Mass burial for 27 unidentified victims of Wayanad landslides

Mass burial of landslide victims in Wayanad, India, with recovery efforts ongoing and plans for survivors' rehabilitation.

Twenty-seven unidentified bodies and 154 body parts of the victims of the disastrous July 30 landslides of Chooralmala and Mundakkai were buried on Monday. The mass burial conducted in a cemetery prepared in the Harrisons Malayalam plantation followed an all-religion prayer. Eight unidentified bodies were buried on Sunday evening.

Fourteen of the bodies buried on Monday afternoon were women. Politicians, Ministers, and government officials paid tributes to the victims. Six more bodies were recovered during a search on Monday, the seventh day after the tragedy, raising the death toll to 226 officially. Five bodies were retrieved from Wayanad and one from the Chaliyar river at Nilambur.

The landslides in the early hours of July 30 wiped out 352 houses and damaged 122 others at Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Punchirimattam. While 226 were killed, the number of people missing was assumed to be more than 200. As many as 181 body parts were retrieved from different places, mostly from the Chaliyar.

As many as 1,174 personnel of different forces took part in the search conducted in six zones using earth movers. More than 900 volunteers and local people joined the forces in the search in 112 teams. While 119 personnel were deployed at Punchirimattam, 137 personnel searched Mundakkai, and 431 personnel, Chooralmala. The dog squads of the State police, Army, and Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue Services also joined the search.

When 150 bodies were recovered so far from different parts of the disaster zone in Wayanad, 76 were retrieved from the Chaliyar in Nilambur. Out of the 181 body parts recovered, 157 were from Nilambur.

The survivors who lost their houses at Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Punchirimattam will be temporarily rehabilitated in buildings available in Meppadi and neighbouring panchayats. Data of the buildings available will be collected within a week.

Minister for Local Administration M.B. Rajesh said that a micro plan was being chalked out under the leadership of the Kudumbashree for the survivors’ rehabilitation. There will be a community mentor for 50 to 75 families. Five members of the State Kudumbashree Mission will oversee the micro plan. “Twenty community resource persons will be appointed for this,” he said.