When the rarest of the rare weather factors came together to cause the flood of the century, we also witnessed a great society of people who stood together vigilantly to defend a disaster which could have made huge human casualty. Kerala as a society showed the strength it acquired over years through the state's educational and social aspects. People became well aware of the situation from the messages and news telecasts. They coordinated well within themselves and with the Government to fight it out. A technologically well aware young generation showed how handy they can be to the elders and for the forces who were on the field fighting the nature face to face.
Kerala's current CM, Mr. Pinarai Vijayan depicted the true meaning of Leadership. He did an efficient disaster management, taking the right decisions in right times. He tackled the disaster with rock-solid confidence and proactiveness. He rose to the expectations and became the man of the moment everyone was looking to when they needed a leader to coordinate the efforts and fight it from the front.
The armed/air force commanders themselves praised the crystal clear instructions from CMs office which made their rescue and relief operations, easier, focussed and efficient.
Each and every press conference CM did was right to the points people looking for and his body language showed his maturity in handling a crisis situation like this which many of the politicians never had to.
Even though there were some delays seen from central govt in releasing requested rescue forces at initial stages, the CM never complained about anything to the public and always gave confidence saying "We shall Overcome this using all practical available methods".
All the facts and figures of rescue operations were communicated to public daily by the CM himself through press conferences.
Current CM has a bad image when it comes to friendliness with the press. Ironically he is now among the ones who have done a relatively higher number of press meets. He kept meeting the media as it was very important to keep the people informed in time, by the very responsible person himself. Along with updating the facts, it was also so important to guard the public against many hoaxes kept on spreading in social media by anti-social elements.
Not just the CM but the entire government machinery were working even on Sundays to address the needs of people in distress. Most of the officials weren't in the limelight but they were very much working in the backend to control and coordinate the rescue and relief efforts. Most of the ministers and MLAs were with their people, leading the rescue operations in their locality from ground level. Yes but there were few exceptions also 😊
The Finance Minister, Mr. Issac was responsible for managing the people on the public end, whereas the collector took care of coordinating the other end, to mobilize needed forces and boats. Fishermen the rescue heroes got majorly deployed and they evacuated more than 16k victims in a day. All possible fishermen boats, barges, houseboats etc got deployed for the mass rescue mission. It was a mission looked impossible to many officials during the planning phase, but successfully completed.
Boats of private resort owners who were reluctant to provide them for the mission got captured and deployed into rescue missions by the government. People got transferred in Torres lorries to relief camps in Changanacherry area. In 2 days, more than 95 percent, ie more than 2 lakh of the population got evacuated.
The mission didn't come to an end with just human rescue, but the domestic animals were also in consideration. The Minister and Collector made arrangements to rescue domestic animals of Kuttanadu also to safe zones in following days.
Lot more Payment Options, you can find in https://donation.cmdrf.kerala.gov.in/
Kerala Floods 2018 -Rescue Efforts
People of Kerala united against a common enemy of the state - the Floods. Kerala saw its people standing together for humanity, irrespective of anything, be it the difference in caste, color or politics. Only a few rescue operations happened for publicity with political banners and uniforms. Apart from that everyone stood up to the occasion like all for one, one for all, be it the rescue operations, or the relief activities, it was just humans helping each other selflessly and surviving one of the biggest disasters happened yet in South India.
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| Risking own life for saving a boat full of people.
People in distress saw many like these volunteers, primarily the fishermen who saved them from the face of death.
It was all about the willingness to extend your hands to help your fellow beings without a second thought on own life and belongings. Keralites showed they care for their fellow beings a lot without looking into their religion or caste at the time of distress.
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Even though it was a bad time, the Soul of Kerala became visible to the world, and now the world knows why it is being called the 'God's Own Country'. It's not only about the natural beauty of this land, but also is about the People and culture here which is not divided based on Religion or caste.
Many risked own life and property to save others. People of Kerala literally were becoming the countrymen suiting to a placed renowned as, The God's own Country. Floods showed you don't need to go to Temples or Churches to see God, but God is very much within yourself and people around.
Many risked own life and property to save others. People of Kerala literally were becoming the countrymen suiting to a placed renowned as, The God's own Country. Floods showed you don't need to go to Temples or Churches to see God, but God is very much within yourself and people around.
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| Kerala CM and The opposition Leader going together to visit the Flood affected areas. A good gesture in democracy, to stay together for people irrespective of Politics when it matters the most. |
The armed/air force commanders themselves praised the crystal clear instructions from CMs office which made their rescue and relief operations, easier, focussed and efficient.
