Church comes to aid disaster-hit in Wayanad

Thomas Scaria

Waynad, July 30, 2024: More than 250 people died and 190 went missing in the “worst ever” landslide that devastated Kerala’s hilly Wayanad district on July 30.

The victims included 9 Catholic families from the St. Sebastian’s Syro-Malabar Church, Chooranmala, the affected region. Only one body was retrieved and buried, said parish priest Father Jibin Vattukulathil.

The priest told Matters India that he got into rescue operations immediately after the disaster. Since the parish church is not damaged, it is being used by the government machinery for rescue operations.

“Right now, we are fully cooperating with the rescue teams and providing food and drinking water to the teams,” said the priest, who is left alone with a few parishioners to help the victims as outsiders are not allowed.

Father Mathew Periyapuram, the vicar of the St. Xavier’s Forane Church in Kalpeta, another town in the district, told matters India that the Church in Wayanad has extended all possible support and assistance to the government rescue operators such as providing the team food, accommodation and other coordination facilities.

He said the bishop of Mananthavady has visited the affected region along with the vicar general to assess the situation. He has instructed his priests to provide full support at this time of crisis.

Father Periyapuram said the Church in Wayanad has arranged volunteers from the Jesus Youth Movement as helpers for those under treatment in hospitals. It has also arranged a medical team with doctors and nurses to assist those in the shelter camps.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan told a press conference that his government appreciated the rescue teams for their swift action that has saved 1,592 people. He said some 8,017 people are housed in 82 camps as the area is expecting further rains and landslides.

Father Periyapuram said the Church has started collecting household articles for the victims as they begin to shift to temporary or rented houses eventually. “There is no shortage of food or medicine items currently and we are collecting articles like kitchen utensils, vessels, gas stoves, cloths etc which are needed for their early settlement.”

According to him, many of the affected were estate workers, mostly Muslims, and some were migrant workers from northern India. Christians were a small minority in the region and the Chooranmala parish has only some 35 families.

The worst-affected areas include Churalpara, Velarimala, Mundakai and Pothukalu and the locals from these areas managed to escape death but are deeply shattered as hundreds of homes have been destroyed.

“The first landslide occurred at 2 am and then at 4:10 a.m. The road connecting Mundakayil to Churalpara has been washed away. The river which was flowing in the affected area has branched out and it now flows in two directions,” the priest said.

Vijayan said contributions to the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund have started to pour in after hearing of the tragedy.

Meanwhile, five cabinet ministers of the Vijayan government remain in Wayanad overseeing the rescue and relief operations, while the state government has declared two days of mourning.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has deputed Union Minister of State for Fisheries George Kurian to Wayanad to coordinate the rescue operations.

Claretian priest Father George Kannanthanam, who had built around 300 shelter homes and 25 permanent houses after the 2018 floods in Wayanad, said his teams will step in at the right time, if a need arises.

“Currently, the government machineries are doing well in their rescue operations and we can only extend our support to them,” he added.