- WHAT WE DO -
Land Slide – Pettimudi at Rajamalai – Munnar – Kerala - August 2020
On the 6th of August 2020, close to about 11 pm in the night there was a major landslide at Pettimudi crushing the homes of 83 tea estate workers. So far 49 bodies have been recovered, 12 have been rescued and many people including children are still missing.
These are workers of Kannan Devan Hill Plantation Company living in single room sheet roofed quarters provided by the employers. These are popularly known as labor-lines. High intensity rainfalls lashing through the hills cause landslides largely because of unbridled human interventions – cutting trees and flattening hills to make buildings. These have blocked river channels, changing the course of the flooding river.
The Gadgil Commission in its report in 2011 had warned of severe disasters if the environment was continued to be abused. There were strong protests against the recommendations of Mr. Madhav Gadgil from vested interest. The Western Ghats Ecology has been meddled without any control and people living in those are paying a very heavy price with their very own lives and livelihoods.
Rescue operations are in full swing. The government agencies are providing support and hopefully the Plantation Company will compensate the employees.
SALF is in touch with the local people in Munnar to understand the perils of the survivors and will consider appropriate support in consultation with our ground personnel.
Kerala Floods – 2018
In what was the worst flood in the South Indian State of Kerala in about a century, on 16th August 2018, people of the state witnessed massive disruption, loss of property and hundreds of lives. About a million people were evacuated as all the 14 districts of the state was placed on red alert. It was a Level 3 Calamity – calamity of a severe nature.
Several dams in the state were opened. It is reported that water in thirty-five of the fifty-four dams in the state were released for the first time in history. This aggravated the situation and with heavy unstoppable rains in the hills, severe landslides isolated the hilly districts of Wayanad and Idukki.
Cochin International Airport suspended all operations until 29 August 2018, following runway flooding. Normal life in the State came to grinding halt with thousands of people marooned and homeless. Over 3000 relief camps were opened in various places to accommodate the flood victims. Over a million people found shelter in these camps.
Myself and my associate Mr. Raman Namboothiri (SALF – Kochi) were in Kochi and travelled for about a week during this period to understand the devastation of the floods and the plight of the people directly affected by this calamity.
We both visited many relief camps as well as the affected areas. The scenes are overwhelming and indescribable to put it mildly. The victims who had lost everything - from their homes to precious little possessions accumulated over their whole life - had a sense of dejection and low spirits writ large on their faces and unable to express it otherwise. We were surprised and even bewildered at their attitude. Not even a single person approached us in the Union Christian College, Alwaye Campus asking for any help. This incidentally was one of the largest camps accommodating thousands of victims at its peak. As we volunteered to talk to a few of them in the camp - disciplined crowd - they started telling us their woes in a very low tone. We took down notes and moved on to the next camp.
We saw that there was a profusion of relief materials which had come from various states. When we were in one of these stock centers, we saw a huge truck from Tirupur unloading various goods from the 40ft container it was carrying. There was no dearth of food in these camps expect in a few places.
We also got in touch with the Kerala High Court Team comprising of Judges, lawyers and court staff who had organised distribution of the relief materials to the far-flung areas. They had done a good job that even the Indian Army entrusted their relief materials to them to ensure that it reaches the real victims.
Given the overwhelming nature of this calamity and its intensity, Sai Anna Laxmi Foundation (SALF) wanted to contribute its little mite in a meaningful manner, yet keeping our focus on our goals. .
What we decided was not to supply relief materials. We found that drinking water was a hige problem especially when these people returned from the camps. Water borne diseases are the next big challenge that they will face. Already there are many in hospitals suffering from diarrhea and other such ailments.
We saw that drinking water was supplied in plastic bottles and this is a great menace and an environmental issue. So, we acted quickly and to start with SALF bought nonelectric Water Filters - Pureit Water Filter from Hindustan Lever - each costing about ₹2400 / ₹1400 for 23 Ltrs and 15 Litres respectively. These were distributed to the victims in the camps whom we had personally met. We ordered for more water filters and ensured that it reached many of those affected households.
Kerala has had a peaceful existence for about a century without any such devastating calamity. The state endowed with nature and its beauty has now seen the fierce fury of that very nature. The environmental degradation will continue to impact our daily life and in the coming years India too will have its share of woes on a regular basis.
All our Flood relief activities will be multi-pronged, focusing on supporting the supply of food materials (wherever required) and supply of non-electric water filters. We will run specific fund raising campaigns for these events without affecting our allocated budgets for our free hot nutritional food.
