A Community Shattered: Wayanad Struggles to Rebuild

Sometimes blessings will be altered into disasters. That's what made the lands of Wayanad wreck into debris on the night of July 30; dreadful consecutive landslides concluded the heavy rainfall had erupted catastrophe in this northeast hilly district of Kerala. It has completely vanished two settlements named Chooralmala and Mundakkai from human existence by eradicating nearly 200 households and buildings by generating sorrowful mudlogging and lives being stranded beneath hill remnants. It heavily resulted in massive destruction and consequences on their standard of living by causing the deaths of more than 450 residents, injuries of 400, and bodies of more than 200 remained untraced in slush. It has been a heavy loss for everyone; families are still waiting for their beloved ones without blinking an eye. Throughout our lives, a mass number of people, rescue teams, social volunteers, and others have relentlessly engaged in vibrant searching. For lives, the landslide culminated in the Shalimar River in Malappuram, which is 94 km from the peril spot. It was found dead bodies were swallowed by river bank mud, and the remaining ones plunged into depths of darkness. An Indian space research organization later released a satellite image indicating that 86,000 square meters had been slipped out to havoc. This erosive calamity has severely demolished the infrastructure of these villages; it knocked down a Shiva temple, mosques, a bridge, government schools, business establishments, houses, and some resorts. The rescue team had a lot of harrowing experiences during the operation, like finding children's dead bodies covered in mud under concrete slabs. Finding scattered body parts, being buried under soil alive, it remained a huge risk to recognize their face, or something like that. Most commendable during this incident is the widespread rescue cooperation and support of people all over the world. The news of landslides spread through social media steadfastly, and it has witnessed such an enormous outflow of helplines, rescue operations, generous fund collections, ardent support, and shared condolences that it has hit society empathetically, from regional fishermen, Bollywood celebrities to national leaders have held hands for the victims by endowing cash and needs. The Keralites approached them unselfishly with great gusto; moreover, most people participated in this help campaign by sending food items, groceries, and efficient things and transferring money for their reconstruction from the loss, which made everyone surprised; some sailed whole clothes from their own shops; some changed restaurants cooking to feed the victims; and most notably, more than 150 expatriates have agreed to handover their homes to evacuate victims temporarily, which has pursued a lot of accolades globally. Also, Tamilians have assured active participation in rescue operations. Meanwhile, a heartening incident has assured the empathic encounter of animals with this crisis. At midnight, powerlines dropped, and a woman named Sujata, while escaping to cardamom plantations nearby, got confronted by an elephant, but it remained calm after realizing their dreadful condition; it didn't harm us but sheltered us on that night,” Mrs. Sujata recalls. More vitally, the quick approach of rescue and relief has become the solace for a lot of people. With over 1800 personal comings from the Indian army, navy, airforce, disaster response forces, state forces from the police, forest, etc., they have blindly proved their commitment and dedication to Wayanad, which is labeled widely as a tourist destination and leisure spot by its lucrative natural beauty and its splendid geographical placement. It was heartbreaking, while mass graves were dug up for the dead in masjid graveyards and churches, which funerals have done without rears shedding holding religious customs. Eventually, the Wayanad incident struck the empathical spot of people, and the world witnessed such collective caring cooperation throughout it.