At least 9,000 persons have been displaced after a landslide hit at least three villages in Wayanad on July 30. File
| Photo Credit: THULASI KAKKAT
The Kerala government has requested the Centre to declare the catastrophic landslide that devastated at least three villages in Vythiri taluk in the Wayanad district on July 30 a national disaster.
Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said in Thrissur on Sunday that the severity of the destruction wrought by the massive earthfall had few parallels in recent times in the country.
Mr. Vijayan said the repercussions of the landslide, triggered by heavy rain, were yet to subside. Kerala was still in a state of shock. The government has placed the official death toll at 221. It could rise further as more than 200 people were missing, and rescue workers were retrieving more bodies and dismembered body parts from the mud and debris-covered disaster zone.
At least 9,000 persons displaced by the natural disaster have sought refuge in government-run relief camps in Wayanad.
Speaking to reporters after touring the disaster zone on Sunday, Mr. Gopi, actor and Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) MP from Thrissur, said the Centre had to adhere to several modalities before making any declaration.
He said the Central government was weighing the legality of the State government’s demand to declare the landslide a natural disaster. Mr. Gopi said the Centre had sought a report from the Kerala government. He urged the State to request the Central government to release more assistance for the people of Wayanad.
Union Minister of State for Fisheries George Kurian called on Prime Minister Narendra Modi at the latter’s official residence in Delhi on Sunday and apprised him of the situation in Wayanad.
The State government has announced plans for a township for the Wayanad landslide survivors. Officials believe declaring the landslide a natural disaster would allow the Central government to channel more resources for rehabilitation and climate change mitigation activities, including relocation of communities living in disaster-prone zones.
The Leader of the Opposition in the Lok Sabha, Rahul Gandhi, had stated last week that he would flag the Wayanad disaster in Parliament. The Leader of the Opposition in the Kerala Assembly, V.D. Satheeshan, demanded that the Central government declare the Wayanad landslide a natural disaster.
