Over 2,500 people, including 599 children and six pregnant women, whose lives have been shattered by deadly landslides, are staying in various relief camps in Kerala’s Wayanad, according to authorities on Monday.
As per the latest official figures released by the Chief Minister’s Office (CMO), a total of 16 rescue camps are there in Meppadi and other village panchayats in the hill district where the landslide-hit people are staying.
As many as 2,514 people belonging to 723 families are in the camps. Among them, 943 are male, 972 are female, and 599 are children, the CMO said.
Of the total number of women in the relief camps, six are pregnant, it added.
As per the government figures till Sunday evening, a total of 221 bodies and 166 body parts of the landslide victims had been recovered so far.
The number of missing people had gone down to 180 from the earlier 206 after the authorities were able to get in touch with some of them over the phone, they said on Sunday.
The mass burial of 31 unclaimed dead bodies and 158 body parts recovered after the July 30 landslide at Kerala’s Wayanad was held on Monday at the graves prepared inside a nearby tea estate, state Revenue Minister K Rajan said.
Rajan said the graves will be marked based on the identification number allotted to each body and the parts according to the DNA samples recovered from the body parts.
The minister, who met the media here, also said that the search operations to find the missing persons will continue.
“The 31 unclaimed bodies will be buried first. then each body part, from which DNA samples have been collected, will be buried in separate graves. The process will begin after the cabinet sub-committee meeting,” Rajan said.
He said the search operations concentrating around the Chaliyar River and the nearby areas will be enhanced.
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