Landslide survivors tell a tale of distress and suffering

The relatives of the Wayanad landslide victims from Karnataka tell tales of great distress and suffering.

“All my nine relatives had climbed up the first floor, as the water gushed inside the house. But, the hill behind the house caved in and all of them were washed away with the debris,” said Mahadev, a relative of the victims. All of them hailed from Ukkalagere in  T Narsipur taluk of Mysuru district and perished in the landslide at Chooralmala. He spoke to DH over the phone. 

“All three families, with three members each, had five cent land each on which they had built houses. They all worked in the tea estates nearby. We all migrated here a few years ago. My aunt Mahadevamma, 70, stayed with her sons (who died with their families) during the day and with her daughter Rathna, a widow, during night in the tea estate quarters, in the upper part of the hill. Both Mahadevamma and Rathna have survived. We have identified and cremated three bodies. we are yet find six more bodies,” Mahadev said, crying inconsolably. 

Vinod, a therapist at an Ayurvedic centre in Chooralmala, hails from Gundlupet in Chamarajanagar district. “My friends, who were alive two days ago, are no more now. I am left with the task of identifying their bodies”. 

He said he and his three relatives had a narrow escape, in a matter of two minutes. “We just came out to see our cow, which was mooing. Or else, we would have died. We ran towards the upper part of the hill. There were three repeated landslides between 1 am and 4 am of Tuesday. We never thought we would be alive. We reached the relief camp in Meppadi only on Tuesday evening,” Vinod said. 

Gundlupet Tahsildar Ramesh Babu, who had been to Wayanad for rescue operations, said that he had not seen such disaster in his 30-year career.  “Bodies were pulled out one after the other from under the debris. People lined up at the mortuary, struggling to identify bodies. The bodies had crush injuries rendering identification difficult,” he said. 

They identified Rajendra (50) from Irasavadi village of Chamarajanagar taluk and resident of Chooralmala; Savithri (54) and Shivanna (50) from Ukkalagere of T Narsipur taluk of Mysuru district and residents of Chooralmala; Leelavathi (55) and her grandson Nihal (2.5) from Kaththaragatta village of KR Pet taluk of Mandya district and residents of Mundakkai.

Out of 18 people from Karnataka who died during landslides at Wayanad, bodies of five more people were identified on Thursday. The deceased have been ified as Rajendra (50) from Irasavadi village of Chamarajanagar taluk,  Savithri (54) and Shivanna (50) from Ukkalagere of T Narsipur taluk of Mysuru district Leelavathi (55) and her grandson Nihal (2.5) from Kaththaragatta village of KR Pet taluk of Mandya district. 

Mandya district administration made arrangements to bring bodies of Leelavathi and Nihal to Mandya. Rest of them were cremated in mass cremation at Meppadi, Kerala.