The century’s worst flood in Kerala has created mayhem across the state. Weeks of incessant rain has caused many landslides, swamped away many villages, towns, cities while taking away more than 400 lives and making millions homeless.
Kerala now tips the scales from this nightmare. Rescue operations are almost over. At present, the government’s focus is to rebuild and rehabilitate the people who have lost their houses in the flood.
More than 10.40 lakh people are still sheltered in the relief camps across the state and nearly 5 lakh people have left for their homes.
Labour management in absence of workforce
More than three million migrant labourers were working in Kerala. As the water has started receding, thousands of them who were working and staying in the flood-affected districts especially in Ernakulam, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Palghat have already left Kerala for their respective states of Assam, West Bengal, etc.
Post-flood operations such as cleaning, repairing of buildings and households is a giant task for the state. Minister for Labour T P Ramakrishna told Newskarnataka that the available local workforce and migrant labourers were supporting these activities, also people from all walks of life were engaged in the voluntary service.
On being asked if the state had received any labour management help from other states, he said that so far Kerala had not received any labour help from any state, but there were plans afoot to have a labour management assessment programme in consultation with the officials of the labour department.
He added that the electricians, plumbers and carpenters were of urgent need in the present scenario. In order to meet the requirements, more than 3000 trainees and instructors are deployed on the field, he said.
Health and epidemics
As the flood water has started receding, it is leaving behind litters that are slithered everywhere along with the rainstorm. Cleaning the flood-affected region is a topmost mission for the state. Policemen, squads, volunteers are consistently decontaminating almost all the places that are vulnerable to cause any disease. They are working diligently to clean the city roads, buildings, old houses using high-pressure water pumps, gloves, boots, etc., also managing waste disposal at the burial grounds in order to prevent epidemics.
Volunteers and doctors in the relief camps are very cautious about any case of infection and are immediately isolating the patients to safer places.
Speaking to Newskarnataka, K K Shailaja, Minister for Health said that many private and taluk hospitals had been ruined entirely by the flood water. “We need to restore and rebuild them completely, which will take five to six months. However, temporary hospitals will start functioning in some time”, she explained.
She added that several precautionary directions had been issued in the relief camps. Also, call centres and control rooms have been set up for further medical assistance and emergency needs, she said.
So far, Kerala has received medical help from Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra. Besides, the state’s corporation has profusely stored life-saving medicines worth of Rs 40 Lakh.
Breakdown in tourism industry
The devastating floods have taken a toll on Kerala tourism, which contributes 10 percent to state’s GDP.
The surge in Periyar river and its tributaries have immersed many districts such as Ernakulam, Alappuzha, Thrissur, Pathanamthitta, Idduki, Wayanad, etc., which are among the top tourist destinations in Kerala.
“We are expecting a huge setback in the tourism industry in the coming quarter, though statistically, we can’t figure out an exact loss right now. But, certainly we are expecting a negative growth this year,” says P Bala Kiran, Director, Department of Tourism.
He adds that they are hopeful of the domestic as well as international tourism ratio reviving in the next year.
After the flood, the booking cancellations in hotels and resorts have increased, said Bala Kiran suggesting that tourists should wait for a month and should get updated regarding the advisories issued by the government before cancelling their bookings.
He informed that the receding floodwaters have left hoards of mud in several hotels and resorts. They are already removing silt and fixing the electrical and plumbing issues.
“By now, we have started cleaning several tourist spots and in the coming months, the state would be able to serve tourists through the road, rail and air connectivities. Besides, Cochin International Airport (CIA) will resume its operations on August 29”, he said.
Agriculture takes a steep dip
Kerala has been a consumer state for years. The recent deluge has simply created a sea of troubles that would not only impact its food security, but also a huge loss is looming large!
The badly affected crops are paddy, rice; spices such as pepper, cardamom, and nutmeg. Several banana and coconut farms have been washed away.
Several warehouses stocking the pulses and grains have been ruined completely. The current estimated loss is of Rs 1200 Crore, which in course time is expected to increase to about Rs 2000 Crore.
Speaking to Newskarnataka, V S Sunil Kumar, Minister for Agriculture, said that nearly 45,000 hectares of paddy crop was safe and not much affected by the flood water in Kuttanad and Palakkad regions.
“We are planning to provide a free loan to farmers for one year until their next crop season. We will distribute free seeds to farmers and also provide them free agricultural help. We have planned to offer Rs 35,000 compensation per hectare to paddy farmers. While spices such as cardamom, pepper, etc., come under the central government, we have requested it to give a sigh of relief to those farmers as well. We are waiting for its response”, he said.
