KOCHI: Woften, natural disasters are like deep gashes on the mountain slopes. They leave marks and memories indelible.
The State Forest Department officials have several such memories from the Wayanad landslides. One is of the cry of a man, neck deep in mire, seeking help as the officers were gingerly footslogging their way through the slushy banks of the swollen Iruvanji river.
The team was in the news recently for rescuing a tribal family stranded deep in the forest. This incident, according to south Wayanad divisional forest officer Ajith K Raman, was just one of the many the force handled during the entire operation.
“We were the first respondents, as we came to know of the landslide almost immediately. A five-member team led by Sivaraman, section forest officer at Mundakkai forest station, and his staff were patrolling the Padavettikunnu area following reports of wild elephant presence when they heard of it. Just minutes earlier, they had stopped their jeep on the now-washed away Chooralmala bridge finding an unusual turbulence in the river and its water bearing a very disturbing murky hue,” Ajith says.
The force quickly swung into action, and rescued 45 people, mostly the elderly and children, in that vehicle. Five bodies were recovered. The entire work was done in the light of the search lamps fitted on the jeep due to the power outage. The high-power torches to spot wild animals also came in handy.
Soon, the word spread, and about 50 people from the forest department rushed to the area at 5am. K Hashif, Kalpetta range officer, was called to join the rescue team due to his earlier experience handling the 2019 Puthumala landslide. “The Chooralmala, however, was grisly,” he says.
The river, the serene Iruvanji that otherwise moved in a lazy zig-zag across a 10-25-metre area, had swelled thrice its size and was gobbling up whatever came its way, even the bridge that was later famously replaced by the Army.
“When we arrived, the local people were gearing up to help one another. We teamed up with them and made our way towards Punjirimattom along the river bank rescuing people. On the other bank, people were stranded and crying for help but the bridge had given way,” V S Jayachandran, Mundakkai section forest officer, recalls.
It was then that the forest department team led by Hashif heard the man, stuck neck-deep in mud, crying out for help. The forest team was about to put together a plan when the Fire and Rescue Services team that was in tow caught up with them. Together, they battered against the rocks and debris in the river and finally pulled the man out who was rendered exhausted and injured after his seven-hour ordeal.
In due course, the other rescue personnel from the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), Army, Territorial Army, Coast Guard, district administration, and police, joined them. The forest team also remembers the exemplary work of the local people.
A 40-member team was formed by people from the area. “Most of them were victims. They were construction and quarry workers and headload labourers. There were also people from across the state who came to help, some from voluntary service organisations who had supported us during the Puthumala tragedy. There were teams from Thrissur and Kottayam too, and even a group of doctors from Thiruvananthapuram,” Hashif says.
Also backing up the rescue teams were victims of earlier landslides such as Kavalappara and Koottikkal, who are probably still recuperating from their losses. “We worked along the Chaliyar at Pothukallu-Njettikulam area. As the bodies were found, we were reminded of the disaster that took our loved ones,” says Sumod Navooriparambathu, who lost his parents to the Kavalappra disaster.
Coordination thus was the key, says Hashif. “We didn’t know anyone who worked with us to save lives. Only recently, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi met us all, did we get to know their names,” he says.
Many forest officials were part of almost all the rescue teams, which worked tirelessly across the disaster area devided into five zones. They were an invaluable asset due to their knowledge of the tribespeople as well as the region’s topography, says Ajith. Probably that was what made the team sense the threat looming around 33 people at Erattumundu settlement, four kilometres into the forest from the landslide spot, and seek permission to bring them to safety.
And it was near the settlement that Hashif and his team spotted Shantha and her son. The woman from the Paniya community seemed weak but was proud not to let anyone know she came searching for food. Later, she opened up about her family of four stranded deep inside the woods.
The mission that ensued was fraught with danger, as Hashif led a team of four (Jayachandran, Kalpetta section beat forest officer Anil Kumar K, and forest watcher RRT (Kalpetta range) Anoop Thomas, to reach the stranded family. They had to perch on slippery rocks and slush to reach the family, who were sitting huddled together, cold and hungry for days.
“The scene there was very moving. The kids clung to us close, scared, and numb. We fed them our food and covered them in blankets. The trek back was dangerous. At one point, we had to hang on to a rope that was about to give way to reach the forest department’s anti-poaching camp. That’s where the family was later housed,” says Hashif.
“They are better now. And yes, their smiles are back,” adds Jayachandran. On the way there, several macabre scenes played before them. “We saw the dead being put inside a jeep. It must have carried at least 80 bodies. People were swarming us with pleas for help. We met a person who was trying to save people from being washed away,” recalls Hashif.
We were hopeful about the tribespeople — some said they saw the disaster coming and others just went away deeper into the forests to adapt to new beginnings. “But downstream, the search was on, and we were part of it. There were still people looking for their loved ones, at least to spot a body part,” says Hashif.
With the forest department’s presence being increasingly required in rescue operations during frequent landslides, a proposal has been made to Forest Minister A K Saseendran to train the staff in disaster management. “In most landslides, the forest department is the first respondent and hence it is imperative that the force is trained for it,” Ajith says.