Early warning and evacuation saves lives of tourists in Wayanad landslide, hoteldealers.in | www.hoteldealers.in

  • Vijaylakshmi by Vijaylakshmi
  • 3 months ago
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Early warning and evacuation saves lives of tourists in Wayanad landslide, hoteldealers.in | www.hoteldealers.in
Early warning and evacuation saves lives of tourists in Wayanad landslide, hoteldealers.in | www.hoteldealers.in

Early warning and evacuation saves lives of tourists in Wayanad landslideThe early warning by the state authorities and evacuation of tourists from many landslide prone areas of Wayanad in advance has helped reduce the gravity of death and destruction to a certain extent in the natural calamity that struck the highlands in the eastern periphery of Wayanad district. According to latest reports, more than 80 lives have been lost due to the landslides which took an entire village in Chooralmala comprising 100 houses in its grip which struck in the early hours today. “There are reports of two tourists from Odisha from a group of 4 missing and efforts to trace them are on. In the wake of incessant rains, the government had given early warning to tourists and evacuated tourists from landslide prone areas from yesterday morning itself,” said an official of Wayanad district tourism. He said that so far no reports of any foreign tourists were affected in the disaster. While the affected areas are classified as eco-sensitive areas in the district, and no big constructions are allowed being in the ‘Red’ category, there are no big resorts operating in the area. “There may be a few homestays operating in those places,” said the official. “These are highly eco-fragile areas with very soft soil. There are soft rocks held by clayey soil. When water sets into the crevices due to incessant rain, it slips. It’s the nature of the Wayanad soil. Unbridled construction activities, tree-felling become a good recipe for disasters in these areas,” says KR Vacheeswaran, president of Wayanad Tourism Organisation (WTO).Although the affected places are frequented by tourists for their beautiful viewpoints overlooking the plantations below, Vancheeswaran also confirms that there are no big resorts or accommodation facilities in these places for tourists because they are “mapped as eco-fragile” areas by the state and any construction activity requires clearance from district disaster management authority (DDMA).The disaster has had a negative impact on the business of resorts in other parts of the district. “We have been getting a number of cancellation requests since this morning,” says Shine Francis of Petals Resorts at Banasura, more than 45 km from Meppadi. Although monsoon is a “medium season” as far as tourism is concerned, places like Banasura in Wayanad get a lot of overseas business, especially from Arab countries, as well as NRIs settled in the Middle East as it is vacation time there, Francis said.“A lot of new generation people go to places like Thollayiram Kandi for trekking and other adventure activities,” he says. They are top searched keywords on Google today, he informs.

Published On Jul 30, 2024 at 09:00 PM IST

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