Kerala will overcome

Jazar Shahul

Kerala has experienced its worst flood in almost a century. The last flood which took place in the state, also known as the Great Flood of 99, was in the year 1924 (Malayalam calendar year 1099, hence the name Great Flood of 99). That time it rained continuously for about three weeks. Many districts of the present day Kerala were deeply submerged in water by this flood - from Thrissur, to Ernakulam to Idukki, Kottayam even up to Alappuzha and Kuttanad. Even a huge mountain called Karinthiri Mala was washed away by this flood and the road to Munnar also went along with it. As the road to Munnar was lost by this flood, a new road from Ernakulam to Munnar became necessary - the present day road from Ernakulam to Munnar was constructed after this. Kundala Valley Railway which was the first monorail system in India was also completely destroyed. Thousands of people, animals and birds died and large crop and property losses were encountered.

And now history repeats itself.

Kerala has been experiencing high monsoon rainfall in the usual July month but it turned severe after the first week of August. From August 8th, the rains turned severe and this also caused almost the dams in Kerala to be filled to its maximum capacity. This led to the opening of 35 dams out of the total 42, and all five shutters of Idukki Dam were opened simultaneously after a gap of 26 years. This and the continuous rainfall led to the flooding of almost all the districts in Kerala. On the 10th of August, Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan, Chief Minister of Kerala, and Comrade M.M. Mani, the Electricity Minister who hails from Idukki, had remarked that the situation was indeed extremely grave in the state. Till then landslides and heavy rains had claimed lives in Idukki and Malappuram districts. The Karnataka Government had ordered and was rushing Rs 10cr worth relief material into the state to help Kerala in this dire need. The Kerala Government had also sought the help of the army  as the death toll in the state was rising and had reached 24 by the 10th of August with large scale damage reported from various parts of the state.

Additionally, as part of beefing up rescue and relief operations, the government had sought the assistance of Air Force, Navy, Coast Guard, and the National Disaster Response Force. Army personnel were deployed in the worst-affected districts including Idukki, Malapuaram, Wayanad and Kozhikode. The authorities at the famed Hindu temple Sabarimala had decided not to allow devotees from August 14th as the Pamba river had overflowed, a situation which was described as very unsafe for devotees by the temple administration.

Kerala was gearing up for its Onam celebrations, which was the greatest cultural festival of the state and diverted all the amount which was allocated for the celebration, to the Chief Minister's Distress Relief Fund (CMDRF). By then, more than 38 people were dead and many missing and more than 1 lac affected.
With increased water flow into the Idamalayar and Idukki dams in Kerala late Tuesday night due to incessant rains, authorities had to evacuate about 5,000 persons living in and around the two reservoirs. The Idukki dam was discharging 7.50 lakh litres of water per second, causing worry to authorities as more water in the Periyar river and its tributaries could lead to flooding of parts of Ernakulam and Thrissur districts. According to the state's preliminary estimates, the rains have caused loss of over Rs 8,000 crore in rain-affected districts by then.

At least 12 districts namely Wayanad, Kozhikode, Kannur, Kasargod, Malappuram, Palakkad, Idukki, Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Kottayam and Pathanamthitta were with sounded red alert while Thiruvananthapuram and Kollam districts had issued high alert as torrential rains continued to lash several parts of the state. The downpour had disrupted traffic and caused waterlogging in several parts of the state. Even the Cochin International Airport had also suspended all its flight operations till August 19th, as large parts of, including runways, was very much submerged under water.

By August 16, the death toll had climbed to 67.

Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan had appealed to the people for generous contributions to battle the worst floods faced by Kerala in nearly a century. CM Comrade Vijayan had also spoken to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the 15th, and was assured of all necessary help. Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh had then promised to send more forces to help the state. The military was deployed in various areas of Pathanamthitta district to rescue people via boats and helicopters. As part of its 'Operation Madad', the Southern Naval Command deployed 21 rescue and diving teams with Gemini boats as the situation deteriorated across the state. Meanwhile, amidst helping attitude of the Tamil Nadu Government, it refused to receive the outflow of Mullaperiyar Dam, which had been a constant cause of discord between Kerala and Tamil Nadu for years, and it created rising tensions between the two states. Kerala has long been demanding the decommissioning of the more than a century old dam, and this time, what could have led to a cause of serious issue between the two states was resolved by the Prime Minister and Home Minister, Rajnath Singh and the case was sent to the Supreme Court for its decision and review.
The public transport systems in the state including the Kerala Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC), Indian Railways and even the Kochi Metro Rail Limited (KMRL) were coming to a standstill. The death toll kept on rising, reaching 87 and additional military teams were deployed to rescue people who were stranded in the first floor and terraces of their homes. Pathanamthitta was then the worst affected district, especially in Ranni, Kozhenchery and Aranmula districts and the Army, Navy and Airforce carried out intense rescue operations there. Various media platforms including the state TV channels, Facebook and Whatsapp groups, one in which even the Chief Minister was a member, was flooded with SOS messages.

