Kavalappara, near Nilambur, where 59 people were killed in one of the worst landslips in recent decades, has seen human camaraderie and dedication at their best over the weeks following the catastrophe.
The 19-day search for those trapped under huge piles of slimy soil has given many lessons in humanism, apart from yielding 48 bodies. “It’s been one of the biggest searches involving 140-odd personnel of the State Fire and Rescue Services, including 13 officers, and dozens of voluntary organisations, local people and the National Disaster Response Force,” said District Fire Officer Arun Bhaskar, who led the search.
From Day 1 to Day 19, they toiled in the saffron earth using heavy movers and cutters, apart from their experience in retrieving bodies from disaster sites. Their heavy excavators sank in the mud many times, forcing them to build platforms using tree trunks for moving the machines in the vast stretch of slimy land.
Technology no match
Although 11 more people were still missing, the State’s Fire and Rescue men proved that no technology could match their traditional know-how and experience in unearthing the bodies at Kavalappara.
A National Geophysical Research Institute team from Hyderabad had to return too quickly from Kavalappara after acquiescing failure of the ground penetrating radar (GPR) equipment they brought. The Hyderabad team bowed before the State’s firemen admitting that the radar was no match for their experience at the disaster site. As it rained in the afternoon almost every day at Kavalappara, the search teams spent 19 days there under constant threat of further landslips. “There were minor soil fall here and there. Luckily no further disaster happened,” said Mr. Bhaskar.
The firemen respected each human body they recovered from the site. Some of the bodies retrieved from the lower portion of the hill were badly mutilated as they were in water. “Yet we could recover 90% of the bodies in good shape so that the relatives could identify them easily.” “Our men had a special energy there… may be because of our commitment to human lives,” said Mr. Bhaskar. He said the minor injuries they suffered to their limbs healed surprisingly overnight.
Painful memories
The bodies of an elderly couple found in a hug, the body of a young man tangled up with his motorcycle, the bodies of a mother and child, and the body of Army soldier Vishnu are all painful, lasting memories for the search team. But over and above, the human camaraderie was on display at Kavalappara.
