Stranded people appeal for help through social media

Agencies
August 16, 2018

Thiruvananthapuram, Aug 16: As roads turn into 'rivers' in many places in rain-battered Kerala, families trapped in high rise flats, students stranded in hostels and devotees in churches are using social media platforms to seek help and pass on information about their location.

Videos of people pleading for help with folded hands, are being posted and shared by hundreds of people on WhatsApp groups since last night.

Panic-struck relatives are also sharing the location of their near and dear ones trapped in various places using Google maps.

Various regional channels have also published their numbers through news bulletins for stranded people to contact them and share details of their location, to be passed on to authorities.

"We are in the second floor of the house... the first floor is almost flooded... the mobile phone is running out of charge... please rescue us... please," a man from Ranni said in a video which has gone viral on social media.

"There are tiny tots and senior citizens with us... water is now scaling up to the second floor," he said.

An NRI woman was heard pleading on a TV channel for help to rescue her relatives stranded in a house in Pathanamthitta district, which has been witnessing heavy rainfall since last evening.

In Pathanamthitta, a district in central Kerala which is submerged in water, students and devotees trapped in churches are seeking help through social media.

A family with a two-month-old baby is stranded at a house at Athani near Kochi and sought help via WhatsApp.

Patients of a private hospital in Kozhencherry, the first floor which was flooded, also appealed for help.

Those stranded were worried about lack of drinking water and food and disruption of power supply.

"We are awaiting rescue teams... TV channels are showing that the Army and Navy personnel will come to rescue us... we are trying to contact the emergency numbers... but nobody is picking up," an anxious man was seen telling a television channel over phone.

With the flood situation going out of control, local people are also doing their bit helping police, fire service and other defence personnel in most places.

With water overflowing on roads and national highways, people are using every possible mode from huge vessels to 'vallam' (wooden country boats) to rescue and ferry people especially women and children to safer places.

A weeping woman carrying her new-born twins was rescued from near Aluva, which has been battered in the monsoon fury.

Elderly men and women were seen thanking rescuers with teary eyes.

Comments

Robin, Calicut
 - 
Thursday, 16 Aug 2018

State Emergency Operation Centre - 0471-2364424

State disaster management control room - 0471-2331639

Revenue department helpline number - 0471-2518595, 9995484519, 9496253850

Revenue department flood rescue state-wide toll free number : 1077, 1070 (Prefix the STD codes of the respective district)

Chief minister's helpline number - 0471-2333812

State disaster relief authority numbers

Pathanamthitta - +918078808915 (Whatsapp) / 0468-2322515/2222515

Idukki - +919383463036 (Whatsapp) / 0486-233111/2233130

Kollam - +919447677800 (Whatsapp) / 0474-2794002

Alappuzha - +919495003640 (Whatsapp) / 0477-2238630

Idukki - +919383463036 (Whatsapp) / 0486-2233111

Kottayam - +919446562236 (Whatsapp) / 0481 - 2304800

Ernakulam - +917902200400 (Whatsapp) / 0484-2423513/2433481

District level helpline numbers

Idukki : 0486 2233111, 9061566111, 9383463036

Ernakulam : 0484 2423513, 7902200300, 7902200400

Thrissur : 0487 2362424, 9447074424

Palakkad : 0491 2505309, 2505209, 2505566

Malappuram : 0483 2736320, 0483 2736326

Kozhikode : 0495 2371002

Kannur : 0497 2713266, 0497 2700645, 8547616034

Wayanad : 04936 204151,9207985027

Pathanamthitta district

Control room numbers

Collectorate: 04682322515, 2222515, 8078808915

Taluk ofices

Kozhenchery 04682222221

Adur: 04734224826

Konni: 04682240087

Mallappally: 04692682293

Ranni: 04735227442

Thiruvalla: 04692601303

In case affected people are unable to contact the control room or the number returns a busy message, they can seek help from the police on these numbers:

District police chief - 9497996983

Dy SP [Admn.] - 9497990028

DPO - 04682222630

Manager - 9497965289

AA - 9497965328

Dy SP SB - 9497990030

Dy SP DCRB - 9497990031

Dy SP Narcotic Cell - 9497990032

Dy SP Crime Dett. - 9497990029

CI Vanitha Cell - 9497987057

Crime Stopper - 04682327914

AC AR - 9497990259

AR Camp - 04682223036

Dy SP Pathanamthitta - 9497990033

CI Pathanamthitta - 9497987046

Pathanamthitta PS - 9497980250

Malayalappuzha PS - 9497980253

Police Control Room - 9497980251

Traffic Pathanamthitta - 9497980259

CI Kozhencherry - 9497987047

Aranmula PS - 9497980226

Koipuram PS - 9497980232

CI Chittar - 9497987048

Chittar PS - 9497980228

Moozhiyar PS - 9497980235

CI Pampa PS - 9497987049

Pampa PS - 9497980229

Dy SP Adoor - 9497990034

CI Adoor - 9497987050

Adoor PS - 9497980247

Adoor Traffic - 9497980256

Enath PS - 9497980246

CI Pandalam - 9497987051

Pandalam PS - 9497980236

Kodumon PS - 9497980231

CI Konni - 9497987052

Konni PS - 9497980233

Koodal PS - 9497980234

Thannithodu PS - 9497980241

Dy SP Thiruvalla - 9497990035

CI Thiruvalla - 9497987053

Thiruvalla PS - 9497980242

Thiruvalla Traffic - 9497980260

Pulikeezhu PS - 9497980240

CI Mallappally - 9497987054

Keezhvaipur PS - 9497980230

Perumpetty PS - 9497980238

CI Ranni - 9497987055

Ranni PS - 9497980255

CI Vadasserikara - 9497987056

Vechoochira PS - 9497980245

Perinad PS - 9497980239

Vanitha Help Line - 9447994707

Sannidhanam P S – 04735202014

Helpline numbers: Kerala State Disaster Management Authority - 94465 68222

24-hour control rooms in Malappuram district

Disaster management call, Malappuram Collectorate- 04832 736320.

