The Hindu : Front Page : Two killed in landslip at tribal colony in Thrissur

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Jul 15, 2005

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Two killed in landslip at tribal colony in Thrissur

Staff Reporter

About 100 tribal people being shifted to safer places

THRISSUR: A 38-year-old woman and her one-and-a-half-year-old daughter were killed in a landslip at the Aanappantham tribal colony located in the mountainous terrains 17 km from Varantharappilli in the district early Thursday morning.

The police identified the victims as Sarulatha alias Sarada and Saritha. The tragedy struck them while they were sleeping. They were washed away by the gushing waters along with the debris of their collapsed house. The bodies were recovered by noon.

Two nearby houses also were damaged in the landslip. But the occupants of both houses were away.

About 100 tribals stay in the colony and they are being shifted to safer places at Varantharappilli, District Collector Premachandra Kurup who visited the site told The Hindu . The outside world knew of the tragedy only hours after its occurrence at 2 a.m. A tribal man had to trek hours through the dense forest in heavy rain and take a bus after sunrise to reach the police station and pass on the information. The authorities soon rushed to the spot for relief and rescue operations. They searched for more bodies, but it was abandoned after it had been realised that none else in the colony was missing.

Superintendent of Police T. Chandran, who visited the site, said the casualties could have been much higher but for a huge rock that diverted the flow from the area where the houses are located. The area wore a devastated look with huge rock formations and trees being dragged by the gushing waters from mountaintops.

``It took long hours for us to travel through the tough terrains of 17 km from Varantharappilli to Aanapantham as the condition of the road had worsened because of the landslip, the Collector said.

Replying to questions, the Collector said the landslip did not lead to much crop loss as it is not a cultivated area.

The Collector gave Rs.10,000 on the spot to the families of the deceased as the first instalment of the relief sanctioned to them by the Government.

Another Rs.1,000 was sanctioned to the owners of the houses partially damaged in the landslip.

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