the landslide-hit areas. They were joined by 913 volunteers and local people. 

Meanwhile, the district authority will start assessing the losses in the landslides. Public Works Department will inspect the destroyed buildings as part of the action. The department will also collect the details of the building that should be demolished. 

Rehabilitation package
On Monday, Kerala government announced that it would implement a comprehensive rehabilitation package for the landslide-affected people of Wayanad, where rescue operations and relief missions are still ongoing and stories of enormous loss as well as great courage continue to emerge. Land would be acquired, houses constructed and other infrastructure facilities required for the rehabilitation would be set up at the earliest, officials said. Several people from across the world have offered assistance for the rehabilitation efforts, Finance Minister KN Balagopal told reporters here after visiting the landslide-hit Chooralmala. 

"The government will implement a comprehensive package for the rehabilitation of people affected by the disaster," the minister said. At present, the state government is giving top priority to the mental well-being of the disaster-hit people housed in relief camps, he added, presumably referring to the efforts of the health department in counselling the survivors. He also reiterated that the search operations will continue vigorously.