Kozhikode district may not have witnessed the high intensity of the resurgent monsoon as seen in other places in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Alappuzha and Pathanamthitta districts. But government departments here have huge tasks ahead — rebuilding the lives of flood-affected victims, the ravaged economy and handling the threat of epidemics.
Floodwaters have receded and the majority of the flood victims have returned home.
“The Health Department has been actively conducting sanitation programmes to check spread of communicable diseases. Medicines have been provided to victims and awareness campaigns are being held at many places,” officials said.
Now, only 72 people belonging to 17 families (out of the earlier 44,300) are sheltered at the four government relief camps in the district. An estimate showed that at least 175 houses were submerged in the floods and these are uninhabitable even now. Local bodies have to provide temporary shelter for such families.
Many houses have also been partially damaged. A detailed account of loss of property has to be made through villages offices, they said. Plans are afoot to provide assistance under the Livelihood Inclusion and Financial Empowerment (LIFE) Mission envisaged by the State government aimed at providing houses to the homeless in rural areas. Already, the Kozhikode District Panchayat has set aside ₹12.76 crore for the project.
The government has sought the help of many agencies, including the Vadakara- based Uralungal Labour Contract Cooperative Society ( ULCCS), to restore road connectivity in the district. It has offered to check stability of houses. “We have dedicated team of engineers, electricians, plumbers, masons, carpenters and other semi-skilled workers for rehabilitation of floods victims,” T.K. Kishore Kumar, team leader, Disaster Management, ULCCS, said.
However, he felt that Kozhikode should have a pre-disaster management system with a location based GIS database. “We still do not have field experts to handle disaster,” Mr. Kishore Kumar said.
