Thrissur: The residents of Kuranchery on the Thrissur-Wada-kkanchery highway are still in trauma over a week after they witnessed one of the biggest tragedies in the state in the recent deluge. An eerie silence prevails there as almost all the people in the houses which were stuck by the massive landslide are no more and there are not many close relatives to mourn the tragedy.
A portion of a hill on the Machad forest range came down in the landslide around 6.45 a.m. on August 16 and washed away four houses killing 19 people.
“It happened like a bullet shot. Along with the hill, water, rocks and uprooted trees came down the hill. I could make out what was happening after I heard a thunder bolt-like sound, and I asked those in my family to run to safety. Joshwal, the child of Parekkatill Saji, rushed into my house. Saji,who runs a wholesale ice cream shop at Kuranchery junction got stuck as the concrete slab of his house hit him. He was caught in between the debris and the slab. Though he was saved, his mother Rosy and daughter Angel died,” said Sambriyilpadi Kuttan whose house at the junction escaped the tragedy by a few metres.
The house of wholesale vegetable vendor Kannukuzhil Mohanan, 51, was washed away. No one in the four-member family is alive now. His wife Asha Devi and sons Akhil, 24, and Amal 21 also died.
One of the survivors, Melvin, 9, was alerted by his grandfather Mathai to run to safety. The boy who was sitting in the sit-out of the house ran out in time and the rescuers found him clinging on to a tree on the hill near his house. Mathai’s wife, daughter and two grandchildren lost their lives.
In the house of Jenson, who runs a wayside eatery at the junction, he and seven others died, including his father-in-law and mother-in-law, wife, three sons and a relative.
C.V. Sunil Kumar, vice-president of Thekkumkara panchayat, where the disaster struck, said that according to the officers of geology department who inspected the area, a portion of the soil above huge rocks came down after water percolated into the soil in three days of relentless rain.
Those residing in the areas said that they do not have any plans to leave the area for a safer place. As many as 20 earth movers and the same number of tippers took part in the rescue operation that went on for three days from August 16.
