Efforts on to remove landslide debris in Tamil Nadu

The Tamil Nadu authorities are working to remove the boulder weighing 40 tonnes from Tiruvannamalai, where a landslide in December last year killed a family of seven, including three children, officials familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, adding that 20 families were evacuated from the area after the incident.

“A team from Trichy (district) of about 10 personnel are working to demolish the boulder to remove it,” said an official. “This work will go on for three days.”

Due to cyclone Fengal, two landslides hit Tiruvannamalai on December 1 and 2 last year. On January 21, families, who were evacuated, protested against the government’s plan to relocate families saying that it affected their livelihood. After the landslide, displaced families were accommodated in government schools and community halls and later the district administration moved houses in the town by the district administration.

On January 20, minister for public works EV Velu handed over keys of metal roofed temporary houses to the 20 families. Revenue officials have identified 1,535 houses to be relocated from the landslide area, the official quoted above said. Tiruvannamalai district collector D Bhaskara Pandian and superintendent of police M Sudhakar did not respond to calls from HT on the issue.

Cyclone Fengal, which made landfall last November 30 in Tamil Nadu brought unprecedented rainfall to Tiruvannamalai that morning. Around 4.30 pm on December 1, there was a landslide in the Annamalaiyar hillock. A second landslide hit Tiruvannamalai the next afternoon even as rescue operations were ongoing in the region to recover a family of seven (including three children) who were trapped inside their house when a first landslide hit. All of them were later found dead.

At the time, rescue efforts with more than a 100 personnel across multiple departments had been ongoing for close to 48 hours with The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) joined the rescue operations using hydraulic lifts. The rescue operations took several hours since there were boulders, large stones, and debris which they attempted to move with excavators.