It is yet to be ascertained as to what exactly caused the phenomena, but there is a possibility that the crater might be caused by a meteor
As rains continue to lash across Kerala days ahead of the expected onset of Southwest monsoon, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) on Sunday issued a red alert in five districts of the state for Sunday and Monday indicating extremely heavy rainfall.
In the months immediately following the 2024 tragedy, reporting on the landslide per se had been a straightforward affair. On one side was death and destruction. On the other side, survivors and the business of survival. It was black and white. What direction to take was clear. Rehabilitation in comparison, felt like a complex situation. One that is fraught with shades of grey. As grey as human life, explains Shyam G Menon.
National Disaster Management Authority had in 2016 suggested assistance offered as a goodwill gesture 'may' be accepted.
Ernakulam district authorities on Tuesday said 350 cumecs of the water from Idamalayar, which reached Periyar river but there was no considerable rise in the water-level.
"The death toll has gone up to 24. The search operations are still going on. However, rains have started. "Despite that, our officials, and the NDRF are engaged in search and rescue operations," Idukki District Collector H Dineshan said.
Maharashtra Chief Secretary Sitaram Kunte in an order issued on Sunday declared Kerala, Goa, Gujarat, Delhi and the National Capital Region, Rajasthan and Uttarakhand as places of "sensitive origin".
Kerala State Disaster Management Authority has warned about the possibilities of landslides in the hilly areas already hit by extremely heavy rainfall in the past few days and directed people living in the region and government authorities to be vigilant.
The Election Commission has decided to set up a panel to identify the experiences and shortcomings during the recently-held five assembly polls.
The minister, who made an aerial survey of badly affected areas in Idukki and Ernakulam districts, said the rains and floods had caused 'massive damage' to the farm sector and infrastructure like roads and power.
Amid a spike in coronavirus infections in some states, the Delhi government is likely to ask travellers from five states, including Maharashtra, Kerala and Punjab, to show negative COVID-19 test report before entering the national capital, officials said on Wednesday.
The two-member technical panel comprising CD Thatte and DK Mehta had recently surveyed the dam site after Kerala expressed concerns over safety in the wake of recent tremors in the area
Tamil Nadu Chief Minister Jayalalithaa on Wednesday took strong exception to the National Disaster Management Authority forming a team of experts to draw up a contingency response plan for the Mullaperiyar Dam, saying it was nothing but "succumbing to the subterfuge" of Kerala.
The Centre said that there was no legal provision to declare a disaster as a national calamity, amid demands for declaring the floods as a national disaster.
An IMD bulletin said the low pressure area could intensify into a cyclonic storm, triggering heavy to very heavy rainfall in several parts of Kerala.
In an application filed in the apex court, the Kerala government has also sought a direction to the Tamil Nadu government to control the water level by releasing water from the dam throughout the day instead of releasing a huge quantity of water at the wee hours without giving sufficient warning time.
Strict lockdown-like restrictions are already in place in the southern stateand the Pinarayi Vijayan government decided to clamp the complete shutdown in the wake of severe spike in the positive cases.
The displacements were a result of a combination of increasing hazard intensity, high population exposure and high levels of social and economic vulnerability, a report says.
The SC asked the Kerala government to file its response during the day on an application against the three-day relaxation in COVID-19 restrictions in the state in view of the upcoming Bakrid festival.
Kerala Revenue Minister E Chandrasekharan made the announcement in the assembly while replying to a notice seeking adjournment motion moved by Congress-led UDF opposition on the serious situation prevailing in the state due to the sharp decrease in rainfall.
When it comes to the Congress and Wayanad, the only way the scepticism in the minds of some in Kerala may be addressed is by the Gandhi family proving that they are more than a passing caravan in town, reports Shyam G Menon.
'Since there is no photo-op, or quick fix solutions, politicians do not want to address climate change. It is very unfashionable.'
The government can verify 5 per cent of claims in four states -- Maharashtra, Kerala, Gujarat and Andhra Pradesh -- where the gap between number of claims and recorded deaths was wide, said a bench of Justices M R Shah and B V Nagarathna.
LIVE! Incessant rains: Red Alert in 5 Kerala districts
'A lot of unauthorised encroachments have taken place in our forest area.' 'The landslides are partly because of such encroachments.' 'The other factor is deforestation.' 'Protection of forest resources is not on the agenda of any government.' 'The damage caused by the rain in Kerala is a man-made factor.'
A total of 71 people tested positive for rat fever in various hospitals in the state while 123 people approached hospitals with suspected symptoms of the disease.
Talking to PTI, he said the development works should be implemented by protecting the lives of the people.
When the landslide hit, Sruthi's house was washed away, along with its inhabitants. She lost her entire family and some relatives. All she had left for a close confidante was her fiance Jenson. Days after the landslide and the loss of her family, Jenson died in a road accident that also left Sruthi with serious injuries. News of the accident and Sruthi's backdrop as the lone surviving member of a family wiped out in the July landslide, was picked up by the media, and people rushed to help.
The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 4,25,16,068.
Authorities in Kuwait have launched a crackdown on illegal property extensions in the wake of a devastating fire at a seven-storey building that claimed the lives of 50 people, including 46 Indians, according to a media report on Saturday.
Lockdown relaxations by Kerala amounts to dilution of its lockdown guidelines, says the Union home ministry.
A photograph of Kumar snapped while scurrying across the bridge with the child two days ago, has gone viral on the social media with people showering praise on him.
Tamil Nadu government deployed state and national disaster response force teams in Kanyakumari district, which bore the brunt of the rain fury.
Long queues of passengers were seen outside various Delhi Metro stations on Wednesday morning, a day after new restrictions were put in place by authorities, including running of its trains with only 50 per cent seating capacity and no provision for standing for commuters, in view of rising cases of COVID-19 in Delhi.
Karnataka's Manipal-MIT Campus declared Containment Zone due to rise in Covid-19 positive cases Campus of the Manipal Institute of Technology has been declared as containment zone by the Udipi administration after 59 people tested Covid-19 positive over the past few days.
The IMD director said, the cyclonic storm Tauktae in the Arabian sea is moving away from the Kerala coast and is now approaching the Karnataka coast.
'To deny our people help in the time of their greatest need is cruelty,' says Aakar Patel, winner of the 2018 Prem Bhatia Award for Political Reporting.
'When we talk of disaster, it is a combination of hazard and vulnerability.' 'If we reduce vulnerability, it will remain a hazard.'
The pleas raising issues about the dam, which was built in 1895 on the Periyar river in Idukki district of Kerala, came up for hearing before a bench of Justices AM Khanwilkar and CT Ravikumar.
The weather office on Monday forecast heavy to very heavy rainfall over the next three days over some parts of Uttarakhand, which is still recovering from a deluge last week that is feared to have taken over 1,000 lives.
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