PM Modi visits disaster-hit Chooralmala in Wayanad

Wayanad(Kerala): Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited the landslide-devastated areas of Wayanad district in Kerala on Saturday, walking through the affected regions to assess the damage.

Modi, who arrived in the hill district by a helicopter from Kannur airport, trekked through the disaster-stricken Chooralmala area to get a firsthand view of the destruction caused by the July 30 landslides.

Earlier, the Prime Minister conducted an aerial survey of the landslide-ravaged areas of Chooralmala, Mundakkai, and Punchirimattam hamlets aboard an Indian Air Force helicopter.

He landed at the SKMJ Higher Secondary School in Kalpetta and then travelled by road to Chooralmala, where a 190-foot-long Bailey bridge had been built by the army after the disaster. The PM walked on the bridge, while surveying the damage.

After reaching Chooralmala, Modi got down from his vehicle, interacted with rescue personnel, state chief secretary V Venu and district officials, and surveyed the area--strewn with boulders and debris-- on foot.

He was accompanied by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Minister Suresh Gopi.

In the aerial survey, he saw the origin of the landslide, which is in the origin of Iruvazhinji Puzha (River).

He also observed the worst affected areas of Punchirimattam, Mundakkai and Chooralmala.

Hundreds were gathered on the roadsides along the route taken by the PM's convoy to Chooralmala to catch a glimpse of him.

As many as 226 people have lost their lives and over 130 remain missing in one of the worst calamities to have struck Kerala in the early hours of July 30.