Wayanad landslides: Search operations enter delicate and emotional phase as survivors reach disaster zone after 11 days

Wayanad landslides: Search operations in Wayanad landslide zone in Kerala enter emotional phase as survivors seek closure before search operations are called off.

The search operations in the landslide-flattened villages in Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad district of Kerala entered a delicate and emotional phase early on Friday (August 9, 2024).

Scores of survivors reached ground zero at 6 a.m. in a fraught attempt to salvage some crumbs of consolation by searching for the souvenirs of the shared existence they lost in the massive earthfall on July 30.

They were returning to their devastated villages at Chooralmala, Mundakkai and Attamala after a hiatus of 11 days. As many as 190 survivors joined the search with their relatives and friends.

All had fled their homes when disaster struck in the darkness. The scale of the disaster dawned on them as they inspected the vast debris field in daylight.

Large piles of sodden mud uprooted trees, and fallen boulders swallowed their bucolic villages nestling in the valley of a forested hill, which collapsed on the sleeping community after 48 hours of heavy rain-induced waterlogging.

Several inspected what little remained of their ruined homes. A few retrieved family photographs, soggy clothes, and marriage certificates, stark reminders of the community life snuffed out by the landslide.

Some survivors found it challenging to identify the locations where their homes once stood.