Emotions run high as survivors join search team for first time after landslide disaster

Wayanad (Kerala): Mohanan’s face turned pale as he disembarked at Chooralmala. He is a part of a group of survivors confronting the devastation of their landslide-ravaged hamlet in Kerala’s Wayanad district.

Mohanan and the other survivors were visiting their birthplace for the first time since the devastating landslide that razed everything in the Mundakkkai area and left them homeless and grappling with the fact that they may never again see some loved ones who went missing in the landslides.

“I am in search of my brothers, hoping to get at least a body part of our dear ones. Many of our relatives and friends are still missing,” Mohanan said, his voice breaking often.

Mohanan and the other survivors joined the rescue teams on Friday for a joint search operation.

They demanded this from the government authorities, telling them that they wanted the searches to be conducted in places they knew well.

These people, who were fortunate enough to survive the onslaught of the slush mixed with boulders and trees during the landslide, have seen people getting trapped, their loved ones disappearing in the slush, and even some getting crushed under the boulders.

“We helplessly watched our people crying out for help and getting washed away. We had no way to go near them,” Saseendran, another survivor from the same area, said.

They pointed out the places where their houses and their relatives’ houses stood to the rescuers as the officers stared at mounds of just mud and rocks left in the place of the homes.

“We all lived here as a close-knit society, without thinking about caste, creed, or religion. So everyone lost in the disaster was very dear to us,” Vasudevan, another survivor, whose house was among the rare few that were unaffected, said.