Little did the people of picturesque hamlets of Mundakkai, Chooralmala, Attamala, and Noolpuzha in Kerala's Wayanad know on Monday night that the next morning some will wake up to devastation and some won't wake up at all.
The deadly landslides of July 30 that struck the Wayanad towns in the early hours have led to at least 210 deaths with the toll bound to go up with operations to retrieve bodies remain underway but the mission to pull out survivors is mostly concluded.
Wayanad, a hill district in northern Kerala, till July 29 was a popular tourist hub known for its lush green forests, rolling hills, and sparkling waterfalls. having a population of about 8,17,000 people and being home to various cultures, including the indigenous tribal communities.
Visuals captured via drone, by the India chapter of animal protection organisation Humane Society International, showed the extent of the devastation, which appears to have washed out the affected towns completely with no traces of roads or streets left.
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Over 1,600 rescue workers, including from the Army, Navy, National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), the police and other government agencies are carrying out response operations amid distressing scenes of survivors and members of families looking for their loved ones in the remains of the towns left after the landslides.
The worst-hit in the landslide tragedy are tiny junction in Mundakkai and the moderate town in Chooralmala, which till Monday were dotted by shops and concrete structures, and are now wiped out of the map of Wayanad", as per witnesses.
"Mundakkai is now wiped out from the map of Wayanad. Nothing is left here. You can see...there is nothing other than mud and boulders here. We could not even walk properly due to this thick mud...Then how do we search for our beloved ones buried beneath the ground?" news agency PTI quoted a man asking with teary eyes.
Several people remain missing and rescue operators are battling adverse conditions, including waterlogged soil, as they search through destroyed homes and buildings looking for survivors or bodies.
