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The last time that 22-year-old Vishnu spoke with his mother, Pramodini, was on Monday night, 29 July, hours before multiple devastating landslides erased Mundakkai and Choooralmala in Kerala's Wayanad district.
Vishnu, who works in Kozhikode, and his younger brother Jijesh, who was also away from his hometown Mundakkai, were orphaned later that night – as their mother, father, and younger sister, all lost their lives in the landslide.
At a relief camp in Meppadi, Vishnu stands with a frozen face and dried up tears. He looks away at the Chembra Hills in the backdrop as he tells this reporter, "I have lost everything. I have nothing to share”.
Chooralmala after the landslide.
(Photo: Ashish Manoli)
Nestled on the scenic mountain ranges of the Western Ghats, atop an endless expanse of tea plantations, the two villages that had always been engulfed with moving columns of mist are now covered with a blanket of sorrow.
Chooralmala after the landslide.
(Photo: Ashish Manoli)
More than 380 people have so far been reported dead due to the landslides, and nearly 200 are still missing.
‘Tales of Sorrow in Abundance’
Vishnu's uncle Mani K says,
"From Monday evening itself, there were alerts. The water in the mountain stream was slushy one day ago and there were unusual sounds from the hills. Even pet birds and animals turned violent. Though all of us were scared, we never dreamt of a disaster of such a magnitude."
Mani K at the relief camp.
(Photo: Ashish Manoli)
In 2019, a landslide had washed out a portion of the neighbouring village Puthumala, killing 17 people. According to Mani, people were expecting that something similar would happen this time as well.
Instead, the landslide wiped out the entire valley, erasing out schools, mosques, temples, and residential zones in a four-kilometre stretch of the stream. Now homeless and landless, Mani too has been shifted to a relief camp, along with 21 members of his family by rescue teams.
In the same relief camp, this reporter meets Pravitha, another woman who lost her sister, brother-in-law, niece in the landslide.
She tells The Quint,
"There were multiple landslides that struck in the wee hours after midnight. In the first landslide, my child and I were washed off and when we were sinking there came the next avalanche in which we were washed ashore in the gushing waters. Soon somebody in the darkness extended a helping hand to us and pushed us out to life."
The relief camp at Meppadi.
(Photo: Ashish Manoli)
Unfortunately, tales of sorrow are in abundance in Wayanad at the moment.
Soorya, a student of Government Higher Secondary School, Chooralmala, is now left all lone. He lost his entire family in the landslide – father Rajan, mother Maruthayi, elder brothers Jinu and Shiju, and sister Andriya.
Soorya says that, barely three months back, his family had been celebrating the wedding nuptials of their elder son Jinu with Priyanka, a Kozhikode native. But now, nothing remains.
In the relief camps and amid the debris, there are others who are still looking for the loved ones in the heaped-up mud and slush.
A father carrying the doll of his daughter, a husband running from debris to debris for his wife, and a weeping son Shahid, just returned from the Gulf after the disaster, wandering with the hope of identifying at least one of his family members from among the survivors at camps and hospitals after having lost six people in his family.
The search and rescue control centre at Mundakkai.
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Heroes to the Rescue Who Lost Their Lives…
But the disaster also took away some brave hearts who had jumped into action to save others.
On his third rescue mission on 30 July, Prajeesh, a native of Mundakkai, got washed up along with his jeep in the avalanche while he was helping out others.
Prajeesh, a native of Mundakkai.
(Photo: Sourced by The Quint)
Even as people tried preventing him from navigating the "slushy and vanishing roads to the top," he refused to budge, saying, “I have to go to save those waiting for me."
Neethu KU, an executive at WIMS Medical College, Wayanad, was coordinating a rescue operation to save the people of the locality who sought refuge in her home.
Her voice clip shared on social networking sites was one of the first messages of the disaster that reached the outer world. Though her husband, Jojo, had kept her close to him, she slipped off into the gushing water. Her body was retrieved on the fifth day from River Chaliyar. Jojo identified her from the wedding ring in the hand.
Naseer B, a rescue worker from the Karunya Rescue Team of Chooralmala, too got washed off with his entire family in the disaster. He was also coordinating the rescue action from the site contacting his team members elsewhere.
