Wayanad landslide: Search continues for missing

Wayanad, Aug 12 (IANS) Search operations for the over 150 missing people continued on Monday, the 14th day of the Wayanad landslide tragedy, said officials here.

The biggest-ever natural disaster in a single place in the state took place on July 30 which has left 416 dead.

On Monday, according to authorities, the first set of DNA test results are expected. These are of the victims who have been buried in the 64 cents of land in the Meppadi village council, where a mass burial took place last week over three days of unidentified bodies and numerous body parts.

Each of the graves has been numbered. The survivors will be able to identify their near and dear ones after the DNA results are out. And, if they need any further religious events or rituals to be done after identification, they can do so accordingly, said the officials.

Another important activity of the day is that all the survivors will apply for lost certificates at special counters set up in and around the relief camps.

More than 11,000 people are now housed in over 100 relief camps.

The authorities have promised they will do everything to move people from relief camps to homes and other places in the area.

Around 250 locked homes have been identified and the authorities will be making allotments to those in the relief camps.

The Pinarayi Vijayan government has started deputing government officials from various departments to Wayanad to help the current staff in various offices to speed up the rehabilitation process.

More and more health officials, especially counsellors, are being deployed in the affected areas.

The day-long visit of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, when he spent three hours more than planned on Saturday, brought cheer to the survivors when he met them and those in the hospitals, and assured them that the government would help them in every possible way.

Even though the Vijayan government has submitted a preliminary report seeking a Rs 2,000 crore assistance, PM Modi after seeing a detailed presentation, while chairing a special review meeting at Wayanad on Saturday, has promised all help and has asked the state to submit a detailed report.

Leader of Opposition V.D. Satheesan has asked the state government to submit its report at the earliest.

–IANS

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