Now, house-lifting service for Munroe Thuruth residents

Sinking houses can be lifted by jacks and a new foundation built

Munroe Thuruth residents, Kerala’s first band of climate refugees, have been living on the frontline of an escalating crisis for years.

As tidal flooding and steady subsidence continue to plague them, house lifting services are offering the islanders a new lifeline.

After a Haryana-based firm lifted a 1,050 sq ft house by four feet using jacks, more and more people are planning to follow suit. Suseelan’s house ‘Akhil Bhavanam’ is located in Perungalam, a part of the island with zero road connectivity.

“We don’t have any other choice if we want to stay here. We can’t afford relocating to another place and the situation was getting worse with the recent changes in climate. We had to ferry all the material required for the work in boats,” says Suseelan, the first resident to opt for the service.

Abandoned and dilapidated houses are not a rare sight in the island as many of its residents have fled the place over the years. Anticipating the snag, Shaji had built his house three ft above surface level some 10 years back. But over a period of time its foundation started to settle and the bottom of the structure gradually sank into the soil.

“The upper layers of the earth are not strong enough to hold the structure and many houses in the neighbourhood are facing the same issue. Due to the change in climate, tidal flooding has become more frequent and severe now. While it was limited to two-three months in the past, we have to deal with it for over eight months now,” he says.

The condition of the islanders aggravated after the floods in 2018, forcing them to look for reliable solutions.