DELUGE 2018

The south west monsoons that began well in advance this year, soon turned incessant and took on an gargantuan disposition, that required the opening of sluice gates, in 80 dams across the state, inundating almost the whole of Kerala and bringing the state to a total standstill.

The deluge which continued for 10 days with 13 of the 14 districts being issued a red alert, saw — people marooned in the upper floors of houses with no food or electricity, surrounded by 5ft — 13ft of water, land slides on a large scale sweeping away houses and vegetation alike, immense destruction to houses, property, crops, roads, bridges, buildings, transformers, electric n telephone poles, vehicles etc.

And when the catastrophe finally ended and waters receded, the loss of life was estimated to 400+, with 10lakh+ displaced and living in 2,774 camps across the state, loss of animals estimated to 22,000+ and birds over 4 lakh, 11,000 houses destroyed, 34,732km of roads swept away or damaged, 218 bridges washed away, 56,000 hectares of land lost.

As the magnitude and enormity of destruction became evident, the rescue mission was immediately put into place. The NDRF, Navy, Air Force, Army, Police, KSDMA, Coast Guard — all were put to action right away. Numerous boats, helicopters were put into action by the Navy n Air Force. Volunteers from around the state and outside zeroed in to the worst affected districts and started assisting the forces. There are some incredible stories of rescue by our defence personels. A copter which landed on the narrow terrace and the air lifting of a full term pregnant woman with a broken sack is etched in a malayali’s memory forever.

Most noteworthy contribution was from the Fisherfolks, that came in equipped with their fishing boats and experience out at sea. Our very own Fishermen Battalion, fondly referred to as ‘Kerala’s Army’, rescued thousands of people from the different districts they were deployed. For a malayali they were Noah with their ARK’s… Angels in disguise! the Hero’s with a Thorthu tied on the head.

Thousands of people were rescued via boats or air lifted to safer grounds and then shifted to the relief camps. Food was carried to the people who were stranded in upper floors and didn’t have access to an exit or those who didn’t want to leave their homes. The rescue operations continued despite the pouring rain, heavy winds and strong undercurrents, often putting the lives of the rescuers in peril, destroying boats. Many volunteers lost their lives in the rescue operations either by drowning or got buried under the landslide.

When boats reached to rescue the people stranded on the 2nd floor, they directed the boats to the houses that had only single floor.

Houses on higher grounds welcomed the affected people, to take refuge irrespective of caste, religion, political affiliation or social status.

Even though their houses were inundated, People directed the rescue teams to the houses that were in more distress n more vulnerable to collapse.

The sick and the old were carried on makeshift cots and chairs to the boats, with the intention of minimizing their discomfort in every way possible.

We have overcome the adversity, thanks to the help from all quarters.

This unprecedented floods in God’s Own Country saw massive indulgence of Social Media in rescue n relief operations. Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, Google Maps were all used extensively to dispense information on stranded people, which facilitated the relief n rescue.

Not just in unaffected parts of Kerala, but also the NRK’s came to the rescue by setting up control rooms in their homes in the middle east to pick up SOS calls n videos and coordinate operations.

The rescue contact numbers provided by the gov flooded with calls n was engaged most of the time. Without power supply the mobiles were draining, people could not be contacted to confirm the location. Multiple SOS from friends n relatives flooded and resulted in duplicate SOS request and there was no way to update or check the SOS request.

Here is where the communities on twitter, like #weshallovercome and many others came to the rescue. A group of 50 volunteers called back the SOS and got real time data, got direct access to helicopter numbers and sorted the distress calls either to be air lifted or to be rescued by boats.

Another project ‘’life boat’’ was put in place, a missed call number was opened, that enabled the volunteers to call back to the SOS request and get details. This project ensured that their line would not be busy and could handle 200 calls simultaneously.

Project ‘Life boat’ got 3036 SOS requests, 128 volunteers were part of the project and they had 401 ground level volunteers. Total strangers coordinated in the most organized manner to facilitate rescue.

History was in the making!

Govt IT mission and IEEE team joined to develop KeralaRescue.in which was an excellent model. The open source model attracted large number of volunteers around the globe. Compassionate Kerala was another such portal that brought in volunteers, registered SOS calls etc.

