Wayanad landslide | How volunteers came together to help those affected by the disaster

Individuals, groups and organisations from across Kerala have come together to collect relief materials and essentials for the people in Wayanad displaced by landslides

As news of the devastating landslide in Wayanad spread across a shell-shocked Kerala, residents in Thiruvananthapuram, Kochi and other districts swung into action. Many of them had organised collection points during the flood in 2018 and so they knew how to go about it.

It was on July 30 that Wayanad was hit by three landslides leading to large scale destruction in areas such as Chooralmala and Mundakkai. At a press conference held on August 1, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that over 9,300 people are staying in 91 relief camps in the district.

Radio Jockey Firoz A Azeez, aka Kidilam Firoz of BIG FM, turned to social media and announced that he is setting up an independent collection point at Pattom Junction without any backing of political parties or corporate entities.

“On Wednesday (July 31), a friend arranged a desk and chair for me and before I knew it, people began dropping off bottles of water, sanitary napkins, biscuits and more. About 100 people gathered to volunteer at our collection centre and they organised everything with precision. We have sent five truck-loads of materials to Wayanad,” says Firoz.

He points out that every Keralite shares the pain of Wayanad and are keen on helping in any way they can.

The same sense of purpose motivates those associated with the Academy for Mountaineering and Adventure Sports (AMAS) at Neyyattinkara. As soon as they heard the news, many of them wanted to go to Wayanad to join the rescue operations. “But then we were advised by the government that more people at this point of time would only make things difficult. So, we decided to collect materials for those affected by the disaster,” says Tomy John, director of AMAS.

Again, people flocked in with water, biscuits, chappals and more. Meanwhile, a voluntary  group from Varkala informed AMAS that they would be collecting medicines for those affected by the disaster.