Heavy rains have pounded Kerala, a coastal state in southern India. Relief efforts are made more difficult by blocked highways leading to the Wayanad district disaster area.
Reporters were informed by district administrator D.R. Meghasree that 116 individuals were receiving treatment in hospitals and 45 people had passed away.
“My prayers are with those injured and my thoughts are with all those who have lost their loved ones,” Prime Minister Narendra Modi wrote on the social networking platform X.
Rescue workers are seen trudging through mud in photos released by the National Disaster Response Force in order to look for survivors and remove dead from the scene on stretchers.
The impact of the landslide dispersed vehicles, corrugated iron, and other debris throughout the catastrophe site, causing homes to be covered in a layer of brown sludge.
The Indian army announced that it has sent more than 200 soldiers to the region to support fire departments and state security agencies in their search and rescue operations.
According to Kerala state excise minister M.B. Rajesh, around 250 individuals have been saved thus far, according to a story in The Hindu newspaper.
According to Modi’s administration, victims’ families would receive $2,400 (200,000 rupees) in compensation.
The disaster management office for Kerala predicted that Tuesday would bring with it more rain and high winds.
Rahul Gandhi, the leader of the Indian opposition and a former parliamentarian for Wayanad, told MPs that the extent of the destruction was “heartbreaking.”
“In recent years, there has been an alarming increase in landslides in our country,” he continued. “A thorough action plan is urgently needed to address the increasing frequency of natural disasters.”
The region receives monsoon rains from June to September, which provide relief from the summer heat and are essential for restocking water supplies.
They are essential to agriculture, which in turn supports the livelihoods of millions of farmers and ensures the almost two billion people living in South Asia have access to food.
However, they also bring devastation in the form of floods and landslides.
Experts claim that the problem of an increase in deadly floods and landslides in recent years is being exacerbated by climate change.
In India, development initiatives, deforestation, and damming have all increased the death toll.
Earlier this month, severe monsoon rains pounded India, flooding portions of the country’s financial hub, Mumbai, while lightning struck the eastern state of Bihar, killing at least ten people.
In 2018, the greatest flooding to hit Kerala in nearly a century claimed the lives of nearly 500 people in the surrounding areas.
In 1998, a landslide caused by strong monsoon rains in India resulted in the full burying of the little town of Malpa in the Himalayas, killing at least 220 people. This was the worst landslide the country has seen in recent memory.
