‘Ignored' by authorities, landslip victims of Vilangad an aggrieved lot

The Hindu

3 days ago

Almost every day, Thomas Joseph, a timber worker, makes a short, unsettling visit to his house at Manjacheeli in Vilangad ward of Vanimel grama panchayat in Kozhikode district.
He walks around the house, inspecting its nook and cranny and occasionally removing the weeds that have sprouted on the courtyard. At times, he opens the windows and peeks inside to ensure that everything is in order. This has been his routine for the past two months as he had left his house for a rented accommodation during the onset of the southwest monsoon season.
He has one reason for leaving the house, which he built using his life's earnings. It is precariously located on the pathway of two landslips that hit the area a year ago. Thomas, though initially hesitant to move out, eventually heeded the advice of his friends and relatives and shifted to a rented house, a few kilometres away, soon after the monsoon rains began in the last week of May.
Like Thomas, life changed forever for the 120 families of the village on July 29 last year when around 100 landslips took place in and around Vilangad village within a span of four hours, starting from 11.30 p.m. Huge quantities of rock, soil, and debris hurtled down from the upper reaches.
The sudden gush of water took with it 18 houses, more than a dozen shops, and a wayside shrine in the process. The huge quantities of water that gushed down from the upper reaches created a nearly 70-metre-wide trench at Manjacheeli. Weeds have now overgrown the area, like life's resolve to outlive tragedies.
'We know when landslips are about to hit us. Water suddenly turns murky, and the stench of clay pervades the area. It's the early warning of an impending disaster, and we quickly move into an evacuation mode. If we hadn't that day, the death toll would have easily crossed 50,' says Vinoy Thomas, president of the Vilangad unit of the Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti, a merchant body.
Many lucky to survive
The quick thinking of the villagers succeeded in restricting the death toll to just one.
Several villagers share the plight of Thomas Joseph's family. 'We were extremely lucky to survive the disaster. But we lost everything, including houses, farmlands, and livelihood options,' says Vinoy Thomas.
However, the plight of these families was eclipsed by the death and destruction that ravaged Wayanad district on the same night, which claimed 298 lives. While support poured in for Wayanad, the sufferings of residents of Vilangad went mostly unnoticed.
'Why such differential treatment for the survivors of a natural disaster? Was it because only one person died at Vilangad that our plight went unnoticed? We were neglected in favour of Wayanad,' says T. George, a survivor.
Help came quite late to Vilangad after the disaster, as the attention of the country was focussed on Wayanad.
A week later, as many as six Ministers visited Vilangad and officials took stock of the situation. One year after the tragedy, not much progress has been achieved, feel the villagers.
While 31 people were compensated for the loss and destruction caused to their houses, the majority of the residents whose suffered losses are yet to be compensated. While the families that lost their houses received ₹15 lakh each, a paltry sum according to the residents, as compensation, there is no word about the hardships being faced by the rest.
Most of the families failed to qualify for the rehabilitation programme due to a technical reason that their homes were not fully destroyed. The authorities chose to ignore the reality that the holdings have become uninhabitable as they had been filled with debris. While many homes were partially damaged, others were marooned as the land around them caved in, creating treacherous landscapes. Some had been inundated and rendered unusable by floodwaters, while others, like that of Thomas Joseph, are located on the landslip paths. Many residents are reluctant to go back to the houses fearing that their lives will be in peril in the event of another landslip.
'A list of partially damaged houses was drawn up, and a report was submitted to the State government. We are yet to hear about it,' says an official at the village office.
Economy affected
'The traders of Vilangad were as much the victims of the landslips as the people who lost their houses and agricultural holdings. Twelve shops, six each in Vilangad and Thinoor villages, were washed away. At least 50 shops were flooded. The town has not been the same since then,' says Vinoy Thomas.
At least five bridges in the region were damaged, and several roads were washed away in many areas. The authorities are yet to attend to the infrastructural loss, complain the villagers.
'The rehabilitation and reconstruction process in Vilangad is yet to gather pace. The frustrated villagers are on a warpath and have taken out protest marches seeking compensation for the people who lost their houses,' says Shebi Sebastian, a young political activist.
'The government's proposal for constructing 53 houses is yet to take off. Six traders who lost their shops got a solatium of ₹18,000 each. The Kerala Vyapari Vyavasayi Ekopana Samiti distributed ₹30 lakh among the traders. There ends the support the villagers received,' says Shebi.
'Of the 50 houses that the Kerala Catholic Bishops' Council had offered to construct for the disaster-hit villagers, five have been handed over to the beneficiaries. Two of the 20 houses that Shafi Parambil, MP, had offered to construct have been finished,' he says.
'There have not been any serious efforts to reconstruct the damaged roads and bridges. The trees and branches that were washed into the river were cleared while the boulders were moved to the sides to clear the path for water, spending around ₹2.5 crore. This is all that was done during the past year,' says Shebi.
'Ironically, the boulders crash back into the river whenever water is turbulent. Riverbanks need to be strengthened using concrete walls. Though ₹4.5 crore was sanctioned to secure the riverbanks, the works are yet to begin,' he says.
Meanwhile, sources at Vilangad village office say the tender process for the repair of the roads and bridges has been completed and that the works will begin soon.
Reverse migration
The landslips that hit the area have raised serious questions about the suitability of the region for human habitation. The disaster has triggered what many terms as reverse migration in the area, dominated by migrants from central and southern Kerala.
'At least 35 families have moved out of Vilangad since the landslips and more are getting ready to move, as this region has proved to be vulnerable to similar disasters,' says Rajan Palathinkal, a driver, who lives near the Vayad bridge.
St. George Higher Secondary School, the only school in the region, has witnessed a drop in the number of students following the disaster. 'Last year, 80 students chose to move to other schools as their families shifted to safer places. We barely overcame a division fall,' points out Shebi, who is also a member of the school parent-teacher association.
The school is where the rehabilitation camps are set up every monsoon. Regular classes are suspended when the school is converted into a camp, resulting in loss of academic days, which could also be a reason for the students moving away, he feels.
Rehabilitation package sought
The residents are demanding a Vilangad rehabilitation package, with specific components for the comprehensive development of the region, besides rehabilitation and reconstruction. They have also mooted a common shelter that could accommodate at least 100 families when needed.
'Maruthonkara panchayat has such a facility. If the local body too could get such a facility, we need not inconvenience the school for rehabilitation camps during the monsoon. We had raised such a demand at a meeting after the landslips. The proposal is yet to find favour with the authorities,' says Shebi.
Before the 2024 landslips, several infrastructure projects were proposed for Vilangad, including the one for raising the height of the Valook bridge. An appropriate spot was identified for a new bridge opposite St. George Church. However, the project is yet to materialise, say residents.
It has been only two months since Nisha and her family of six moved to a new house at Kaiveli, a kilometre from Vilangad town. Their house at Manjakkunnu was washed away in the landslip.
'We received ₹15 lakh from the government as compensation. It was the Devagiri parish that constructed the house for us. It is a small one on five cents and nothing compared to our house at Manjakkunnu on 25 cents. But here we are safe and peaceful, with no fear of a landslip,' says Nisha.
However, for most of the residents of the area, a safe and secure house continues to be a distant dream, which may take some more time to materialise. Every heavy spell of rain ignites in their minds the dreadful memories of the day, which shattered their dreams and took away their homes and farmlands and savings of a lifetime.