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Searches continue amid fading hope in Wayanad
Kerala puts official death toll at 210 as search yields 14 more bodies; efforts also under way to find bodies washed downstream; ground-penetrating radars, drones, and GPS-aided gadgets deployed to find survivors
Indian Army’s Engineer Task Force personnel conduct rescue and relief operations in Wayanad on August 2, 2024. Photo: X/@IaSouthern via ANI
Joint teams of the Army, State police, National Disaster Response Force, Coast Guard, and volunteers scoured the landslide-devastated Chooralmala, Mundakkai, and Attamala localities of Wayanad for survivors, as search and rescue operations continued for the fourth day on Augsut 2.
The laborious, and often dangerous work seemed to enter a new phase as rescuers and officials quietly acknowledged that the possibility of finding survivors remained remote, as operations continued amid the expansive and muddy field of mangled bodies, displaced boulders, uprooted trees, and collapsed houses.
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The search on August 2 yielded 14 more bodies. The government put the official death toll at 210, including 96 men, 85 women and 29 children. Over 134 body parts were retrieved by August 2 evening, with 146 of them being identified by families. Local hospitals have been treating 273 persons admitted since July 30. The government has housed hundreds more in nine relief camps. Unverified reports put the death toll over 300.
However, rescue workers continued their relentless search for survivors. They actively pursued signals picked up by ground-penetrating radars and points flagged by Army and police dog squads. GPS-aided digital maps were used to pinpoint locations of houses in the disaster zone. The spots were excavated for possible survivors and bodies.
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Simultaneously, a large posse of police personnel, local divers, scouts, and guides combed the banks of the Chaliyar River in Malappuram for bodies of Wayanad landslide victims washed downstream by the swollen Iruvanjipuzha River, which abuts the disaster zone. Navy and Coast Guard helicopters also joined the search.
The government moved heavy machinery, including earthmovers, to the disaster-hit Mundakkai area, which remained cut-off for more than two days after the catastrophe.
The massive earthfall had swept away the bridge across the Iruvanjipuzha, forcing rescue workers to take perilous detours and ropeways to reach Mundakkai. The impact had bifurcated the river into two fast-flowing streams.
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The government has requisitioned several classrooms in a local school to set up a temporary morgue powered by diesel generators. It has also deployed ground-penetrating radars, including a few drones equipped with such gadgets to scan more expansive areas. The Tamil Nadu government also dispatched a police dog squad from Chennai to assist the rescue operations in Wayanad.
The incident commander divided the disaster-struck area into six search zones. The government has commandeered 50 ambulances to transport recovered bodies and also scores of mobile morgue freezers to store them. The government has decided to bury or cremate unclaimed dead bodies of the victims of the disaster.
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The authorities have preserved 74 unclaimed dead bodies in different makeshift morgues in Meppadi panchayat.
The government will hand over the bodies to the secretaries of the concerned local bodies. The government has appointed Sreedhanya Suresh, Inspector-General of the Registration Department, as the nodal officer to handle the operation.
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natural disasters
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flood
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avalanche/landslide
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Kerala