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“I have clothes to wear and that is all that I can think of for now,” says Bibin Ipe, standing before the mortuary of Kothamangalam Taluk Hospital on Saturday. The body of his mother, who lost her life in the landslide, is housed here.
Within a span of 24 hours, his life took a turn from the normal. On the fateful day, he had gone for a stroll to the nearby market. Upon rushing home alarmed on hearing the tragic news, all he could find was a gigantic mud and debris trail where his house once stood. Both his parents were reported missing.
“I cannot make out where the house was once located. The whole landscape has changed,” said Bibin. The body of his father Iype was recovered on Saturday morning and that of his mother Leela a day earlier. Now Bibin and his younger brother has nowhere to go. They do not possess any documents to prove the land ownership, no certificates or money or even a change of clothes.
For Rajesh, Bibin’s 20-year-old friend and neighbour, the landslide took away his parents and home. He was rescued from amidst the debris by neighbour Eldose Ipe. Rajesh has lost a leg and an arm in the disaster and is currently undergoing treatment at the ICU in Medical Trust Hospital here.
The sight of Rajesh’s mutilated body and the debris surrounding him, claimed one life. “Narayan could not behold the sight and suffered a cardiac arrest. They were always seen together, in spite of the age disparity. Both of them were taken to the hospital in the same ambulance,” said Lily Eapen, a neighbour who survived the tragedy. Lily lost her rubber plantation in the landslide.
A few had providential escapes as well. One such case is that of Jose, who was housed in a small shed at the topmost point. He was not to be found hours after the incident. Even though the boulders had fallen atop the shed, he managed to have a miraculous escape. Chinnamma Joseph, another resident of the region, escaped the claws of death as she paid a visit to her brother’s house upon a premonition.
“I had not visited my brother’s house for more than a year. But on Friday, in spite of the surgery carried out on my leg, I felt like visiting him,” she said. Her house has been swept away in the disaster. Meeran, staying a few metres away from Chinnamma’s house, was also fortunate. His family of four down at the hospital which saved their lives.
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