Idukki mudslide: Timely warning saves lives, but survivors face bleak future

The warning came in the nick of time.

On the night of October 25, sensing the possibility of a big mudslide on the shaved-off hill rising like a steep cliff beside the Kochi-Dhanushkodi National Highway, panchayat authorities asked the 22 families in the Lakshamveedu colony that lay sprawled some 200 metres below the highway to quickly evacuate with whatever they could gather. 

They fled, holding on to the little they could in their moment of desperation. Most of the families were shifted to the nearby government school and the Life Mission complex at Machipplavu. 

Biju and Sandhya had shifted to their ancestral home but returned to their house in the Colony, hoping to pick up some important documents. They could not have chosen a worse moment.

The hill collapsed, and the couple, who perhaps expected to get out in a flash, got crushed under their flattened house. Biju was pulled out of the rubble, dead. His last rites were held at his ancestral home in Kumbanpara.

Sandhya survived. She is now treated in Aluva Rajagiri Hospital. Hospital authorities said that Sandhya's left limb had been crushed below the knee. 

Others escaped the thunderous hail of rock and mud that crashed upon their homes. Unlike Biju, they might have been saved from the mudslide. But seemingly not from what the future is about to hurl at them.

Houses of eight families, and all that belonged in them, have been fully destroyed. Others suffered partial to near complete destruction of homes and all that they have earned and valued over the years - money, jewellery, government documents, mark sheets, certificates, books, clothes, furniture, and kitchen utensils. 

The families returned to the mangled remains of what was once their homes on Sunday morning. The shattered remains of a two-storey house, where Shanta and her son lived, were seen dragged nearly a 100 metres further down the slope. Several families lost their livestock, with many animals found buried under the debris.

Locals, officials, and relatives worked together to retrieve whatever could be salvaged — beds, tables, and other usable materials — from houses still standing but at risk. Villagers, with disbelief still writ large on their faces, packed whatever was left of theirs into bundles and left the place they once called home.

Some, like Siju, had till now led a relatively comfortable life. His two-storey house, in which he had lived with his wife, daughter, mother and differently-abled sister in a 16-cent plot near the Lakshmveedu colony, has been fully destroyed. "I don't know where I would take my mother and sister. They need constant care," Siju said. He works as an accountant in a private company.

For those like Kasim, the mudslide has worsened his already miserable plight. "I need the support of my wife and my only son to even walk. Most of the time I am in hospital," Kasim said. His wife Fathima is also sick. Earlier, he had a bunk shop in Adimaly town. Now, with age and increasing frailties, he has wound up the shop. 

Kasim and family get by with the assistance provided by the Jama-ath and other good Samaritans. "My only request is that the government should find us a new place to live. I don't think it will be possible to live in this place any more," he said. His house was in a four-cent plot in the Colony.

For Kasim, at least the house in the Colony was in his name. But Eashwsaran became a resident of the Colony only three years ago. The house where he lived with his son is now rubble.

Easwaran would have secured an ownership certificate only after 12 years. "I have no other place to go. I hope the government will provide me with some assistance," said Eashwaran, an employee of a private resort in the area.  

The Lakshamveedu settlement consisted of 42 houses. Initially, these were twin houses — two families sharing a common wall with rooms built on either side. After years of petitions and complaints, the residents’ long-standing dream of owning single, independent homes finally came true.

However, most of these houses are still roofed with old asbestos sheets and lack basic infrastructure. A cultural centre and an Anganwadi were established here a few years ago under the leadership of the local panchayat.