The famed tourist destination of Munnar continued to detoriate. Parts of Ernakulam and Thrissur faced tough times with water from the dams in Idukki district reaching the Periyar river and its tributaries. Traffic on the national highway between Ernakulam and Thrissur was being regulated and soon discussed whether to be closed completely. Train operations between Ernakulam and Angamaly had also been stopped and, at Thiruvananthapuram railway station, tickets were issued. The hilly district of Wayanad, connected to Kannur and Kozhikode through a hill highway, was also badly hit with the overflowing Banasura Sagar dam waters creating havoc. Several landslides were reported in the area. In Wayanad alone, more than 20,000 people had been put up in relief camps, authorities had said. All educational institutions were closed on Thursday. By then more than 80,000 people were taking refuge in relief camps across the state.

It was then that another set of people joined the rescue operations: the fisherfolk of Kerala. They were all answering to the help plea of Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan and they all came with their fishing boats. Together with the armed forces, they began to conduct massive scaled up operations to rescue people. But even then, the casualties from the floods touched 164 by August 17th. Waters from the Periyar river and its tributaries kept many towns in Ernakulam and Thrissur submerged. The worst affected include Paravur, Kalady, Chalakudy, Perumbavoor, Muvatupuzha towns of Ernakulam and Thrissur. More than 2 lac people were in relief camps across the state. The central districts of Pathanamthitta was then facing its worst ever calamity as the overflowing Pamba river had inundated several towns, including Ranni, Kozhenchery which were completely submerged. Hundreds of experienced fishermen from the coastal villages of the state capital arrived at Pathanamthitta and started rescue operations as the helicopters began airlifting people to safer places. But as camps were filled, the problem of hunger and need for drinking water posed a big threat. But the people of Kerala and the state was stepping up to answer to people's basic needs like food, water, clothing and others. Helicopters and large lorries were used to send supplies to the people.

From August 17th, it was the Chengannur and Paandanad taluks and adjoining areas of Alapuzha districts which were in extremely grave danger. The armed forces with the fisherfolk were redeployed to theses areas to help rescue people as Comrade Saji Cheriyan, the MLA of Chengannur openly cried out on TV news begging to help his people. Kuttanad, another main taluk of Alapuzha, which was already submerged for the past many weeks, still continued to lay low as flood waters kept plunging in. People were being evacuated from here also. By the evening of August 18th, the death toll rose to more than 180. Leader of Opposition Ramesh Chennithala even went onto say that the state government had failed in its committment to people. The total loss to the state by now was estimated to be around Rs 19,500cr.

By August 19th, the death toll due to rains and floods in Kerala had gone up to 368, as 33 more deaths were reported on Saturday even as around 58,000 people were rescued in different parts of the state, and red alert is now there in just three districts, down from 11. More than 3.5 lac people were in relief camps by then. Rejecting a demand from the Congress-led opposition and Kerala BJP to hand over the rescue operations to the Army, Chief Minister Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan said: "In a rescue operation, the most important thing is that it should be done only by the local authorities who are well-versed with the locality, and the Army and other agencies' help is sought and a combined operation is done."
National award winning actor Salim Kumar, after remaining holed up in his house along with 45 others for three days, was finally rescued by a fishing boat, and made a statement that it was the fisherfolk and their boats, and the police and fire department who can actually do something, and not the armed forces who can just aid them, because the armed forces do not know the area as well as these people and will need their help.

By August 19th, the death toll rose to 370 and more than 7 lac people were housed in 5500 relief camps. Things were cooling down but even then there still numerous people waiting to be rescued and the main problem was lack of accessibility. The NCC unit of Kottayam district was commended for its efforts. The Adventure Tour Operators Association of India also helped by bringing rafts with the help of Air Force. As per the details available on Aug 21st, the total number of people dead was approximately 370, give or take, and more than 1 million in 3274 relief camps across the state. All this is as per the details given in various government data and newspaper sources.