Each and every press conference CM did was right to the points people looking for and his body language showed his maturity in handling a crisis situation like this which many of the politicians never had to.
Even though there were some delays seen from central govt in releasing requested rescue forces at initial stages, the CM never complained about anything to the public and always gave confidence saying "We shall Overcome this using all practical available methods".
All the facts and figures of rescue operations were communicated to public daily by the CM himself through press conferences.
Current CM has a bad image when it comes to friendliness with the press. Ironically he is now among the ones who have done a relatively higher number of press meets. He kept meeting the media as it was very important to keep the people informed in time, by the very responsible person himself. Along with updating the facts, it was also so important to guard the public against many hoaxes kept on spreading in social media by anti-social elements.
Not just the CM but the entire government machinery were working even on Sundays to address the needs of people in distress. Most of the officials weren't in the limelight but they were very much working in the backend to control and coordinate the rescue and relief efforts. Most of the ministers and MLAs were with their people, leading the rescue operations in their locality from ground level. Yes but there were few exceptions also 😊
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The minister With his people.
Kerala's Finance Minister Mr. Thomas Issac in between an Evacuation Mission in Kuttanadu. Rescue mission named operation Kuttanadu, a mammoth task to evacuate 2 lakh people in 2 days as the water levels started raising alarmingly in Kuttanadu for the second time in this monsoon season. This mission was planned overnight in a highly confidential way to avoid panic among the public. No prior info was given to the media. |
Operation Kuttanadu
It was on August 16th night Operation Kuttanadu took birth in a discussion between the Minister and Alleppy district collector Mr, Krishna Teja. Evacuating the people from Kuttanad became a priority as the water levels started rising again due to flooding in Pamba. By morning 3 am plans were discussed, finalized and put into place along with respective officials. By 5:30 the Operation got commenced. Mass deployment of NDRF, Fishermen, Army and the Navy has been done. |
| UNICEF India team visiting flood-hit Kerala, With Aleppy District Collector Krishna Teja. |
Boats of private resort owners who were reluctant to provide them for the mission got captured and deployed into rescue missions by the government. People got transferred in Torres lorries to relief camps in Changanacherry area. In 2 days, more than 95 percent, ie more than 2 lakh of the population got evacuated.
The mission didn't come to an end with just human rescue, but the domestic animals were also in consideration. The Minister and Collector made arrangements to rescue domestic animals of Kuttanadu also to safe zones in following days.
Selfless Heroes Kerala Saw in Rescue Front
A fact in the case of any calamity or accident is that the first rescue effort will be always done by the person next to you, in your family or friends, your neighbor, or your villagers. There were some studies conducted and the state government had action plans to train peoples in each locality to assist the needy in case of any natural calamities, but these efforts are not yet matured or much progressed. These preventive plans have to be rejuvenated as it looks like nature is resisting back on Humans and these kinds of disasters can keep on coming frequently from now on.
In case of the current floods happened in Kerala, the help was not just from the professionally trained forces, but everyone volunteered and the whole system worked together day and night to assist the people caught up in danger. Still, we have to be grateful to our forces who were on the rescue front with us.
The Police Force of Kerala
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Kerala's Police Force
They were never in Limelight, But they were the first to be on the field along with Kerala's Fireforce. If you are looking into the Evacuation Figures, Kerala Police evacuated the highest amount of people, more than 1.5 lakh people from areas of threat. Many casualties got averted by measures taken by our police force to evacuate people from landslip prone areas or from areas of the flood threat. The officer you can see in the picture is on Duty on his Birth Day itself. Duty before Personal Priorities!. Forgot his name though. There were many like him who worked shoulder to shoulder with other rescue forces. |
You may never have noticed many policemen working in the field, they often were not in the uniforms. But each and every other force on the rescue front got guidance from the Police force. They were even part of rescue teams in many boats of the army, fishermen and the NDRF to guide them through the flooded localities. They knew in their locality well to guide people in other forces or fishermen's teams who were new to those localities.
The Kerala Fireforce
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Kerala Fireforce in Rescue Mission - Trying their best to save a Kid trapped in a caved house in a landslide.
But still, there are things which are not in human hands. They tried their best ðŸ˜
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The states fire force is the local immediate advanced disaster support whenever the police can't resolve a situation. During initial stages of the floods and landslide events, Kerala state fire force men have given an immediate response but in a matter of time landslides, landslips, trees uprooting etc became widespread and the entire state's fire force units got engaged in rescue efforts.
