In August 2019, a devastating landslide in Puthumala village in Kerala’s Wayanad district killed 17 people. The disaster destroyed homes, places of worship and shops, leaving Puthumala a barren valley overgrown with weeds. Now, just a few hills away, the tragedy has struck again.
On July 30, 2024, a landslide hit Choorlamalla and the nearby villages of Mundakkai and Attamala, claiming 210 lives while 218 people are missing as of August 2. With little hope of finding survivors, these villages under Meppadi panchayat have become a valley of the dead.
The survivors, who are currently taking shelter in relief camps, face an uncertain future as the government grapples with the challenge of rehabilitating those rendered homeless. Following the disaster, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan urged people to contribute generously to the Chief Minister’s Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF).
“More resources are needed to rebuild the region. Many people have pledged help, but it is not enough. Generous contributions are needed,” he said. Public Works Department Minister Mohammed Riyas, a member of the Cabinet sub-committee dealing with the crisis, admitted the task ahead was daunting.
“The rehabilitation plan will be decided after detailed discussions. Many victims need counselling to regain their mental strength, and their children’s education should resume as soon as possible,” he said.
The deserted village of Puthumala, devastated by the 2019 landslide, underscores the challenge the government faces in rehabilitating survivors from Choorlamalla, Attamala and Mundakkai. After the 2019 disaster, most residents of Puthumala left, never to return, and no new buildings were allowed to be constructed in the affected area.
Abubakar, the owner of the only tea stall still in Puthumala, recalls that about 90 families lived there before the 2019 tragedy. “Now, less than a dozen families are left. Many had good houses that were vacated after the landslide. People do not even return to tend to their agricultural lands where the landslide did not deposit debris,” he said.
Survivors of the recent tragedy, now living in temporary camps, face a similar reality. Many, haunted by memories of the landslide, are reluctant to return to their devastated villages, where hundreds of homes have been damaged or destroyed.
The most poignant loss is that of the Vellaramala Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, which was destroyed in the landslide. More than 20 of its students are feared dead. A song released for the school’s Annual Day celebrations in 2023 has resurfaced on social media, moving the survivors to cry.
A father named Janish recalls the impact on his daughter Tanmaya, a fourth-grade student at the school. “She is yet to know that at least three of her classmates are dead or missing. I don’t know how she will react when she learns about these losses,” he says.
For others, the grief is compounded by uncertainty about the future. Vikas, a college student and alumnus of the school, says he played football there every evening, including the night before the landslide. His father, Ponniyan, a tailor turned lottery seller, has lost many neighbors and friends.
“We have to move and start afresh, but we have no savings. All these years, we lived as a community, helping each other. Now we have no choice but to leave,” he says sadly.
Mahadevi, who is in her late 60s, lost all three of her sons and their families in the tragedy. “There is no one left to perform my last rites. I don’t know what my life means now,” she says.
For others like Manikyam, who moved to Wayanad from Tamil Nadu decades ago, the future is uncertain. “I bought land here in 1999, but I can’t sell it now. No one will buy property in a disaster zone,” he says.
After the 2019 disaster, the government rehabilitated 54 families from Puthumala on land provided by the Mathrubhumi Charitable Trust. However, the way forward for those displaced by the recent landslides remains unclear.
Despite the tragedies, tourism continues to grow in these villages in the ecologically fragile Western Ghats. Meppadi panchayat alone has nearly 600 registered resorts and homestays. “There has been no significant impact on tourism despite repeated natural disasters,” says an industry source.
Still, the situation is bleak for residents of these villages. “This area is uninhabitable,” says Anand, a resident of Choorlamalla. “The panchayat is unlikely to allow new construction in places where houses have been destroyed. Maybe a few people will return to tend to their agricultural lands, but most will have to start from somewhere else.”
Kavungal Hamza’s house in Choorlamalla was completely destroyed, he says his family has no desire to return. “We lost everything – our house, our belongings, our children’s books. How do I rebuild my life at this age?” he asks.
Wayanad is mourning the dead and searching for the missing, while survivors face an uncertain future, grappling with the loss of their homes, their communities and their way of life.
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