Latest News

Rain, particles, leeches: India landslide survivors remember 'night of scaries'

Whenever it rains really heavily in the hills of Wayanad in southern India, many people stay awake, remembering a 2019 landslide that killed about 20 people.

Last Monday too, housewife M Fathima said she and her extended family in Mundakkai village remained awake as relentless rain poured down during the day and into the night.

When the very first landslide hit around 1 a.m., we were all awake, stated Fathima, 52. Everybody in the room was weeping. It felt like death impended. A minimum of another landslide followed.

The household of about 20 people moved out early on Tuesday with other villagers who endured the two landslides, Fathima said. It was night, and houses were spread so they were unaware that ratings had passed away in the area.

Almost 100 of the villagers, including kids and pregnant females, trekked for miles through the destruction of particles, wet soil, large rocks and irregular surface downhill, Fathima said.

Rescuers reached them soon and moved them to a relief camp in the town of Meppadi, but Fathima remains distressed. We. do not understand what is left of our houses as soon as we return, she told. Reuters from the camp.

The landslides on Tuesday that hit Wayanad district in. Kerala state, a popular traveler location, eliminated more than. 170 people and left hundreds homeless, with more than 8,000. individuals protected in the safety of camps.

Most victims died in their sleep, as gushes of mud,. stones, water and trees swept through tea and cardamom estates. and plantation towns, burying people or washing them away.

CAN'T AFFORD ANOTHER HOUSE

Authorities and some experts have blamed the catastrophe on. unanticipated extremely heavy rain caused by the warming of the Arabian. Sea. Rescue has been slowed by incessant rain, with the army. racing to develop a short-term bridge across an inflamed river to. reach Mundakkai, the most afflicted location in the hills.

It was truly a night of horrors, stated K. H. Abbas, 46, a. labourer who left his house after the very first landslide with seven. relative including a four-month-old infant. We invested the. night by a little forest with rain, leeches and what not.

Abbas said he found out that his home has actually not been damaged. however is afraid to return.

I don't feel confident sufficient to return, it would be a. nightmare to stay there once again, he stated. Then again, we can't. afford another house either.

Aliyar Kutty, 59, who runs a small company, was not as. fortunate although he left with his life while 2 neighbours. remained back and are dead.

Everything was swept away by the rains, Kutty stated. We. need to rebuild everything from scratch. We had actually only taken some. crucial documents of my child and some extra clothes. Everything else has actually been lost.

Muzammil Haque, a migrant employee from the distant. northeastern state of Assam who is used at a local tea. estate, faces extra problems as he doesn't know the local. language, Malayalam.

It has actually been really stressful ... I have never seen anything. like this before, he stated. Big rocks were breaking, trees. uprooted, and homes, stores, everything lay destroyed. There were. many dead bodies all around.

We do not know where to go or what to do, nor do we. understand the local language, he stated. Food and cash are a. issue since we are daily-wage workers..

(source: Reuters)