Wayanad: Fire Force personnel have recovered around Rs 4 lakh during the search operations near a stream in the back side of Vellarmala Govt. Vocational Higher Secondary School here on Thursday. Seven bundles of Rs 500 currency and five bundles of Rs 100 currency were found packed in a plastic cover. There is no clue about the owner of the money.
The officials told Manorama News that no documents revealing the identity of the owner were found in the packet. The recovered money would be handed over to the revenue department through police, said a fire force official.
When the country is celebrating 78th Independence Day, search operations commenced in the landslide-hit areas of Wayanad around 7 am. Apart from the Fire Force, NDRF and police personnel are engaged in today's mission. The search operations in and around the Chaliyar river will be carried out till Friday. People including the survivors and volunteers from various groups are searching in Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Punchirimattom areas to find valuables in the debris of the houses and buildings.
As per official records, around 124 people went missing in the multiple landsides that struck Chooralmala and Mundakkai regions of Wayanad's Meppadi panchayat on July 30.
A five-member expert team led by senior scientist John Matthai of the National Centre for Earth science studies, which has been tasked by the State Disaster Management Authority to inspect the landslide-hit areas in Wayanad's Meppadi panchayat will continue their work. The team will assess the possible dangers in different parts of the disaster-stricken area and nearby sites as well as how the disaster happened and what phenomena occurred in the landslide. A drone-based LIDAR survey will also be carried out to determine what is underneath the debris in the disaster-stricken areas and how the land there can be used in future.
"Detailed pictures, including aerial photographs of the disaster-affected area, will be taken. This survey report will help to find out what the previous land surface was like, what changes have taken place after the disaster and which areas have had a major impact, and identify what obstacles there are in determining land use in this area in the future," Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Wednesday.
