Aathira Perinchery 
New Delhi/Bengaluru: The whole country and the Union government is with Kerala and the people affected by the Wayanad landslides, said Prime Minister Narendra Modi at Kalpetta in Kerala’s Wayanad district on Saturday (August 10).
The Union government would ensure that all help is provided to the state as soon as it submits its detailed memorandum as promised by the chief minister, Modi said, after his six-hour visit to the district in north Kerala where more than 220 people died in multiple landslides on July 30.
Speaking after a detailed review meeting in the evening at the District Collectorate in Kalpetta after an in-person survey of the landslide-affected areas of Meppadi panchayat, a relief camp and hospital, Modi said that the ongoing work at the landslide sites would not stop for “lack of money”, and added that the Union government would try and “fulfill” all the requests submitted by the state government.
Kerala has already asked the Union government to either declare the Wayanad landslides a national disaster so that more funds are available for rehabilitation of the survivors, or at least provide the state with a special financial package.
As per reports, the state has asked the Union government for aid of Rs 2,000 crore. The prime minister, however, did not immediately declare it as a national disaster or specify any particular amount that the Union government would assist the state with. Nonetheless, with Modi’s assurances, the hope is that funds will come through from the Union government once Kerala submits the “detailed memorandum” in the days to come.
Modi surveys landslide-affected areas
Prime Minister Modi reached Kannur airport at around 11 a.m., and left for Kalpetta in Wayanad district at around 11.24 a.m.
He first undertook an aerial survey of the landslide-hit areas in Wayanad’s Meppadi panchayat by helicopter — accompanied by Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan, governor Arif Mohammed Khan, actor-turned-politician Suresh Gopi who is now the Union minister of state for both the Ministry of Tourism and Petroleum and Natural Gas to Wayanad, and Kerala chief secretary V. Venu.
The helicopters first went past the Kalpetta SKMJ school where they were supposed to land and undertook an aerial survey of the affected areas. At around 12.15 p.m., after the aerial survey, two helicopters landed at a landing site specially prepared at short notice in the school grounds. From Kalpetta, a convoy of vehicles including the prime minister headed to Chooralmala, one of the most-affected areas, via Meppadi and Mundakkai.
At Chooralmala, Modi visited the Vellarmala Government Vocational Higher Secondary School, which has been partially destroyed in the tragedy. At least 20 students of the school are confirmed to have died in the landslide. Modi also visited the premises of the area, entirely dotted with large boulders that the landslide had brought down and buried both houses and parts of the school.
Local television channels showed video grabs of district collector D.R. Meghasree, chief secretary Venu and additional director general of Police M.R. Ajith Kumar explaining details about the landslide and the impacts to Modi in response to the prime minister’s questions, as the chief minister and the governor also stood by.
Modi then surveyed and walked over the newly-built Bailey Bridge, which had been damaged beyond use in the landslides. On August 1, around 150 soldiers of the Indian Army’s Madras Engineer Group or the Madras Sappers rebuilt the 190-metre bridge (earlier constructed by the British) in a record 33 hours — a feat that enabled more rescue personnel as well as large machinery such as Hitachis and JCBs to reach the landslide-struck areas for crucial rescue work. On the Bridge, he spoke to officials of the Indian Army who had engaged in the rescue work as well.
Also read: After Landslides, Union Govt. Reaching Out to Scientists to Criticise Kerala’s Governance: Report
Modi then returned via Meppadi town and visited the relief camp located in the town at St. Joseph’s Girls Higher Secondary school. Apart from speaking to people — including youth — staying in the relief camps, he also spoke to the doctors and the medical staff stationed at the camp.
Modi then visited Dr. Moopan’s Medical College and hospital at Meppadi and spoke to four survivors who were rescued from the landslide and are still under treatment at the hospital.
In the evening — and around an hour behind schedule, because the prime minister spent more time than scheduled walking on foot surveying the devastation in Chooralmala, and speaking with officials, rescue personnel, survivors, doctors — Modi also engaged in a detailed review meeting with officials at Kalpetta Collectorate. Along with the governor and the chief minister, several state ministers attended the meeting. Chief secretary Venu also gave a presentation.
