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On July 30, 2024, Wayanad in Kerala witnessed India’s worst-ever landslide, devastating the villages of Punchirimattam, Chooralmala and Mundakkai. The scale of destruction was unimaginable, with over 231 people confirmed dead, while body parts of 218 others have been recovered. After this massive tragedy, life struggles to return to normal, with many areas abandoned and debris still scattered across a once-thriving landscape.
In Chooralmala, the local post office is one of the few structures still operating. Packages pile up daily, mostly addressed to the missing or deceased. Outside, the police patrol to prevent curious disaster tourists from taking selfies, while another team guards ruined homes against theft.
At 2 am on that fateful night, two massive landslides wiped out an eight-kilometre stretch, leaving behind a trail of destruction. Homes are buried under loose soil and rocks, and survivors have been relocated to shelters or rented homes. Many occasionally return to their damaged properties, hoping to salvage belongings. Still, a civil defence official said chances of finding more survivors are slim, after weeks of rescue operations.
Chooralmala postmaster G Shalini reflected on the stack of undelivered packages to this reporter. “Most of these parcels will never reach their recipients — they are either deceased or still missing,” she said. Shalini and her husband, who also serves as a postmaster in Mundakkai, narrowly escaped the disaster as their home flooded. “We were lucky to survive,” she said.
Scattered across three villages lie remnants of lives interrupted: Kitchen utensils, school bags and furniture lie buried under mud and debris. Mud also covers houses, schools and other buildings, with half-cut pillars, muck reaching the bedrooms, and bikes and four-wheelers buried under slush.
Locals report thefts in the aftermath, with one incident involving the recovery of Rs 4 lakh beneath rubble. To deter such activities, police patrols have been increased and only residents with valid identity cards are permitted to return to their properties.
The government’s incident command centre has become the focal point of recovery, verifying the credentials of locals and issuing duplicate documents like Aadhaar and PAN cards, lost to the disaster. Meanwhile, rescue teams and earthmovers remain on standby as heavy rain continues, raising fears of further landslides.
The landslides have severely damaged agriculture in the region — large areas of cardamom, coffee, pepper, tea, coconut, areca nut and banana plantations have been destroyed, resulting in significant economic losses for the region, according to a senior official in the district administration.
The Kerala State Disaster Management Authority recently confirmed the Wayanad landslide as the largest in India’s recorded history. Research showed the event triggered a debris flow of approximately six million cubic meters — enough to fill 2,400 Olympic-sized swimming pools.
The Wayanad disaster was five times larger than the Malpa landslide in Uttarakhand in 1998, which had previously held the record for the biggest debris flow in the country. It was also three hundred times bigger than the 2020 landslide in Pettimudi, near Munnar, Kerala.
Researchers from the Kerala University and the Kerala University of Fisheries and Ocean Studies, in collaboration with the Indian Institute of Science Education and Research-Mohali, conducted a study using photogrammetry and LiDAR technology. Their findings revealed that the landslide originated upstream of the Punnapuzha River, deep within the forested eastern slopes of the Western Ghats.
“The debris avalanche travelled eight kilometres from the landslide’s crown,” explained lead researcher KS Sajinkumar. “This was no ordinary landslide — it was a rock slide that transformed into a debris flow, blocked by Seethamma Kund before unleashing its force as a deadly avalanche.”
The study found that the disaster displaced rocks the size of vehicles, which had been worn smooth by rivers 250 million years ago. These rocks, exposed by previous landslides, had become vulnerable and the extreme rainfall in Wayanad this season only hastened their destruction.
Landslides usually stop once they reach the surface of the rock. In the case of the Chaliyar river, Adin Ishan from Indian Institutes of Science Education and Research, Mohali discovered that weathered rocks beneath the riverbed, which were orientated against the flow of water, allowed water to seep in and accelerate the weathering process. This led to a significant 185 per cent increase in sediment levels in the river during the incident, indicating the large size of the landslip.
Adding to the tragedy is the revelation that this disaster could have been prevented. The Hume Centre for Ecology and Wildlife Biology in Kalpetta, which operates over 200 meteorological stations in Wayanad, had issued a landslide warning 16 hours before the event. However, it appears the district collector’s office failed to act on the alert.
Activist MT Thomas filed a Right to Information request, questioning whether the office had received the alert. According to Thomas, the centre used data from its local weather monitoring systems to alert district officials to the possibility of landslides in Mundakkai and the surrounding villages 16 hours before the disaster.
The State Public Information Officer of the Disaster Management Wing at Wayanad Collectorate, however, has denied receiving official warnings, though previous alerts from the Hume Centre had led to timely evacuations, saving lives in earlier disasters.
The nearest weather station in Puthumala had recorded over 200 millimetres of rainfall on July 28 and another 130 mm overnight — significant enough to trigger landslides.
On August 29, at 9 am, the Hume Centre issued a landslide alert due to the risk posed by approximately 600 millimetres of rainfall. In total, the region had received 572 millimetres of rain within 48 hours.
While the Wayanad administration claimed to be unaware of the report, they acknowledged that in the past, they have acted on the Hume Centre’s warnings. In 2020, a prompt response to an alert from the centre saved lives in Mundakkai.
CK Vishnudas, the centre’s director, had shared the information with the District Emergency Operating Cell (DEOC), emphasising the urgency of evacuating residents from Mundakkai and two nearby villages. However, the district administration issued its own warning 14 hours later, on the same day as the Hume Centre's alert, but it did not mention the need for evacuation.
Thomas stated that he will file an appeal over the issue.
A month after the disaster, life attempts to move forward. More than 600 students have returned to school, though their classes have been relocated to safer areas. Both the Government Vocational Higher Secondary School in Chooralmala and the Government Lower Primary School in Mundakkai were destroyed and at least 53 children from the two schools died.
Pupils now attend classes in Meppadi, with many receiving new uniforms and study materials to replace what was lost.
For these children, education is a welcome distraction from the trauma. “We won’t talk about the landslides in the classroom,” said headmaster K Unnikrishnan. “Our focus is on helping them adjust.”
Teachers have been trained in counselling techniques and the children are receiving ongoing therapy, according to district educational officer BC Bijesh.
One of the most heartbreaking stories is that of Avanthika Prashob, a student who survived but lost her entire family in the landslides. Her counsellors have advised not to tell her the full extent of her loss just yet, as she continues to recover from her injuries while living with her uncle.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the landslide-hit regions shortly after the disaster and the state government submitted a detailed memorandum for central assistance. However, despite promises, aid has yet to reach the victims.
In the meantime, the state government is pushing forward with plans to build new townships for the displaced families. These will include 1,000 square-foot homes and small plots of land for cultivation. Philanthropists have also offered support, donating land and financial aid.
As Wayanad struggles to rebuild, its residents are left grappling with loss — of loved ones, homes and livelihoods. And while efforts to restore normalcy continue, the scale of the disaster will be felt for years to come.