© The Indian Express Pvt Ltd
Tags:
Journalism of Courage
At least 30 people died, including 14 in a single landslide incident, in Mizoram as Cyclone Remal wreaked havoc in the northeastern states of Mizoram, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Nagaland on Tuesday. The storm also disrupted road connectivity and power supply in several areas.
As of 7 pm on Tuesday, 24 bodies had been recovered and another 12 people were believed to be dead, their bodies yet to be found, in seven different incidents in Mizoram’s Aizawl district.
The most devastating was a landslide in a stone quarry between Aizawl district’s Melthum and Hlimen areas in the early hours of Tuesday. A government source said at least 14 bodies, including those of three children, were recovered from the quarry while another seven were still missing.
The Mizoram government sanctioned Rs 15 crore for relief work and announced Rs 4 lakh ex gratia for the next of kin of each deceased.
According to district officials, multiple landslides across the Aizalwl district were reported throughout the day. “Because of the impact on network connectivity, information gathering has been challenging,” said Mizoram Chief Minister Lalduhoma.
Mizoram has seen the highest toll in the storm among the northeastern states. The state government announced the closure of all schools, banks, financial institutions, public sector undertakings and government offices, except those rendering essential services on Tuesday, because of the inclement weather. This closure will extend to Wednesday as well.
In Assam, at least four people died in four different incidents. A teenager, Kaushik Bordoloi Amphi, died in Morigaon when a tree fell on an autorickshaw he was travelling in. Putul Gogoi, 50, a worker in NHPC’s Lower Subansiri Dam project in Gerukamukh died in a landslide at the site of the project, 19-year Mintu Talukdar died after a tree fell on his family’s house in Guwahati and another person died in Kamrup district. At least 12 children were injured when a tree fell on their school bus in Dhekiajuli in Kamrup.
The cyclone also took a massive toll on Assam’s infrastructure. Road connectivity in the hill district of Dima Hasao was disrupted at several points, with a portion of the Haflong-Silchar road being completely washed away by the storm. Power supply in parts of the state, including Guwahati, was disrupted for over 17 hours.
Landslides and uprooting of trees were reported in Manipur, Nagaland and Meghalaya as well. One person each was reported dead in wall collapse incidents in Nagaland and Meghalaya. Many vehicles in Manipur were stranded because of landslides along NH 37 and 150, and the water level of all rivers running through Imphal city were at ‘danger level’ on Tuesday.
Several states have issued precautionary warnings for Wednesday as well. Schools across Mizoram, Manipur, and nine districts of Assam will remain closed on Wednesday.
A large part of the destruction in these states have been due to landslides. According to a geologist based in Guwahati, the nature of rocks and the climatic conditions make this region exceptionally susceptible to landslides.
“The rocks here are not one single mass, there are fractures which we call joints. As water percolates down along these joints, the rock gets weathered to soil. Once this happens, the rocks form independent blocks. Because of the climatic conditions here and high rainfall, the weathering is very high and a thick layer of soil forms over the rock. When there is heavy rainfall, the muddy material between the big boulders lose their cohesive strength, act as liquid and the bigger blocks also slide down with the water. The present condition is that people don’t know what type of discontinuity is lying beneath their houses,” he said.