Kerala wishes to thank everyone, each and everyone, who came to its aid:

• ·         The Army, Navy, Airforce, Coast Guard, National Disaster Response Force and all central forces like Border Security Force (BSF) and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP), who risked everything for us to save our lives. As the quote says, they gave their today for our tomorrow.
• ·         All the state governments who have helped us: Telangana, Karnataka, Delhi, Punjab, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Odisha, Gujarat, Bihar, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Chattisgarh, Uttarakhand, Jammu and Kashmir, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Puducherry and Tripura.
• ·         The Central Government for its monetary and other services.
• ·         Various businessmen and individuals have also been donating monetary funds to help the relief work in Kerala. Tamil Nadu political party DMK donated Rs 1 crore . BJP MP Varun Gandhi has also donated Rs 2 lakh to the CMRDF and urged other politicians to also contribute to the fund. Attorney General of India K K Venugopal has donated Rs 1 crore.
•    Celebrities Kamal Hassan and Surya contributed Rs 25 lakh each and actor Sidharth urged people to donate to the Kerala Chief Minister relief fund by participating in the #KeralaFloodReliefChallenge. Tamil Actor Dhanush contributed Rs 15 lakh, while Vishal and Sivakarthikeyan gave Rs 10 lakh each. Telugu actor Vijay donated Rs 5 lakh, another South actress Anupama Parameswaran donated Rs 1 lakh. Tamil actor Vijay Sethupathi donated Rs 25 lakh and actress Rohini donated Rs 2 lakh to the relief fund. Telugu actors Prabhas, Allu Arjun and Vijay Deverakonda have also donated to the flood rescue efforts. According to latest reports, South superstar Rajinikanth has announced that he will donate Rs 15 lakh while director Shankar has assured Rs 10 lakh for the Kerala flood victims.
• ·   AMMA, the organisation which was under scrutiny recently in Kerala donated Rs 10 lakh whereas Malayalam actors Mammooty and Dulquer Salmaan contributed Rs 15 lakh and Rs 10 lakh respectively. Malayalam film industry superstar Mohanlal gave Rs 25 lakh to the CMDRF. Whereas, actors Jayasurya, Indrajith, Tovino Thomas and Rajeev Pillai helped distributing essentials to the inmates in relief camps.
• ·         A number of Bollywood actors have also urged their fans to contribute to the CM Relief Funds including Sonali Bendre who is battling high-grade cancer and is stationed in New York has asked people to come out and donate. Most Bollywood celebrities took to Twitter to reach out to their fans such as Abhishek Bachchan, Anushka Sharma and Bhumi Pednekar. John Abraham cancelled the success bash of his latest movie, ‘Satyameva Jayate’ and instead strongly voiced his concerns for Kerala’s flood victims. Bollywood superstars Amitabh Bachchan and Shah Rukh Khan were the latest to join the bandwagon of celebrities to donate and urge their fans to support Kerala.
• ·         Television giant, Star India donated Rs 2 crore whereas south regional television Sun TV network, made a donation of Rs 1 crore towards the relief fund. Asianet employees have pledged Rs 25 lakh according to a company statement. Star India has also partnered with an NGO called Goonj for supply of essentials.
• ·         State Bank of India (SBI) has donated Rs 2 crore for the Kerala flood victims apart from ground-level measures to help them. They have also waived off fees and charges on services like loans for flood relief, duplicate passbooks, ATM cards, cheque books and EMI delays, besides making attempts to restore the working of branches and ATMs in the flood-affected regions of the state.
• ·         Notably, a temple in Keezhillam, in Ernakulam district has donated its treasury to the CMDRF. The Kaniyasseri Mahavishnu Temple has handed over donations it received in the donation box to the aid fund. TVS & Sons CEO Mr.Raghavan handed over Rs 1 crore to CM Pinarayi Vijayan today at Trivandrum along with two containers that are coming from Madurai with food and basic amenities.
• ·         Various donation camps have sprung up across the country in various cities like New Delhi, Mumbai, Chennai and Bengaluru. People are toiling through the day to collect and segregate funds for the flood-ravaged state which includes monetary relief as well as funds in form of supplies and stock. Indian Railways announced free transportation for relief material across to Kerala as well. The Department of Food & Public Distribution has provided 50,000 million tonnes (MT) of food grains for the victims so far.