Police and Fireforce were the primary aid who rushed to the disaster-hit areas. In many areas of Idukki and Wayanad, rescue efforts by these state-owned forces were relentlessly going on even after the days with red alerts but not covered in media, as these places were in isolated conditions even for the media persons to reach.
Govt mobilized nearly 60 boats and its crew for the rescue operations. They got divided into teams and was sent to worst affected places in Chengannur, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts.
At first, they struggled with the kind of currents in the rivers as they used single engined boats, which they swiftly resolved by using double engines to fight with the river currents. Stories of rescue by Fishermen are many, only a few are told now. The bigger boats they used enabled them to navigate through violent currents and evacuate a huge number of people which the Army's or NDRFs aerated boats couldn't.
At some places, Fishermen went down and carried their boats through shallow water to access some hostels in which numerous kids were trapped. Some houses which were near to the river banks were in extreme danger zones. Other forces were skipping them due to risk factor but fishermen folks evaded through the bushes, clearing the bushes and in places where boundary walls restricted accessing some houses, they had to kick break the walls with bare legs before guiding the boats in.
These men had to swim with reptiles, wade through knee-deep mud etc in many areas to help the stranded people to board their boats. There were cases of boats capsizing due to violent river features and few of the fishermen got seriously injured.
The extent to which these men have gone in rescue operations, sometimes won't be done by our trained forces who are taught to calculate the risks before acting. These fishermen people were instead guided by their heart to help their brothers in distress. The rescue stories, only a few are told till now and a lot remains untold. But the victims owe their life to them because these people pulled out people from places which were highly inaccessible and dangerous, the places which were skipped by many due to the risk factors.
Keralites working in IT and related industries teamed up from different parts of the world to bring up numerous web portals to coordinate rescue efforts and relief material distributions. From Design to Go live happened in less than 24 hours for many of these portals. https://keralarescue.in/ is one of that.
Engineers from Kerala's IT cell and IEEE came together to launch keralarescue.in, through which most of the activities were coordinated officially. Malayali Engineers working in Google, Uber, Microsoft etc all joined up and in a few days engineers volunteering for development went over 1500 in the count.
Many call centers to support and coordinate rescue operations got set up across Bangalore, Chennai alike metro cities by residing Keralites working in IT and related fields. Many software firms in these cities gave resources and time to support the rescue missions.
Some Links about how technology helped in Keala floods:-
https://www.livemint.com/Politics/AUvFRB90u4AlCpFn2rpQEO/How-techies-from-Kerala-in-India-and-abroad-rushed-to-resc.html
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/kerala-flood-10-ways-google-facebook-twitter-and-other-tech-companies-are-helping-rescue-operations-1318988-2018-08-20
Police and Fireforce were the primary aid who rushed to the disaster-hit areas. In many areas of Idukki and Wayanad, rescue efforts by these state-owned forces were relentlessly going on even after the days with red alerts but not covered in media, as these places were in isolated conditions even for the media persons to reach.
The Volunteers with Fishermen
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Volunteers were everywhere, the villagers who took up the mission of rescuing by teaming up with fishermen or even alone. The rescue missions became swift and effective as all the official and nonofficial forces combined up helping each other for saving lives.
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The Fishermen of Kerala
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Fishermen were the most effective and practical force for flood rescue operations in Kerala. Without these people, Kerala would have witnessed a huge number of casualties. Mobilizing the fishermen as part of rescue forces turned out to be the right decision at the right moment by the Govt.
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One of the Major floods happened recently before Kerala floods in South India was the Chennai Floods. The NDRF and other forces who did rescue efforts that time in Chennai found it very difficult to do the same in Kerala!!. In Chennai, they were easily cruising through still water and doing the rescue, but in Kerala, it was the rivers the rescue team had to fight with, which was flowing vast and wide through the villages and towns.
Undercurrents, whirlpools etc were in plenty and the Army's and NDRF's aerated dinghy boats were often seen unequipped to fight with the kind of currents Kerala's rivers had. Many of the remote places in Chengannur, Paravoor etc thus became inaccessible to these rescue forces.
Malanadu, Idanadu, and Theeram ; means the Hills, the Plains, and coastal area; this specific topography of Kerala made the river currents violent and treacherous in its short course towards the Sea from the Western Ghat mountains.
