Stitched from the storm: How 8 women built Bailey Umbrella after the landslide

When the 2024 landslide tore through Chooralmala, Kerala, it left behind ruin, grief -- and a broken bridge. In just 31 hours, the Indian Army’s Madras Engineer Group built a Bailey bridge across the raging Punnapuzha, reconnecting villages cut off from the world. A year later, they quietly stepped in again -- sending umbrella-making material to eight women from Mundakai and Chooralmala, many of whom had lost everything. This is the story of Bailey Umbrella -- a self-help group named after the bridge that saved them.