Senior CPI(M) leaders address online attacks against Malayalam actor Mammootty after his visit to a Wayanad township for landslide survivors, following reports of his displeasure with a local party leader's presence.
The KSTDC's post on 'X' on October 28, promoting its two-night and three-day tour package to the hill station said, " Seeking thrill or tranquillity? Find both in Wayanad! Trek scenic trails, chase waterfalls & meet the wild with KSTDC. Your perfect nature escape awaits."
A red alert indicates heavy to extremely heavy rain of over 20 cm in 24 hours. An orange alert means very heavy rain of 11 cm to 20 cm, and a yellow alert means heavy rainfall between 6 cm and 11 cm.
The Wayanad district authorities said people from residential areas in the affected places were being shifted to safer locations.
'The deceased persons might be sitting or lying down when the tragedy struck them in the wee hours of Tuesday'
The search for survivors continues after several devastating landslides triggered by heavy rainfall hit the hills in Wayanad district.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan publicly apologised to Malayalam actor Mammootty for online abuse following a controversy related to a visit to a Wayanad township.
The couple, whose house was destroyed in the landslide, fled their home at 11 pm after noticing muddy water flowing through their area.
Modi also visited one of the relief camps, which is home to many of those displaced in the massive landslides, and interacted with some of the survivors, including two children who lost their loved ones in the disaster that has claimed over 200 lives.
The Congress party in Kerala has strongly condemned the heckling of its MLA, T Siddique, during the inauguration of a government township project in Wayanad, alleging a conspiracy by the CPI(M). The party claims that hired individuals disrupted the event, and criticizes the Chief Minister's silence during the incident.
Kerala is set to hold its Assembly election, with the ruling LDF aiming for a historic third term, the UDF seeking a comeback, and the NDA striving to gain a foothold in the state's political landscape.
Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was given a rousing welcome by thousands of people, including United Democratic Front leaders and workers, at Kalpetta in Wayanad on Wednesday as she prepares to make her electoral debut by filing nomination papers for the coming Lok Sabha bypoll.
With their near and dear ones gone and staring at an uncertain future, survivors recount their most traumatic experience ever that unfolded in the wee hours of July 30.
The aftermath of the multiple landslides in the hills in Wayanad, July 30, 2024, which has claimed over fifty lives.
As the devastating landslides ravaged a hilly area of Wayanad, leaving a trail of destruction and chaos in their wake, a group of ham radio enthusiasts rose to the challenge, establishing a critical communication network that has helped save lives and facilitate rescue efforts.
The DYFI has been organising numerous challenges and festivals across the state as part of its various fund-raising events to help the rehabilitation efforts for the survivors of the devastating landslides in Wayanad district on July 30.
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.
There is a definite attempt to put the landslides on the backburner because news of them and climate change worry Wayanad's tourism and real estate businesses greatly. Whatever I experienced of Wayanad's 2024 by-elections; the July landslides were not a burning issue, observes Shyam G Menon.
Rescue teams on Friday used GPS coordinates from aerial drone pictures and cell phones, including the last location of people who lived in the landslides-hit areas of Wayanad to help locate survivors, amidst accelerated search operations after the completion of the 190-foot-long Bailey bridge by the Army.
The conditions that lead to landslides, including soil texture, soil moisture and slope are known, and it is important to put all this knowledge into an operational system, he said.
The rescuers on Friday found that the family, comprising two males and two females, was isolated after the landslide cut off their house from the rest of the region.
The Kerala government on Saturday announced that a township will be established in a secure area to rehabilitate those displaced by the catastrophic landslide that occurred in the Mundakkai region of Wayanad district.
Grim and sad scenes from landslide hit Wayanad district.
Rescue operations in Kerala's Wayanad district resumed on Thursday, marking one of the largest efforts to save those stranded by the landslides that have hit the region.
In a post on X, Chiranjeevi on Sunday expressed anguish over the loss of life due to the landslides in Kerala, adding he and his son-"RRR" star Ram Charan were donating Rs 1 crore to the CMDRF.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Monday urged various banks to write off the loans availed by landslide victims and survivors in Kerala's Wayanad.
Besides the police and fire force personnel, volunteers of various service and youth outfits, survivors of the landslides and kin of the victims also became part of the search operations.
An accurate early warning system that correlates rainfall and the potential for landslides. That is the imperative, say experts as rains create havoc in hills across India and the toll mounts in Kerala's Wayanad slopes where landslides buried entire homesteads and possibly hundreds of people.
The woman, her husband and two children, aged 4 years and four months, have already left for Wayand from their home in Idukki in central Kerala.
The Kerala government on Tuesday sought the assistance of the Indian Army for rescue operations in the wake of the devastating landslides in Wayanad district.
Television channels aired phone conversations of several people crying and requesting someone to come and rescue them as they were either trapped in their houses or had no way to travel as bridges had been washed away and the roads were flooded.
Land, houses and other infrastructure facilities required for the rehabilitation procedure would be constructed at the earliest, the authorities said.
Vijayan said the news that the SDMA had directed scientific institutions and scientists not to visit the disaster-affected Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad and not to express their opinions was misleading.
Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said the Centre had sent multiple advance warnings to the Kerala government about possible floods and landslides in the state, starting as early as July 23, and nine National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) teams were rushed to the state the same day.
The Kerala police on Thursday launched an investigation into an alleged social media campaign against Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan's Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district. The campaign was aimed at motivating people to reject the CM's appeal for disaster relief, it said.
In one of the worst natural disasters in Kerala, at least 123 persons were killed and 128 injured in massive landslides triggered by torrential rains in Wayanad on Tuesday. With hundreds trapped under the debris, sparking fears of mounting fatalities, rescue agencies were racing against time to pull out any survivors.
Brisk polling was seen for the Wayanad Lok Sabha and the Chelakkara assembly seats in Kerala as they witnessed a turnout of 20.54 and 19.08 per cent, respectively, after the first three hours of voting on Wednesday.
'It was specifically mentioned in the Gadgil Committee report that this particular area where the colossal landside happened now should be in the Environmentally Sensitive Area under Zone 1.' 'Zone 1 is the most important and ecologically sensitive area, and that it has to be protected entirely.' 'At least 90% of the Wayanad disaster is man-made.'
The construction of a Bailey bridge to connect the landslide-hit areas, where several people are believed to be stranded, alongside the deployment of sniffer dogs and over 1,000 rescuers from Central and state emergency response teams conducting massive search operations, constitutes one of the largest rescue efforts in the Wayanad, devastated by a deadly calamity.
'Except that the population was much less.' 'I remember my uncle and family moving away from the base of a hill whenever it rained for more than a couple of days without a dry day in between.' 'Perhaps the older generations knew if it rained for more than a certain time, they must pack up to a camp or to a relative.' 'As some of the interviews of the survivors on the Malayalam television channels show, the elderly people had a premonition a tragedy would happen, and those who acted on those premonitions survived.'
