‘My mother, brother and sister’s daughter are missing … ‘: Wayanad’s picture-perfect Mundakkai now a ghost village | Kochi News – Times of India

KOCHI: Sreejith Kumar VS’s eyes swelled when rescue volunteers hit a concrete roof slab, which lay amid sludge and mangled metal pieces and wood, with a huge iron hammer to break it open.
Sitting on the steps of the CSI Church in Mundakkai, one of the few buildings in the epicentre of the devastating landslide at Wayanad which is still intact, Sreejith –– an employee at a coaching institute in Thrissur –– wore a forlorn look.“My mother, brother and sister’s daughter are missing. I don’t know whether they are beneath the concrete slab. We had constructed the second floor of our house to run a homestay just like many other residents did. But it has all been flattened,” Sreejith said.
Sreejith is not alone. All those who have survived the landslide at Mundakkai are fa-cing a bleak future. For, the village where they were born and grew up –– which had a mosque, a post office, around 10 shops and scores of houses –– has all been wiped away.
Mundakkai, with its picture postcard perfect environs, was on its way to become a tourist destination over the last three years with many resorts and homestays springing up. It has now turned into a desolate village in one deadly swipe of nature. Noorudheen C K, Chooralmala panchayat member,said Mundakkai of Meppadi panchayat had a total of 280 houses of which 125 houses have been flattened in the landslide.
The only road from Chooralmala to Mundakkai, a part of which was washed away in the landslide, meanders through rolling tea plantations.
At the epicentre of the landslide, a major portion of the face of the Mundakkai hills blanketed with tree cover collapsed from a height of over 2km and came tumbling down bringing along with it several houses at Punchirimattom, a small settlement uphill, and crashing on Mundakkai village. The landslide led to the river swelling, triggering a 15-metre-high debris flow which tore through the street-lined shops and houses of Mundakkai. In the epicentre in Mundakkai, only 15 houses now remain along with the CSI Church and some houses at Punchirimattom.
The debris flow then rushed downhill and ripped through the Chooralmala village which is 2.5km away.
Hundreds of rescue workers managed to reach Mundakkai on Wednesday along with cadaver dogs of the policeto search for missing persons in the area.
Every time the two cadaver dogs barked, people thronged to see if anyone has been spotted. Rescue workers tried to remove mangled steel and concrete with their hands and limited equipment they had as earth movers were brought to the site only in the afternoon.
They picked up several bodies from inside houses, many of which had a stench. Fire and rescue services personnel washed faces of the bodies with bottled water before taking them in stretchers to Chooralmala. Rescuers witnessed several heart wrenching scenes as three bodies were seen in sitting position and a three member family was seen huddled together.
Safad K walked all the way upto Mundakkai on Wednesday morning, when the Army put in place a temporary walkway across the river, only to find no trace of his parents and younger brother. Even his house was destroyed. All that remained was just a roof slab lying in the sludge.
“I have no hope left of finding my family, seeing what is left of my house,” Safad said.