Even individuals tried to contribute in rescue Ops. Armed with a network of friends and family scattered all over Kerala they tried to respond to SOS request and coordinated rescue.

With people being shifted to relief camps, the need for extensive relief supplies was looming in the horizon. The rest of Kerala was quick to respond with food, clothes, hygiene / sanitary products bed sheets etc. The least affected districts of Kannur, Thiruvananthapuram n Kasarkode mobilised supplies.

Help poured in from the NRK’s, sending tons of relief items, soon the entire country pitched in. The relief items collected from people were sorted and packed and sent to the camps. People of Kerala became one in this hour of distress.

Every individual from ministers to collectors to bureaucrats to volunteers, slogged day and night, worked with the common man, being one of them, and put in their might to speed up relief operations. Kerala truly set an example for the entire world to emulate. There was no VIP, no commoner, there were only humans who wanted to do everything in their limits for their brethren. No religion, no politics, no social status ….just HUMANITY at play….

With rescue operations coming to an end, the camps were filled to the brim. At the camps, doctors and nurses voluntarily got about attending to people and preventing any major outbreak of diseases which was likely to hit.

Counsellors engaged in pacifying the ones who were in shock, and youngsters were quick to put out any rages due to flaring of temper. It was difficult times but the people of Kerala lived through.

Soon the camps turned to be examples of love, compassion, unity.

Irrespective of religion people lived in camps together as one, in cramped spaces. They celebrated Bakrid and Onam together, most camps were able to provide sadhya for Onam. This Onam brought out the actual essence of the festival, it being a harvest festival was celebrated as the festival of the state setting behind all differences.

We got to hear touching stories of unity. As some of the mosques were still inundated, Hindus and Christians offered the Temple and Church premises for Muslims to offer prayers on EID.

Kerala is now going through the rehabilitation process. As the water started receding people started returning to their houses, to clean up. It was a mammoth task as the houses, places of worship, offices were all filled with sludge, There again the people of Kerala stood by their less fortunate brethren. Volunteers mobilized teams for clearing and cleaning. Equipped with buckets, mops, cleaning liquids, disinfectants etc received as relief supplies the teams visited every badly affected locality, cleaned and sanitized the houses and made it livable.

The thousands of dead birds and animals were buried and disposed of safely thereby inhibiting spread of any contamination. Well water is being pumped out or sterilized with chlorine depending on the severity of the contamination. Transformers have been repaired / recharged and electricity restored in most places. Sanitation is a primary concern and a priority now.

Supply of clean drinking water is made available. Since the Indian Navy has its strong base in Kerala, they have been assisting in rescue, relief, rehabilitation and have vouched their support in rebuilding Kerala. The Naval Ships INS Deepak brought in 8 Lakh litres of drinking water and INS Sunayna came with 5tons of medical supplies. Enormous quantities of relief supplies have been transported by the AirForce.

The road ahead is difficult but the resilience of the Malayali will get us through it.

Rebuilding God’s Own Country is an arduous and time consuming process. There are roads, bridges, houses, wells, buildings to be built from scratch. People who have lost their homes and means of livelyhood, need to be provided for. Students have lost their books, uniforms. People have lost every peace of furniture, electrical appliances. Factories and store houses have lost their machinery and products. Agricultural land is lost, crops destroyed, livestock decimated.

Life has to begin from zero for most of the people in central Kerala.

Kerala’s plea for help has seen financial aid flowing in from individuals, organizations, center, states and countries around the world as well. The estimated loss amounts to 22,000 CR. #OneMonthForKerala campaign was initiated by Kannur administration, which was taken forward by the CM. His call to donate 3days salary every month for 10 months saw people from all walks of life participating. Every one rich or poor have come forward to help. Little kids have contributed their dummy box collections, senior citizens have pledged their months pension, women have contributed their gold ornaments, organizations, associations, businessmen have all contributed towards rebuilding Kerala.

It Will Take Time But Ultimately We Will Emerge Like A Butterfly …. Beautiful, Colourful And Ready To Fly.

#KeralaFloods #KeralaFlood #KeralaSOS #KeralaRescue #KeralaFloods2018 #WeShallOvercome #CompassionateKerala #Keralam

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