History of Ceylon Tea

Nearly a fortnight after two landslides gouged out the face of the Vellarimala hill in Wayanad’s Meppadi panchayat, killing more than 230 people in the foothills, the search continues for the missing, estimated to be more than 130 people.

This is a tragedy of epic proportions for Kerala, which has been battered by extreme weather events ever since the great flood of 2018. That year, 341 major landslides were reported in the State. Landslides have become a major hazard every monsoon since then, with Wayanad, Idukki, Malappuram, Kasaragod, and Kozhikode districts marked as, and proving to be, highly susceptible to deadly landslides. About 75 people died in overnight landslides at Kavalappara in Malappuram and Puthumala in Wayanad, situated six kilometres apart across the hills, in 2019. Puthumala is barely a few kilometres down the hill from the Chooralmala and Mundakkai wards of Meppadi panchayat, which bore the brunt of the landslides on July 30 this year.