“Death was always caressing us at each moment”, says Ahammed Basheer, a member of the Rapid Response Team of Kerala Forest Department. He tells The Quint that many who had been at the rescue mission at the initial stage also had lost lives as the second landslide was not anticipated.
"Our team was in Chooralmala as part of the rescue activities after the first landslide and the second landslide took place soon after they crossed the bridge. Death was dancing around as within no time we had dug out as many as seven dead bodies from a single spot. In the darkness, we had to plunge into action even without sufficient light and there were screams feeble as well as loud from all corners seeking help. We are shocked and clueless on which direction to run as we are surrounded by wailing voices from all directions."Ahammed Basheer
The community kitchen at the relief camp.
(Photo: Ashish Manoli)
'Pain & Distress All Around'
The harrowing pain of losing loved ones and the destruction all around is now also getting to the rescue teams who've been catering to over 6,500 people and close to 2,000 families across 53 relief camps. The volunteers, including doctors, nurses, teachers, and psychiatric experts, are also now showing signs of distress and depreciating mental health.
Dr Merlyn Anna George, a volunteer at Meppadi's St Joseph’s Girls Higher Secondary School, shares that affected people are sleepless and also showing mood swings.
Dr Merlyn Anna George and her team.
(Photo: Ashish Manoli)
"The other day a girl sobbing relentlessly was brought to our clinic in the camp who had collapsed down all of a sudden. There are persons who had lost everybody and everything in life. Our team is trying to address their emotional and health issues, but the scars of the disaster would take a long time to get cured."Dr Merlyn Anna George
Unique to Kerala, more than 5,000 people volunteered for search and allied assistance in the post-disaster mission at Wayanad. The District Collector DR Meghasree had to stop the registration for relief volunteers on Sunday as the number crossed the target.
But these volunteers didn't just offer their help, but everything they had too. Women have registered themselves to breastfeed orphaned infants.
Dr Lavana Mohammed of Kozhikode's MIMS Hospital crossed the furious river hanging on a hook through a rope to reach those who needed help.
Major Sita Shelke is the lone woman in the 70-member Madras Engineering Group (MEG) of Indian Army that constructed a Bailey Bridge replacing the washed out bridge at Chooralmala.
And amid all the hopelessness, there are some stories of miraculous survival and escape as well. Rameena, a new mother, lost 24 members of her family in the landslides. But she was able to wade through the slush and reach a house with a safe spot, all the while protecting her three-month-old child.
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'Slowly Inching Back To Life'
The tragedy, however, has not just affected humans but animals too.
A rescued parrot being taken to a camp.
Separated from their humans, there are stories coming to light of animals also affected – cows not eating, a parrot crying endlessly in its nest, pet dogs searching for their family.
Uma Balakrishnan, a resident of Attamala near Chooralmala, on the first day of the disaster, had to forcefully push down her pet dog Leo from a jeep "as others protested when they were moved to a safer spot." On Saturday, she returned to find Leo across the street searching for her.
A rescued dog at the control centere at Mundakkai.
(Photo: Ashish Manoli)
"As it was tough to take him to camp, I took him to the house of a friend nearby, fed him, and ensured that he is safe with the family. I had to sneak out while Leo was sleeping. I know he will wait for us till we come back."Uma Balakrishnan
The Department of Animal Husbandry has constituted a special team to save the injured, abandoned, and trapped animals in the disaster. In the past four days, it has saved as many as 122 animals.
Now with the rescue mission in Wayanad coming to a close, schools in nearby villages are taking up the responsibility to accommodate students from the schools lost to the landslides.
"In initial days the focus would be given to cure their minds."Unnikrishnan Master, Principal, Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, Chooralmala
With each day, things are also changing in the relief camps. Families are inching back to life.
On Sunday, Sabaridha, who had been rescued in the landslide, and is currently in the camp at St Joseph’s UP School in Meppadi, celebrated her birthday, as people around her danced, sang, and had cake – sharing a rare instance of joy in an otherwise tragic environment.
Sabaridha's birthday celebration.
(Jose Kurian is a Wayanad-based senior journalist who has formerly worked with The New Indian Express and Deccan Chronicle. He now regularly writes for Onmanorama Online, Inmathi Online, and 101 Reporters.)
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