Meppadi (Wayanad): Covered in white clothes and tagged with just a number, bodies of the landslide victims are brought to two tables set up at the Family Health Centre in Meppadi. An eerie silence envelopes the premises even as hundreds of people queue up to find out if their missing relatives are among the deceased.
A new tragedy unfolds every minute as ambulances keep on arriving to deliver the mortal remains recovered from the site of the tragedy. Covered in mud, faces swollen and often not recognisable, the bodies are not shown to the people till they are washed.
Those who are patiently waiting outside have no energy to speak as many have already cried for hours.
A man surrounded by friends nearly collapses in front of a body. "Nine members of his family are missing; he just saw the body of his brother after waiting since morning," says a young volunteer from Santhwanam, an NGO.
The bodies and mortal remains not recognised at the FHC are stored in freezers in the nearby community building after postmortem. "We are guiding people to the community building. If they don't find the missing relatives there, they come and wait here," says a senior doctor.
The healthcare facility, built to cater to the small population of the town, has been transformed overnight for handling the deadliest natural disaster to have hit Wayanad.
Young doctors from across Kerala have arrived to respond to the emergency while volunteers wash the body and assist the police inquest.
Siddesh, a distraught man from KR Pet in Mandya, had rushed to the FHC to see if he could learn anything about his missing nephew and mother-in-law. He anxiously looks at the body carrying the number '124' and comes back distraught. His only relief is that his sister Jhansi Rani and brother-in-law Anil Kumar have been rescued from the rubble.
Kumar sustained serious injuries while Rani received minor injuries. Both don't know what happened to their 2.5-year-old son Nihal and Kumar's mother Leelavathi. Rani refuses to eat food till she sees her son.
Siddesh, who has been looking after his sister's family for the last three years when his brother-in-law worked in Europe, says he doesn't know whether to keep hopes.
"Kumar came to Mundakkai on July 11 to oversee the completion of their house under construction. We were planning a house-warming ceremony next month," Siddhesh says, adding that he just wants to see his nephew's face once. "But I don't know if they will even find his body."
Unnikrishnan, a senior official from the revenue department, says the entire state has come together. "People have come here from all parts of the state to help. We are leaving no stone unturned in search and rescue operations."
According to Falul Abid MK, a senior coordinator for the NGO Santhwanam, about 1,000 volunteers from Wayanad and surrounding districts will stay at the site as long as the government needs them.
"We are here to help, come what may. Until the government declares the emergency is over, we will work to assist the people."