On the 6th of August 2020, close to about 11 pm in the night there was a major landslide at Pettimudi crushing the homes of 83 tea estate workers. So far 49 bodies have been recovered, 12 have been rescued and many people including children are still missing.
These are workers of Kannan Devan Hill Plantation Company living in single room sheet roofed quarters provided by the employers. These are popularly known as labor-lines. High intensity rainfalls lashing through the hills cause landslides largely because of unbridled human interventions – cutting trees and flattening hills to make buildings. These have blocked river channels, changing the course of the flooding river.
The Gadgil Commission in its report in 2011 had warned of severe disasters if the environment was continued to be abused. There were strong protests against the recommendations of Mr. Madhav Gadgil from vested interest. The Western Ghats Ecology has been meddled without any control and people living in those are paying a very heavy price with their very own lives and livelihoods.
Rescue operations are in full swing. The government agencies are providing support and hopefully the Plantation Company will compensate the employees.
SALF is in touch with the local people in Munnar to understand the perils of the survivors and will consider appropriate support in consultation with our ground personnel.
Kerala Floods – 2018
In what was the worst flood in the South Indian State of Kerala in about a century, on 16th August 2018, people of the state witnessed massive disruption, loss of property and hundreds of lives. About a million people were evacuated as all the 14 districts of the state was placed on red alert. It was a Level 3 Calamity – calamity of a severe nature.
Several dams in the state were opened. It is reported that water in thirty-five of the fifty-four dams in the state were released for the first time in history. This aggravated the situation and with heavy unstoppable rains in the hills, severe landslides isolated the hilly districts of Wayanad and Idukki.
Cochin International Airport suspended all operations until 29 August 2018, following runway flooding. Normal life in the State came to grinding halt with thousands of people marooned and homeless. Over 3000 relief camps were opened in various places to accommodate the flood victims. Over a million people found shelter in these camps.
Myself and my associate Mr. Raman Namboothiri (SALF – Kochi) were in Kochi and travelled for about a week during this period to understand the devastation of the floods and the plight of the people directly affected by this calamity.
We both visited many relief camps as well as the affected areas. The scenes are overwhelming and indescribable to put it mildly. The victims who had lost everything - from their homes to precious little possessions accumulated over their whole life - had a sense of dejection and low spirits writ large on their faces and unable to express it otherwise. We were surprised and even bewildered at their attitude. Not even a single person approached us in the Union Christian College, Alwaye Campus asking for any help. This incidentally was one of the largest camps accommodating thousands of victims at its peak. As we volunteered to talk to a few of them in the camp - disciplined crowd - they started telling us their woes in a very low tone. We took down notes and moved on to the next camp.
We saw that there was a profusion of relief materials which had come from various states. When we were in one of these stock centers, we saw a huge truck from Tirupur unloading various goods from the 40ft container it was carrying. There was no dearth of food in these camps expect in a few places.
We also got in touch with the Kerala High Court Team comprising of Judges, lawyers and court staff who had organised distribution of the relief materials to the far-flung areas. They had done a good job that even the Indian Army entrusted their relief materials to them to ensure that it reaches the real victims.
Given the overwhelming nature of this calamity and its intensity, Sai Anna Laxmi Foundation (SALF) wanted to contribute its little mite in a meaningful manner, yet keeping our focus on our goals. .
What we decided was not to supply relief materials. We found that drinking water was a hige problem especially when these people returned from the camps. Water borne diseases are the next big challenge that they will face. Already there are many in hospitals suffering from diarrhea and other such ailments.
We saw that drinking water was supplied in plastic bottles and this is a great menace and an environmental issue. So, we acted quickly and to start with SALF bought nonelectric Water Filters - Pureit Water Filter from Hindustan Lever - each costing about ₹2400 / ₹1400 for 23 Ltrs and 15 Litres respectively. These were distributed to the victims in the camps whom we had personally met. We ordered for more water filters and ensured that it reached many of those affected households.
Kerala has had a peaceful existence for about a century without any such devastating calamity. The state endowed with nature and its beauty has now seen the fierce fury of that very nature. The environmental degradation will continue to impact our daily life and in the coming years India too will have its share of woes on a regular basis.
All our Flood relief activities will be multi-pronged, focusing on supporting the supply of food materials (wherever required) and supply of non-electric water filters. We will run specific fund raising campaigns for these events without affecting our allocated budgets for our free hot nutritional food.