Advanced radars, drones, and heavy machinery were used by rescue teams on Saturday, the fifth day of the tragic landslides that killed hundreds in Kerala's Wayanad district, to locate survivors or deceased.
The state government also announced plans to establish a new township to rehabilitate displaced victims.
Stepping up the rescue operations, nearly 1,300 personnel from various forces, including the NDRF, K-9 Dog Squad, Army, Special Operation Group, Madras Engineering Group, Police, Fire Force, Forest Department, Navy, and Coast Guard were deployed in the disaster-struck areas.
Private companies specialising in the field of search and rescue and volunteers also joined the operations in which rescuers braved the rains and waterlogged terrain to look for survivors under massive boulders and huge logs that were deposited in residential areas of Mundakkai and Chooralmala in the landslides.
The official death is at 219, according to the state government.
With around 206 people still missing, deep search radars and cadaver dogs were also deployed in a bid to locate people or their remains believed to be trapped beneath the huge debris in the landslide-ravaged villages.
The state government is planning to build a new safe township as part of a comprehensive rehabilitation for the victims of the catastrophic landslide.
Speaking to the media on Saturday, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that a new safer area will be identified for constructing the township.
"The government plans to rehabilitate the victims in a comprehensive way. Good planning and labour are needed for completing that task in a speedy way. A large populated area completely disappeared there. Discussions have begun at the administrative level to build a safer new township at a new place," he said.
"The government would complete this rehabilitation work in an exemplary way by using all its resources. The government would also prepare a very detailed rehabilitation plan soon," the CM added.
The CM also informed that State Education Minister V Sivan Kutty would reach Wayanad very soon to make arrangements for the continuation of classes for the students at Vellarmala school, damaged by the landslide.
“A large section of students of that school died in the disaster. However, this crisis should not prevent the education of the rest of the students," the CM said.
The CM also urged weather agencies to ensure that they make changes in their system according to changing times.
"Majority of these tragedies are happening due to high intensity rain which the agencies are unable to in warn of in advance. Currently, the experts are relying on global databases and parameters to predict the quantity of the rainfall. But what's happening is that high intensity rain occurs," he said.
The Chief Minister also recalled the role played by the climate change study centre, Institute for Climate Change Studies, where they are supposed to conduct research and advise the state government on policy decisions.
"Detailed investigations will be conducted to understand the root cause of the Wayanad disaster and develop advanced prediction tools for natural disasters. Adequate human resources and facilities would be ensured at the Institute for Climate Change Studies," the Chief Minister added.
The CM further informed that the QR code system for UPI transactions to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF) has been withdrawn to prevent fraudulent activities.
The CM said that donations could be made online to CMDRF. The government has also decided to give special charge to the officials at the Finance department under the Finance Secretary to handle the CMDRF fund.
“The details of all the account numbers of different banks were given to receive funds in the portal donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov. The donors could donate funds through online banking, debit, credit cards, UPI or through account number to the CMDRF directly. A receipt could also be downloaded for each donation. For the UPI donors, the receipt would be provided only after 48 hours. It was decided to withdraw the UPI QR code after taking into consideration the chance of fraudulent activities. Instead, donations could be done through the UPI ID given in the portal through Google Pay," the CM said.
Meanwhile, the government has appointed Joint Land Revenue Commissioner M Geetha to coordinate the offers of help pouring in from different parts of the world.
The government has created an Email ID- letushelpwayanad@gmail - to make contact and communicate with the people who are willing to help with the rehabilitation, the CM said.
A call center would be established to receive calls related to this and three phone numbers are provided to communicate with the officials- 9188940013 ; 9188940014 ; 9188940015.
A senior official in the Land Revenue Commissionerate would be in charge of this call centre.
Meanwhile, the issue of making donations to the Chief Minister's Disaster Relief Fund (CMDRF) created a ripple within the Congress over the announcement by senior party leader Ramesh Chennithala that he would donate to it one month's salary, which he draws as an MLA.
The announcement drew a sharp reaction from his party colleague and KPCC chief K Sudhakaran, who, on Saturday, expressed displeasure by saying that there was no need to give money to the funds managed by the CPI(M)-led Left government.
Sudhakaran's statement comes amidst online smear campaigns discouraging people from sending funds to the CMDRF.
The police have lodged 39 FIRs till Friday in connection with the smear campaigns against the CM's Facebook post requesting help for the people affected by the landslides in Wayanad district.
Amidst the help coming from various quarters for rehabilitating people who lost everything in the landslides, a similar effort was also made by the Animal Welfare Department of the state for the domestic animals, including livestock, who were rendered homeless and ownerless in the disaster.
The department on Saturday decided to hand over the domestic animals to dairy farmers in the vicinity of the landslide-hit areas who are willing to take them, the district administration said in a statement.