[Rajeevraj]

Special thanks to the anonymous fan for sharing these pictures and report. It was a terrible time and a million thanks to you and everyone else involved for the unprecedented rescue effort put in.

[dhanushs]

My team was one of the few coordinating and doing the groundwork of rescue and recovery operations from August 12th till about 2 weeks in Wayanad. This is the ONE TIME where our 4x4's were put to good use, than just a lifestyle vehicle. I'm really glad to have been part of it.

Wayanad was one of the first places to be affected and also, IMO, one of the luckiest to get good help. My team was lucky enough to work hand in hand with armed forces, and its something else to witness them work.

If I were to be very honest, the idea of going to an isolated area due to landslide or flood was supposed to be adventurous and somewhat fun. However, turns out its not that much fun, and you have to be very serious organised about it. Otherwise, its a waste of precious resources, including fuel, which was very scarce at that time. The most important part, is everywhere else, its a controlled environment, but, here you are 100% in uncharted territory. You don't know how the ground behaves, you don't know how deep the water is and many more unknowns. The most important part is to finish doing what you started off with.

Also, after the first 3-4 days, getting up early in the morning, starting your rattly jeep, collecting materials and delivering them to far off inaccessible places, coming back late at night and doing this every single day is just backbreaking and extremely tiring. Especially considering there are literally no roads and its a Jeep you are in.

For armed forces, this is a daily job, albeit with much more equipment, but still, its a day job! Thanks a ton to all the armed forces who were there for the help.

Some photos.























Attachment 1801952

Look at the state of some of the houses. The worst part is some of them have lost their whole land, not only the houses. So, even rebuilding is not possible. Hope the government sees to it.



Towards the end, we worked with Forest officials inside the forest. Unlike armed forces, they have very little equipment.



End of the day, its worth the effort when the Forest Ranger wants to take a selfie with you.

[arjithin]

One special mention goes to the huge Tipper trucks. They were of huge help in transporting people and material along water logged broken roads just like the 4x4 drive vehicles mentioned above.

[MaxTorque]

Thank you for the anonymous fan for reviving those memories.

Everyone played their bit well and it is a classic example of how tragedy can unite people.

I think we need to give a special applause to you a bunch of young civil services officers who monitored the rescue operations, college going students for putting their best efforts in all possible ways, IT techies who turned regular WhatsApp and Facebook into rescue co-ordination rooms.

[Dennis]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

My team was one of the few coordinating and doing the groundwork of rescue and recovery operations from August 12th till about 2 weeks in Wayanad. This is the ONE TIME where our 4x4's were put to good use, than just a lifestyle vehicle. I'm really glad to have been part of it.

I think now would be a good time to petition the relevant authorities to allow for a special category in RTO for such vehicle modifications. With the goodwill and rapport made during this experience I think this can be taken forward with necessary safeguards to prevent misuse.

This disaster shows that we cannot always depend on Government or Executive process to reach all and end of the day citizen's participation in the rescue process and cooperation prevented a larger tragedy.

[T-Bone]

I wish to also mention that, post the flood's there were many who formed groups and went house to house to help in cleaning and reorganizing/putting things back in place.

My sister in laws house was full of slush and debris. A team of youth's came and helped with cleaning/washing the floors and also helping in arranging stuffs inside the house. They just went from house to house, one after another.

And there was another team, who did the same but got food materials and went on distributing from house to house.

NONE of them went by any name or party or organization or they didn't want to, what ever the case, thanks to one and all who lent a helping hand.

God Bless one and all.

[nainan]

It was a disaster of humungous proportions. Thanks to the anonymous poster and all the other ever dependable braves of the armed forces. Thanks to the local administration. Thanks to our rockstar fisherfolk and daredevil drivers. Thanks to all volunteers who teamed up. Thanks to the folks who put up the co-ordination centres, wrote the apps, launched the websites and answered calls. Thanks for those who helped getting life back to normal. In the time of adversity you brought hope and succor to many.

[coolmind]

Thanks to Anonymous guy and Mr. Aditya for bringing in this blog.
May God give enough strength to regain their life and happiness to the green state.

[sdg4wheels]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

My team was one of the few coordinating and doing the groundwork of rescue and recovery operations from August 12th till about 2 weeks in Wayanad. This is the ONE TIME where our 4x4's were put to good use, than just a lifestyle vehicle. I'm really glad to have been part of it.

