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India LandSlide: Rescuers Race To Find Survivors

Rescuers in India  dug through swirling mud on Thursday, to uncover dozens of submerged homes and find more than 150 people swallowed up by a … Continue reading India LandSlide: Rescuers Race To Find Survivors


india landslide2Rescuers in India  dug through swirling mud on Thursday, to uncover dozens of submerged homes and find more than 150 people swallowed up by a landslide that flattened almost an entire village, with the confirmed death toll at 25.
Four earth moving machines scooped out mud spread over an area the size of a football pitch.

The frame of a motorbike floated by on a torrent of mud, an indication that bodies could well be underneath. Small streams flowed into the area from surrounding hills.
Shocked by the extent of devastation, Interior minister Rajnath Singh announced financial help for the victims from the federal government.
Singh said “residents of over 33 houses are trapped under the debris that can be seen here.

Singh said ‘You cannot say after looking at it that houses ever existed here. There was a temple here as well. Even the top of that temple is not visible’’

The hillside above the village collapsed on Wednesday and heavy rain raised fears of another landslide.

The local school, one of the only roofed buildings to survive, was put into service as a makeshift shelter for rescue workers, while police were stationed in trucks to provide a backup.

Nine teams of rescue workers worked through the night, but incessant rain, mud and poor communications in the remote area slowed their efforts to make their way into engulfed thatched huts and brick houses.

Work was stalled during daytime today owing to heavy rainfall but had resumed in the afternoon.

National disaster response force (NDRF) commandant, Alok Awasthi, said inclement weather was hurting the rescue operations.

”Heavy downpour was on since 8:30 in the morning which led to mud falling.

Thus, we had halted rescue work for the safety of the people present here. Now, rain is slowing down so we will start the work again,” he said.

Rainy season downpours, though vital for India’s agriculture, can often bring disaster. Unprecedented rain in June last year wreaked havoc across Uttarakhand state in the Himalayas, causing rivers and lakes to burst their banks, inundating towns and villages and killing thousands.