Will help Kerala ‘very generously’: Modi
While “we humans” cannot help families who have lost their loved ones, it is “our collective and public responsibility” that the future life of survivors and their dreams “are not shattered”, said Modi after the review meeting at the Kalpetta Collectorate. Incidentally, Modi had in April this year claimed that he was not “biological” but sent by God, while campaigning for the Lok Sabha elections at Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh.
At Kalpetta on August 10, Modi added that during this difficult time, the Union government and the country were with the victims. He said that yesterday, the team sent by the Union government had also surveyed the areas and met the authorities, as well as the chief minister. And Kerala chief minister Vijayan has told him that he would submit a “detailed memorandum”, Modi said.
“I assure all these families that they are not alone, during this sad time, whether it is the state government, the Union government or India’s citizens, we are all there during this time with them.”
Modi said that the Union government had already released the funds for the Army’s work.
“As soon as we get the memorandum then, very generously, for all these challenges, the union government will stand with the government of Kerala. And I don’t believe that any work here will stop due to lack of money,” he said.
“As far as loss of lives is concerned… such as children who have lost everything in the tragedy, we will have to set up a long-term plan. I hope that the state government will work on this too, and whatever help the Union government can give, we will extend our hand,” the prime minister added.
Modi also said that he could imagine what a tough situation it must have been, with “family after family flowing in the mud” — as he had seen such grief at very close quarters as a volunteer in 1979 for six months in Morni in Gujarat after an earthen dam burst due to heavy rains and more than 2,500 people died.
“I assure you that the country and the Union government will leave no stone unturned… As soon as the details from you come in… Whether it is to build houses, schools, road infrastructure, for the future of children.. As soon as the details come from you, we will offer full cooperation, I assure that. I have myself witnessed the entire thing first-hand, so there is a facility to take decisions too. I assure you that whatever requests the chief minister has, the Union government will try to achieve all those,” Modi said.
Assurances…But no announcement on specific central assistance yet
The Kerala government has announced that survivors would be rehabilitated in a new township, but the state and its people are ideally looking for financial assistance from the Union government for help — either an announcement from the Union government declaring the Wayanad landslides as a national disaster, or at least an announcement of a special financial package for the state in the light of the tragedy.
Also read: Loud Thunderclap-like Sound Echoes from Underground in Wayanad; Houses Shake, Windows Rattle
As per reports, the Kerala government has requested for central aid of Rs. 2,000 crore for the Wayanad tragedy.
However, Modi did not make any announcement pertaining to declaring the landslides as a national disaster or offering a special package for Kerala, before he left for Delhi on the evening of August 10.
According to guidelines published by the National Disaster Management Authority in 2007, disasters are categorised into three levels — L1 disasters are those that can be managed at the district level, though the state and Union government would “remain in readiness to provide assistance if needed”; L2 disasters are those that may require the assistance and active participation of the state, and the mobilisation of resources at the state level; and L3 disasters refer to “large-scale disasters where districts and the state may not have the capacity to respond adequately and require assistance from the central government for reinstating the state and district machinery”. As per the guidelines, the Union government will normally step in at the L3 level.
Following torrential rain of 572 mm in just 48 hours, multiple landslides in the early hours of July 30 in three wards of Meppadi panchayat in Wayanad district buried entire neighbourhoods of villages including Mundakkai, Punchiri Mattam, Chooralmala and Vellarmala.
As per official estimates, more than 220 people are confirmed to have died in the landslides. At least 53 children are dead or missing. Rescue personnel have been continuously unearthing dead bodies and even body parts: as recently as August 9, 11 days since the tragedy, rescue personnel retrieved four dead bodies from near Soochipara.
On August 9, Leader of the Opposition Rahul Gandhi had thanked Modi for visiting Wayanad — the constituency Gandhi won from, along with Amethi in Uttar Pradesh, in the 2024 parliamentary elections — in person.