The statement says it all SALUTE to all of you who helped KERALA stand back on its feet. Two of my colleagues are from Wayanad and I came to know the level of devastation from them. Somehow everyone was ok with the help that they received. What exactly was the situation of the animals and wildlife after the floods had hit. Backwaters of Kerala was famous for crocodiles and different other aquatic life. Did you get any information from the Forest Ranger?

[Avenger_123]

Great effort, I do believe a country like India needs more helicopters. Whether it is air ambulance or pararepublic/ search and rescue missions. I work for one of the top helicopter manufacturers . In US and even countries in Africa there is a huge sales happening for these missions.

In India we mostly have VIP transport. I believe with a huge population and growing purchasing power, government needs to tweak regulations to help these missions and grow market to help general population.

Every state should have at least 1 helicopters for transportation and emergency needs. Hopefully sometime in future.

[ARAY]

These are by far the most detailed images I have seen of the devastation.
Words cannot express how thankful this nation is to you " anonymous fan".
Things are settling down slowly but steadily in that part of the country.
And ofcourse thanks a lot Aditya for sharing.

[dhanushmenon]

Originally Posted by dhanushs

My team was one of the few coordinating and doing the groundwork of rescue and recovery operations from August 12th till about 2 weeks in Wayanad. [/ATTACH]

Wonderful effort there dhanushs. Really proud of the deeds by you and people like you; of selfless voluntary help.

Originally Posted by Avenger_123

Great effort, I do believe a country like India needs more helicopters.... Every state should have at least 1 helicopters for transportation and emergency needs. Hopefully sometime in future.

I guess every state has a helicopter atleast. Maybe not dedicated only for emergency needs, but still, yes there are helicopters. There are few associated problems with maintaining these helicopters. A few pertinent questions:
1. Who will pay the pilots?
2. Who will pay maintenance?
3. Who will pay for parking charges?
4. If there is a donor for all the above, he will need to have sufficient returns from his investment of maintaining this costly machine. I don't think that will be sustainable.

So, the other option is to have helicopters operated by civil administration, police etc for these purposes. That option, even now, is available through the helicopters of defence forces. The services of defence helicopters are readily provided to civil administration if requested. (Not for election duties).

In the past too, helicopters of defence forces were extensively utilised for all calamities. Be it Uttarakhand, Kashmir, Orissa or anywhere. To cite two examples from Kerala itself,
I) When cyclone Ockhi struck the coast of South Kerala, Naval helicopters from Kochi were extensively pressed into service. Operating from Trivandrum, these helicopters rescued many fishermen from the sea. Also, Airforce helicopters flew in from Sulur for missions.
II) During a forest fire near Munnar when thirteen trekkers were stuck atop a hill, it was Airforce Sarang helicopters (again from Sulur) who evacuated them.

India, at present stage, I do not think can sustain helicopter operations across the country like in the US or Europe. However, with the UDAN project taking wings, things will be much rosier. Atleast, I hope so.

[arunphilip]

Does our coastguard operate helicopters? If yes, I presume they were involved as well? If not, shouldn't they operate helicopters, given the number of fishing vessels that various coastal states put out to sea?

[itwasntme]

Which helicopters were used primarily? Were they the ALH Dhruv series (https://hal-india.co.in/Product_Deta...&lKey=&CKey=24) or the Bells?

Did the defense forces deploy the big Mil Mi 26 ones?

[dhanushmenon]

Originally Posted by arunphilip

Does our coastguard operate helicopters? If yes, I presume they were involved as well? If not, shouldn't they operate helicopters, given the number of fishing vessels that various coastal states put out to sea?

Yes. Coast Guard operates helicopters. Chetak and ALH. For flood relief, Coast Guard was involved too, operating Chetak helicopters.

Originally Posted by itwasntme

Which helicopters were used primarily? Were they the ALH Dhruv series.
Did the defense forces deploy the big Mil Mi 26 ones?

Helicopters used mainly were ALH from Navy, Army and IAF, Mi 17 1V of IAF, Seaking of Navy and Chetak of Navy & Coast Guard. There were also two Bell 412 civil helicopters that operated for relief operations.

Fixed wing aircraft (Dornier) of Navy flew sorties from Kochi to provide airborne traffic advisory due to the intense traffic in the area during that period.
Helicopters in low level could not at most times maintain radio contact with the ATC and this Dornier did a wonderful job in providing traffic advisory.

Mi 26 were not deployed.