Today, August 6, marks a week of search for those missing in the massive landslides that hit the settlements in Wayanad's Mundakkai and Chooralmala. But the day also is a reminder of a tragic event that happened in Pettimudi in Idukki's Munnar.
Around 10.30 pm on August 6, 2020, a massive landslide hit the labour camps (layams) occupied by plantation workers and their families. The layams on the foot of a hill in the Rajamala Estate were washed away in the debris flow.

The world came to know about the disaster when two people reached the Rajamala Forest Office at night told the officials there about the destruction. The search for the missing began only after that.

It was the biggest search operation Kerala had seen and lasted 28 days. During the period, 11 people trapped under the debris were rescued. But 66 people lost their lives, four are still missing.

The state government gave Rs 5 lakh each to the families of those killed in the landslide. The survivors were rehabilitated in six months.