• ·         Mata Amritanandamayi Devi (Amma) has announced that her organisation will donate Rs 10 crore to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. “Each day we see the rain just keeps coming,” the spiritual leader and humanitarian said of her home state. Each time it starts up again, we know it is causing more and more destruction. My heart goes out to those families who are losing their homes and dear ones. We want to help them in whatever way we can,” she said in a press statement. Amritha Institute in the state has been tremendously engaged in the rescue efforts as well.
• ·         The Islamic Centre of India urged Muslims to donate 10 per cent of Eid budget to Kerala flood victims. Various mosques in the state have pledged people to donate to the CMDRF instead of donating to the mosque, on Eid day which falls on 22nd of August.
• ·         The United Arab Emirates (UAE) on Saturday formed a committee to come together in order to provide relief to the people of Kerala. President His Highness Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum took to Twitter to make the announcement and urged “everyone to contribute generously towards this initiative.” The committee chaired by the Emirates Red Crescent (ERC) and will include representatives from the UAE’s humanitarian organisations. Qatar government allocated Rs 35 crore towards the relief fund of the Kerala chief minister for relief operations. Oman is also sending a chartered plane full of relief materials to help Kerala in its dire need. Oman's Sheikh Khaboos was the first to announce aid among the GCC countries.
• ·         A group of Pakistani people who donated their one day's wage.
• ·         The recent 21-year-old student Hanan from Kerala who was trolled for selling fishes has also donated Rs 1.5 lakh towards the Chief Minister Relief fund that she had received from people to fund her studies and take care of her family.
• ·         Lulu Group International Chairman Mr Yusuff Ali and his son-in-law Dr V.P. Shamseer, the chairman of VPS Healthcare for their huge contributions. Mr Yusuff Ali alone has donated about Rs 18cr, initially on his own and then along with the UAE Government. Dr V.P. Shamseer has announced a package of Rs 50cr which includes rehabilitation too.
• ·         All political organisations including Congress and its affiliates, RSS and BJP, Muslim League, SDPI and all student organisations including Kerala Students Union (KSU), Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad (ABVP) and Muslim Students Federation (MSF).
• ·         The Khalsa Aid for its invaluable help and services rendered in Kerala.
• ·         All NGOs who helped in the endeavour of setting up and managing relief camps.
• ·         The pastor from Pathanamthitta district, Kuruvila Kulanjikompil Samuel, offered 25 cents of his land to bury the dead in the floods, which came as a huge relief for people as there weren't land enough to do the same.
• ·         The CPI(M) and CPI party cadres, all over India, for their immense service to the state. DYFI and SFI comrades, of the state and other parts of India for helping in the rescue operations as well as in the relief camps. Without you comrades, it would have been difficult.
• ·         The people of Kerala themselves for helping their own brothers and sisters. Also, all the churches, mosques and temples for giving temporary refuge to all irrespective of their religion.
• ·         All the civil service officials, IAS and IPS, for their invaluable services.
• ·         The Kerala Police, Fire and Rescue Department, Kerala State Electricity Board (KSEB) and the NCC cadets of the state for their tireless and selfless service. We are indebted to you.
• ·         The Fisherfolk of Kerala: Never have we come to your aid. Never have we contributed for your rehabilitation. We have always mocked and ridiculed you. But you came for us, expecting nothing in return. We are indebted to you always and forever. CM Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan has promised Rs 3000 per boat and a grand reception to the fisherfolk.
• ·         Finally, we thank Chief Minister Comrade Pinarayi Vijayan for leading us from the forefront and never ever giving us a shadow of doubt to fear. He was calm and relaxed and yet stern and hardworking, even though he is suspected to suffer from cancer and was scheduled to make a trip to the Mayo Clinic in USA. This was the leader we Keralites were looking for and wanted to have. Personally, I'm proud to be a comrade under him.

Thanking everyone who supported and prayed for us, all the unsung heroes, we still hope for more support for us Keralites.

PS: While collecting information for writing this, the latest news has confirmed that UAE is donating Rs 700cr to assist Kerala in its rebuilding and rehabilitation process. A big, big thanks to both Sheikh Mohameds of Dubai and Abu Dhabi.

Jazar Shahul is a native of Thrissur district, Kerala. He is a second year MBBS student at Al Azhar Medical College, Thodupuzha, Idukki.