Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's interaction with a young landslide survivor during a township inauguration has ignited a political debate, with CPI (M) leaders contrasting it with PM Modi's earlier interaction with the same child.
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.
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.
Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan's interaction with a young landslide survivor during a township inauguration has ignited a political debate, with CPI (M) leaders contrasting it with PM Modi's earlier interaction with the same girl.
Intense rains lashed Kerala on Sunday, uprooting trees across the state, including one that fell on a moving train in Thrissur and another that caused a fatality in Kozhikode. Houses were damaged, rivers were in spate, and shutters of some dams were raised as the southwest monsoon gained strength. The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) placed five northern districts - Malappuram, Kozhikode, Wayanad, Kannur, and Kasaragod - under a 'red alert' for the day, predicting extremely heavy rainfall there.
While two bodies were recovered on Wednesday, the death toll climbed to four on Thursday after the recovery of two more bodies from the Indira Priyadarshini Hydroelectric project site in Kangra district.
Shruti, who lost her entire family in the Wayanad landslide disaster and later her fianc in a road accident, began a new chapter of hope by joining government service. The state cabinet had recently decided to provide a government job to the young woman, who had endured back-to-back tragedies. She joined the Revenue Department as a clerk in the mountainous district, expressing gratitude to the government for its support during her difficult times.
Malayalam television channels aired the visuals captured on the CCTVs in some shops in Chooralmala, one of the hamlets completely destroyed in the disaster.
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.
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.
In Kerala's society, known for its high material standard of living, plunging into a state of having nothing overnight can be terrible for one's social standing and sense of self-esteem. Rehabilitation entails piecing a community back together after a disturbance and while its aim is noble, the act of reassembling will bring alive disparities and inequalities, explains Shyam G Menon.
Swollen water bodies changed their course and flowed through inhabited areas, resulting in more destruction.
Grim and sad scenes from landslide hit Wayanad district.
Emotional scenes were witnessed at the polling stations set up for the survivors of the landslides, which hit the hill district in July this year, to cast their votes in the bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency when they saw their neighbours and close friends after a long time since the disaster.
The minister added that many of the surviving children have lost their textbooks and certificates, among others, and the government will consider all these matters and help them after a discussion with the chief minister.
'The deceased persons might be sitting or lying down when the tragedy struck them in the wee hours of Tuesday'
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.
As rescue operations in the landslide-hit areas of this north Kerala district entered fifth day, rescuers unearthed more bodies and body parts, taking the death toll to 215, with around 206 people still reported missing.
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.
As many as 190 people have died and over 200 injured in the massive landslides that hit Wayanad district two days ago, with the numbers expected to increase even more as rescuers unearth debris, the district administration said on Thursday.
'The global climate system doesn't look at where the carbon dioxide is coming from. 'It may be emitted by the US, but it will not remain above the US alone but covers the whole world.'
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.
Helpless local residents could do nothing but watch the man's struggle and urged authorities to swiftly rescue him.
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.
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.
Survivors of the landslides in Chooralmala-Mundakai in Wayanad district alleged on Thursday that they were given worm-infested food kits by the Meppadi Gram Panchayat, leading to a violent protest by the Democratic Youth Federation of India (DYFI) on Thursday.
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.
Local residents have stressed that land acquisition for rehabilitation must be completed promptly, as it has been delayed after estate owners challenged it in the Kerala high court.
Land, houses and other infrastructure facilities required for the rehabilitation procedure would be constructed at the earliest, the authorities said.
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.
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 death toll in the devastating landslides in Kerala's Wayanad district rose to 167 on Wednesday, while 191 were missing even as the rescue teams intensified efforts to find survivors trapped under the debris on the second day of the search operations.
The death toll in the series of deadly landslides that rocked the hamlets of Kerala's Wayanad last week has touched 222, according to the state government on Monday.
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.
Despite facing inclement weather, rising water levels and the challenges of working through the night, the Madras Engineers Group team completed the bridge at landslide-hit Choorlamala in Wayanad.
A total of 1,162 essential documents have been distributed among 872 persons at the camp, the district administration in Wayanad said.
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 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.
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.
The couple, whose house was destroyed in the landslide, fled their home at 11 pm after noticing muddy water flowing through their area.
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