Boat rescues were tried in places where airlift was not viable or impossible due to obstructions. The situation in Chengannur became worse in one night, overnight the river started flowing through the main town area itself, even the main Bridges went under water. This was the time the Govt had to take the help of Fishermen, who often face and survive extreme situations in the sea.
Undercurrents, whirlpools etc were in plenty and the Army's and NDRF's aerated dinghy boats were often seen unequipped to fight with the kind of currents Kerala's rivers had. Many of the remote places in Chengannur, Paravoor etc thus became inaccessible to these rescue forces.
Malanadu, Idanadu, and Theeram ; means the Hills, the Plains, and coastal area; this specific topography of Kerala made the river currents violent and treacherous in its short course towards the Sea from the Western Ghat mountains.
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| Fishermen rescuing flood victims from Town areas of Kerala. The currents were so harsh that they had to often struggle hard to pull the boats to safety. |
Govt mobilized nearly 60 boats and its crew for the rescue operations. They got divided into teams and was sent to worst affected places in Chengannur, Ernakulam and Thrissur districts.
At first, they struggled with the kind of currents in the rivers as they used single engined boats, which they swiftly resolved by using double engines to fight with the river currents. Stories of rescue by Fishermen are many, only a few are told now. The bigger boats they used enabled them to navigate through violent currents and evacuate a huge number of people which the Army's or NDRFs aerated boats couldn't.
At some places, Fishermen went down and carried their boats through shallow water to access some hostels in which numerous kids were trapped. Some houses which were near to the river banks were in extreme danger zones. Other forces were skipping them due to risk factor but fishermen folks evaded through the bushes, clearing the bushes and in places where boundary walls restricted accessing some houses, they had to kick break the walls with bare legs before guiding the boats in.
These men had to swim with reptiles, wade through knee-deep mud etc in many areas to help the stranded people to board their boats. There were cases of boats capsizing due to violent river features and few of the fishermen got seriously injured.
The extent to which these men have gone in rescue operations, sometimes won't be done by our trained forces who are taught to calculate the risks before acting. These fishermen people were instead guided by their heart to help their brothers in distress. The rescue stories, only a few are told till now and a lot remains untold. But the victims owe their life to them because these people pulled out people from places which were highly inaccessible and dangerous, the places which were skipped by many due to the risk factors.
The Army
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| Rebuilding Connectivity- The Army In Kerala Floods Rescue Operations |
Indian Army with 1000 soldiers launched an operation named Sahayog, which was mainly concentrating in rescue missions and also reconnecting accessibility which was lost between places, as the floods washed away the bridges and roads. Indian Army built around 15 temporary bridges all around the state. Army was also part of rescue missions and interestingly many of the Army men who came on leave in Kerala joined teams voluntarily and became part of rescue operations mostly in Chengannur area.
Operation Sahayog rescued more than 3600 people in which around 22 were Foreign nationals.
The Indian Air Force and Indian Navy
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| Indian Airforce Mobilizing flood relief materials. Airforce Mission Karuna carried out widespread rescue and relief operations. |
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All the airlifted victims are taken to the Navy/Airforce basecamps in Ernakulam and further moved to states flood relief camps.
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| Lifted to Safety- The airlifted Mother delivered her baby safely later in hospital
Perhaps this is one of the most satisfying rescue operations did by the Naval officers. The mother was leaking fluid when she was airlifted by Commander Vijay Varma. She gave birth to her baby in 2 hours at the Naval hospital.
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Airlift operations did by Naval and Airforce commanders often showcased exemplary courage and skillset they had. Captain P Rajkumar hovered his Sea king 528 between the trees and rescued 26 people in a single sortie. The same man resued four people during cyclone Ockhi taking his helicopter into the storm. He got awarded Shauryachakra by the Govt considering these rescue missions.
In another operation, Shauryachakra Captain Rajkumar even landed his Sea king on a house rooftop to rescue a handicapped person.
With the help of 58 teams in Operation Madad Indian Navy rescued nearly 3000 People. This is one of the biggest rescue operations in Indian Navy's history as of now.
Apart from rescue operations, the Indian Navy had community kitchens and medical camps running in many places to help the flood victims.
The NDRF
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| Taking a Kid to the hospital just before the Bridge submerged
Kannaya Kumar the one from NDRF teams saved that child's life.The incident happened in Idukky and the photo was taken just before the bridge got submerged in water as the Cheruthoni Dam's 5th shutter also got opened.
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NDRF team were the first force from Central Govt to get deployed once the calamity started. They had activities for a longer period in the state, and up to 39 teams of NDRF got deployed for Kerala flood rescue operations. NDRF teams have rescued around 24600 victims.
