Table of Contents
Kerala landslips: Was Vilangad in Kozhikode ignored when all eyes were on Wayanad?
While the State took care of landslide survivors in Wayanad, immediately making arrangements for their rented accommodation, those in Vilangad were asked to do it by themselves. Several agencies rushed to offer land and construct houses for survivors in Wayanad, but such offers were minimal in Vilangad
Manjakkunnu, one of the worst-hit sites in Vilangad, where around 14 houses have completely disappeared.
| Photo Credit: K. Ragesh
The clamour for a comprehensive rehabilitation package for Vilangad in Kozhikode district is growing louder with each passing day, following the devastating landslips that struck the mofussil towns and villages in Vanimal and Narippatta grama panchayats early on July 30. Vilangad in Vanimal was the worst-hit.
Both Vadakara MP Shafi Parambil and Nadapuram MLA E.K. Vijayan have called for a master plan to rebuild the lives of farmers and traders in the region. Mr. Parambil raised the issue in the Lok Sabha, while Mr. Vijayan urged the State government to intervene and take immediate action.
One death
Nearly 200 lives were saved that night as villagers, alarmed by the ominous sounds of landslips and the Mahe river in spate, alerted their families and neighbours about it. Otherwise, a disaster could have unfolded, similar to the one in Meppadi, Wayanad, roughly 90 km away, on the same night. There was one death, K.A. Mathew who lost his life while saving around 40 people from the landslip.
Mathew, Vilangad’s martyr, saved 40 lives on fateful night
However, agricultural losses, including the destruction of teak plantations, are incalculable. Around seven bridges, both minor and major, including the one in Vilangad town, lie either in ruins or buried beneath massive boulders. People of Vilangad completely lost their agricultural land, houses, and other properties.
Multiple landslips along various tributaries of the Mahe river hit Vilangad at almost the exact hour as Chooralmala and Mundakkai in Wayanad. However, the survivors at Vilangad were mostly left to take care of themselves. Before help came much later in the day, local residents of Vilangad had set up temporary bridges and roads using areca trees, rescuing the 13 families that were isolated as a chasm had formed between them. No volunteers rushed to help, neither did supplies flow to those in relief camps.
Two days after the disaster, those in relief camps had to ask for essential supplies. Food kits started arriving a day later. While the local panchayat and officials helped coordinate the camps, there was little help from outside. The cries for help from Vilangad were not immediately heard. Higher officials and Ministers visited the calamity zone only three days later.
The bridge to the Wayad tribal colony in Vilangad, the approach roads of which were washed away in the landslips.
| Photo Credit:
K. Ragesh
One of the reasons for the lack of outside intervention in Vilangad could be that the region was not easily accessible, especially after several roads and bridges were destroyed. With no power supply for three days after the disaster and disruption of mobile phone networks, the news coming out of Vilangad was fewer compared to Wayanad.
Teams to be deployed for structural assessment of buildings at Vilangad
Around 1,000 people were in relief camps in Vilangad in the initial days. As per official records, 112 houses were affected in the calamity, while 56 were either destroyed or rendered uninhabitable. As much as 162.27 hectares of agricultural land were destroyed. With layers of debris and sludge deposited, they are no longer cultivable.
While the State took care of the survivors in Wayanad, immediately making arrangements for rented accommodation, those in Vilangad were asked to do it by themselves. Several agencies rushed to offer land and construct houses for the survivors in Wayanad, but such offers were minimal in Vilangad.
Did the people of Vilangad actually ‘commit the grave mistake of not letting anyone die’, as the death toll is what differentiates the place from Wayanad?
Read Comments
- Copy link
- Telegram
READ LATER
Remove
SEE ALL
PRINT
Related Topics
Kozhikode
/
Kerala
/
natural disasters