Wayanad copes with grief, looks to mitigate disasters

One recent rainsoaked morning, P Usman, clutching an umbrella, is making his way slowly past verdant tea plantations towardsa large graveyard, fenced neatly with stone Slabs.

- Vishnu Varma

Opening the gate and taking a few steps in, Usman, in his late 50s, is quickly overwhelmed with emotion. His eyes well up. Inside the compound are scores of graves, most identified with names and photographs, and others marked only by small cement blocks. “That's my cousin sister Muhsina,” he says, pointing to a grave marked by a black granite stone with her name etched on it. “And over there, her three children,” he says, choking on his words.

The rain is now heavier, and he moves closer to his sister's grave, and begins reciting prayers in Arabic. The day is significant for Usman and others whose relatives are buried here: it marks the first anniversary as per the Islamic calendar of the July 30, 2024 landslides in Mundakkai-Chooralmala in Kerala’s Wayanad, a tragedy that claimed 298 lives and displaced over 700 families.

Multiple landslides, following torrential rainfall exceeding 570mm in 48 hours, started in a remote forest in the upper reaches of the hill-range in the early hours of July 30, causing large amounts of soil, rocks and vegetation to cascade down nearly 5km and flatten the settlements of Punchirimattam, Mundakkai and Chooralmala. An expert geological team likened the impact to a dam burst. The inclement weather, the time of the accident and the collapse ofa key bridge over the swollen Punnapuzha river contributed to high fatalities. Search and rescue operations went on for almost two months, with body parts of the dead being found 50km away.

Dozens of the dead (from all faiths), were laid to rest at the specially-erected burial ground in Puthumala, coincidentally located just a few hundred metres away from similarly devastating 2019 landslide-affected site. One grave contains the remains of three children, brothers aged nine, six, and three. Pens and toys have been left on the grave, likely things they loved.