A day after landslips and flash floods triggered by heavy rain created havoc in Kozhikode, the district administration prepared a preliminary report on Wednesday pegging the total loss and cost of rehabilitation at Rs.200 crore even as over 200 affected people are lodged in a local school and parish hall in the calamity-hit region.
As many as 130 calamity-hit people are accommodated at the Anakkampoyil parish hall in Thiruvambadi while the Vimala Upper Primary School at neighbouring Manjuvayal area houses another 86 persons.
“A preliminary report prepared by us estimates the total loss and future rehabilitation costs at approximately Rs.200 crore,” Kozhikode District Collector K.V. Mohan Kumar told The Hindu on Wednesday.
Mr. Mohan Kumar said the natural disaster claimed 300 hectares of arable land in Thiruvambady and Kodencheri panchayats with an estimated loss of Rs.75 crore.
Agriculture losses were to the extent of Rs.10 crore, he said.
The Collector said that new houses had to be built for the affected people. Fourteen houses had been completely destroyed, 16 partially destroyed and 20 houses had been damaged by the torrent of mud and incessant rain which hit the region for the past two days, he said.
“We have found land of the Cherussery Housing Board for a camp and intend to move the affected families from the school and parish hall to there. We intend to restore the region entirely to its former self and work on clearing the boulders and waste as soon as possible,” he said.
He said the contract for restoration of infrastructure and building of the camp for affected persons was given to Uralungal Labour Contract Co-operative Society Limited, a workers’ co-operative body.
District Medical Officer P.K. Mohanan told the paper that he had deployed three nurses, two men and a woman, through the night to tend to the displaced families. An ambulance had been put on 24-hour duty to ferry any emergency medical cases to the hospital.
No epidemic outbreak
His opinion that there was no immediate danger of an epidemic in the region was seconded by Thiruvambady medical officer M.K. Radhika, who had camped at the Anakkampoyil parish hall with a medical team.
“We checked about 50 people at the parish hall on Wednesday. No serious injuries have been found so far except occasional complaints of chest pain and body aches. But we are watching closely for any signs of an outbreak of viral fever or rat fever in the local population. We were told that the local Kudumbasree and ASHA workers will start the cleaning operations from Thursday,” she said.
Meanwhile, Thiruvambady panchayat president Eliamma George said that a nine-year-old girl, Jyotsana, was missing even after 48 hours of search operations.
“Her father was carrying her when she was washed away,” Ms. George said. An official statement on Tuesday had listed Jyotsana among the dead, but later it was known that she was still missing.
“The Rapid Action Force personnel were seen in the area, though no navy divers came. As of now the rescue operations have stopped, the body of the girl must have been washed away by the waters. But the water is very high and turbulent; it is almost impossible to look for the body there now,” the panchayat president said.