The Forest Department
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| Ranni forest division deployed all its basket boats for flood rescue.
In the Adavi eco-tourism center, there are Basket boat rides available; these boats and the boatmen works with the tourism and forest department there.
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Forest department has done extensive rescue efforts in Ranni forest division's Tribal area. Many isolated people due to landslides got rescued by this force. All these forces have taken part to great extent in the post-flood activities like the mission Govt launched to clean all the flood-affected areas.
The Press - Photojournalists.
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People of the press should never be forgotten. They have taken risks beyond imagination to document things so that this story can be told to the outside world and the coming generations. Its Albin Mathew the Photojournalist covering the floods, and with him there seems a companion who took his photo who is not in the scene. There are many who were in the field to cover the situations taking a lot of risks.
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Khalsa Aid, Anbodu Kochi and many more.The community Kitchens and Relief material collection/distribution centers.
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Khalsa Aid, they were feeding more than 13k people twice daily during the peak time of floods. And they were relentlessly helping people with food, relief materials and cleaning missions. And they are very much around even after the mid of September
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Another bigger name to mention is Anbodu Kochi, the FB group which was formed during Chennai floods and has grown to a bigger and better relief organization. They have distributed more than 500 tonnes of relief materials in a span of around 1 week. Recently this team was collecting and sending relief materials for Gaja cyclone victims in Tamilnadu.
There were many small and medium kitchens setup like the Indian Navy's kitchen which used to send bulk amount of cooked food as per orders they used to get from the volunteers in relief camps. Many schools and colleges turned out to be relief camps run by students. One of the biggest was UC college campus in Aluva which witnessed nearly 5k refugees at the peak of floods.
Kerala witnessed its younger generation showing so much of care and responsibility to the society in distress and need. Many of the university hostels turned to refugee camps. In spite of going home for the Onam holidays students preferred to stay back and run the camps. Many hostellers who left early for the vacations returned back to volunteer. In short, it was a disaster in which the younger generation of Kerala proved its mettle along with the elders, which is giving a lot of hope to this state's future.
The Cyber wing that co-ordinated the efforts
When a usual monsoon rain turned out to be not that usual in a span of days, Kerala met the greatest of floods it ever faced. To handle this kind of situation it needed highly efficient efforts to control and coordinate the rescue as well as relief activities. Here came the cyber literacy of Keralites in help.Keralites working in IT and related industries teamed up from different parts of the world to bring up numerous web portals to coordinate rescue efforts and relief material distributions. From Design to Go live happened in less than 24 hours for many of these portals. https://keralarescue.in/ is one of that.
Engineers from Kerala's IT cell and IEEE came together to launch keralarescue.in, through which most of the activities were coordinated officially. Malayali Engineers working in Google, Uber, Microsoft etc all joined up and in a few days engineers volunteering for development went over 1500 in the count.
Many call centers to support and coordinate rescue operations got set up across Bangalore, Chennai alike metro cities by residing Keralites working in IT and related fields. Many software firms in these cities gave resources and time to support the rescue missions.
Some Links about how technology helped in Keala floods:-
https://www.livemint.com/Politics/AUvFRB90u4AlCpFn2rpQEO/How-techies-from-Kerala-in-India-and-abroad-rushed-to-resc.html
https://www.indiatoday.in/technology/news/story/kerala-flood-10-ways-google-facebook-twitter-and-other-tech-companies-are-helping-rescue-operations-1318988-2018-08-20
Religious tolerance and secular nature of Kerala's society.
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When a church Shrine got flooded the neighboring Hindu family took Virgin Mary's painting to their own Puja room with Hindu Gods. The common nature of people here is to think beyond caste and religion which helped them a lot in standing together and fighting the natural disaster. Higher literacy levels also count.
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Floods a video Feature from Manorama, the Malayalam Daily
Please consider Donating to the CM's relief fund:
ACCOUNT DETAILS
A/c Number : 67319948232
A/c Name: Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund
Branch: City Branch, Thiruvananthapuram
IFSC : SBIN0070028 | SWIFT CODE : SBININBBT08
Account Type: Savings | PAN: AAAGD0584M
A/c Number : 67319948232
A/c Name: Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund
Branch: City Branch, Thiruvananthapuram
IFSC : SBIN0070028 | SWIFT CODE : SBININBBT08
Account Type: Savings | PAN: AAAGD0584M
UPI:keralacmdrf@sbi
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