As efforts are ongoing to mitigate the havoc caused by the landslide in Kerala’s Wayanad district, Union Home Minister Amit Shah told the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday, July 31 that the Kerala government was informed about the possibility of a disaster as early as July 23 and questioned their handling of the situation. Stating that the red warning and possibility of heavy rain for Wayanad were announced after the landslide, Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the Union Home Minister has presented information in the Parliament that is inconsistent with the facts. He added that proactive steps should be taken to address and adapt to climate change.
In the Rajya Sabha, Amit Shah said the Union government should not be blamed as information was given well in advance and even a team of the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) was sent to the state. "I want to clarify that on July 23, the government of India gave an early warning to the government of Kerala, which was seven days before the incident, and then on July 24 and 25 too early warning was given. On July 26, a warning was given that there was a chance of heavy rainfall of more than 20 cm, and there were chances of landslides, there could be mudflow and people could lose lives in this," Amit Shah said.
“Despite this, the Kerala government did not get alerted about the landslides. Nine NDRF battalions were dispatched on July 23 itself and three more were sent on July 30. It was a vulnerable situation, but why were the people not shifted to safer places? They were only shifted after the disaster," he said, adding that losses could have been minimised if the state government acted earlier. Amit Shah also stated that the Narendra Modi government was standing like a "rock" with the Kerala government and people of the state in this moment of the tragedy and promised all help from the Union government.
Reacting to this, Pinarayi Vijayan said that it was based on Kerala's prior request that the NDRF teams were made available at the beginning of the rainy season. “Kerala raised the demand for nine NDRF teams. The [state] government had already deployed a team in Wayanad district. Preparations have been made in all areas with advance information about potential floods and other natural calamities, including landslides,” he said.
The Kerala CM further said this was not the time to play blame game and that the rainfall was higher than what was expected. “In the disaster areas, an orange alert was in place, with the Central Meteorological Center warning that rainfall would be between 115 and 204 mm. However, the actual rainfall was much higher. The area received 200 mm of rain in the first 24 hours and 372 mm in the next 24 hours, totaling 572 mm in 48 hours. The area had never been on red alert before the disaster. However, after the incident, a red alert was issued at six o'clock in the morning,” he stated.
Pinarayi Vijayan also said that the Central Water Commission, which is responsible for issuing flood warnings, did not issue any warnings for either Iruvazhinji Puzha or Chaliyar from July 23 to 29. “The Union Home Minister has presented information in Parliament that is inconsistent with these facts,” he added.
Kerala BJP president K Surendran slammed the Kerala government and said that it was clear that the state government completely ignored the early warnings issued by the Union government. "The state government's inaction led to the increase in the number of casualties. Unpardonable," Surendran said on social media soon after the Home Minister's address in the Rajya Sabha.
Meanwhile, hundreds of defence personnel and several other agencies were engaged in rescue and relief operations in the four worst affected landslide areas of Kerala's Wayanad district -- Churalpara, Velarimala, Mundakayil and Pothukalu. The death toll is mounting as more bodies trapped under building debris are being recovered.
The death toll has now touched around 240 while more than 200 people are reported missing. Around 8,000 people are now housed in around 82 relief camps. 1,592 people have been rescued.