By Matters India Reporter
Kochi, July 23, 2020: Cardinal George Alencherry has urged the civic administration of Ernakulam district to urgently help Chellanam, a coastal village, caught between Coronavirus and ravaging tidal waves.
“The district administration should urgently help the people in Chellanam, already a Coronavirus cluster now being battered by sea erosion,” Cardinal Alencherry, president of the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council said in an audio message.
Huge tidal waves have destroyed several houses in Chellanam, some 30 km south of Kochi, Kerala’s commercial capital.
K D Prasad, vice-president, Chellanam panchayat, says the village was already battling the Covid scourge. On July 19, giant waves damaged houses. Even those regions that had remained immune from flooding caused by sea erosion in the past, have been affected this time round, he added.
Chellanam panchayat has more than 50,000 people, including 10,000 who live along the 17.5 km long coast.
“Many houses are under the threat,” Prasad said and termed as disturbing the considerable rise in the sea level over the past years.
“Presently, Chellanam is a hotspot and under triple lockdown. Earlier, when the sea breached the shore, the residents used to move in with their relatives,” Prasad explained.
T A Dalphin, convener of the West Kochi Coast Protection Committee, says the Covid protocol has forced people to live in the flooded houses. “People can’t live in the wet houses. The government needs to come up with a solution soon. The life, property and livelihood of residents are at stake here,” Dalphin bemoaned.
He also said they have asked the government to construct a strong sea wall along the coast. “At some places in the panchayat, the waves have breached the sand bar erected as protection, “he noted.
Prasad said the people, who have remained in their homes for the past three weeks, have sought permission to move to safer places. “Last year when the sea breached the shore, people were moved to camps set up in the schools and also the community halls. However, this year due to Covid, those options are no longer there. We have asked the district administration to come up with a solution,” said he added.
Cardinal Alencherry says the Caritas India has promised to send aid immediately. “But that is not sufficient to bring relief to the affected people,” he said.
The cardinal also urged nearby Church institutions to reach out those affected giant tidal waves.
Social media posts recall the help rendered by the fisherfolk living on Kerala’s coastal areas when the state experienced unprecedented floods two years ago.