This is an archive article published on July 31, 2024
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‘Entire families wiped out’ — In Meppadi’s Juma Masjid burial ground, there are no mourners for the dead
The mosque has so far buried 30 bodies. With entire families and even neighbourhoods having fallen to landslides, volunteers standing in to help bury the dead.
Army personnel carry out rescue operation on the second day following landslides triggered by heavy rain at Chooralmala, in Wayanad district. (PTI Photo)
At the hillock burial ground at Juma Masjid in Wayanad’s Meppadi, funeral prayers thasbeeth and thalkeen have been ringing out ceaselessly since Tuesday. Here, around 50 volunteers drawn from various mahallu committees are digging graves, preparing to find a place for the unending stream of dead bodies being brought in by ambulances.
It’s been over 24 hours since massive landslides swept through several villages in the Wayanad, leaving at least 144 dead. Most of the victims at this burial ground — dotted with coffee plants — are from Mundakkai and Chooralmala, where entire families and even neighbourhoods have been wiped off in one fell swoop.
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A mosque too has been buried in Mundakkai. As a result, many of these bodies are being brought to Juma Masjid in Meppadi.
According to Juma Masjid Committee Vice-President Musthafa Moulavi, 30 bodies have been buried already and volunteers are digging 50 more graves. Three or four graves are prepared in a single pit for the burial of the families.
Volunteers are also standing in to bury those with no family or relatives left.
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“We have taken the initiative. Some of the victims are entire families. Bodies are brought oneafter another after being identified and completing all legal formalities. Sometimes, there would be only a distant relative to stand near a grave,” he says, just as an announcement behind him alerts volunteers of the arrival of another body.
Manaf, one such volunteer, talks about the people left with no mourners. “We don’t want to leave these people as orphans and so we’re taking up the roles of the relatives in their final journey,” he said. “Many of them, who were neighbours, have their final resting place next to each other.”
Army personnel carry out rescue operation on the second day following landslides triggered by heavy rain at Chooralmala, in Wayanad district. (PTI Photo) 
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