Nilambur Taluk- 04931 221471

Konmdotty Taluk - 04832 713311

Ernad Taluk - 04832 766121

Tirur Taluk - 04942 422238

Ponnani Taluk - 04942 666038

Perinthalmanna Taluk - 04933 227230

Thirurangadi Taluk - 04942 461055

Kozikode district

Collectorate - 0495-2371002

Kozhikode - 0495-2372966

Thamerassery - 0495-2223088

Koyilandy -0496-2620235

Vadakara -0496-2522361

126 relief camps opened in 43 villages in Kozhikode

Total number of people displaced- 8788

Total number of families displaced- 2751

Emergency relief numbers

Helpline for availing boats for rescue: 8547616013

Helpline for emergency help for marooned people and Isolated caller system: 9447292984, 8281527151

Helpline for vehicle support: 9446841194, 8113900224

Helpline for essential supplies to relief camps: 9446477818,9745743545

Helpline for ambulance and medical management: 8281863442

Helpline for drinking water supply: 8089428478, 9544244428,9400501691

Helpline for cutting down trees posing danger: 9496268149

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Dr Parinitha
January 17,2020

We came on foot, we came on boats, shouting slogans of Azadi.

We stood on roof tops and sat on walls under the burning midday sun,

Listening to the words that we had longed to hear for so long.

Words that had been scripted through the lonely fears of our hearts.

Words that were spoken now with the clarity of courage.

Words that were spoken now with the suppressed strength of pent up anger.

Words that were spoken now with the certainty of belonging to the soil 

Which had become one with the dust of our ancestors.

We stood there in the waves of heat

Feeling the surge and press  of countless bodies around us.

Bodies meshed through the odour of sweat 

And the shared fear of a common persecution.

And hanging from the roof tops,

And tied to the poles,

And clutched in hands slippery with sweat,

And wrapped round the pillars,

And spreading into our blood,

Were three strips of colour with a wheel of spokes,

Sewn together into the shape of our being.

Woven into the folds of our future and the creases of our past. 

Stitched to the seams of the earth, the water, the air and the sky 

That belonged to us and to which we belonged. 

And we stood there from noon to evening,

We the people of India.

Raising our clenched fists like signposts to the future.

Chanting slogans like a new anthem.

Kin to each other through the ties of community.

Born to live and die 

In a nation that was ours to hold on to

And ours to belong to.

Dr Parinitha is a professor of English in Mangalore University. She penned the poem soon after participating in the historic protest against CAA, NPR and NRC at Shah Garden, Adyar, Mangaluru on 15th January, 2020.

Also Read: 

‘The more you try to divide us, the stronger and united we’ll be’: Record turnout in Mangaluru’s anti-NRC protest

Anti-NRC protest in Mangaluru brings ‘media bias’ to the fore

Comments

Abdullah
 - 
Wednesday, 29 Jan 2020

Salute to you siter for your meaningful poem.  This is reality.  However, the enmy is blind/deaf/dumb.   May God give right way of thinking to enmy and in case he is unlucky, let God finish him and let him beg for death.  

Indian
 - 
Thursday, 23 Jan 2020

Waav..What a Heart Touching poetry...

 

Hats off to you ma'am....

 

Love from all Indians...

 

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News Network
July 7,2020

Mangaluru, Jul 7: The residents of Bangle Gudde, Mathadagudde area in Gurupura Gram Panchayat in Dakshina Kannada district of Karnataka, where two teen aged children were buried alive, were shifted to safer places.

District officials said on Tuesday that the residents have been provided temporary shelter in Gurpur school, PU college, and hostels, while few others were shifted to Ashraya centers. Total 40 houses out of 180 houses in this area located in the red zone were damaged due to heavy rain.

If the residents want to stay in the rented house, the revenue department is ready to pay a sum of Rs 2,500 towards rent, official sources said.

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News Network
February 26,2020

Feb 26: The Tamil Nadu government on Tuesday claimed that it prevented Karnataka from discussing the contentious Mekedatu reservoir issue at the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) meeting held in New Delhi.

Besides the representatives of Tamil Nadu and Karnataka at the fifth meeting of CWMA, presided over by Central Water Commission Chairman R K Jain, officials of Kerala and Puducherry also participated.

CWMA member and TN PWD Secretary K Manivasan told reporters after the meeting that the state government prevented Karnataka from discussing the dam issue by pointing out the pending petitions in the Supreme Court against the project filed by the E Palaniswami government.

"We have told participants of the meeting that Mekedatu reservoir will be against the interests of Tamil Nadu and its farmers. Our consistent stand is that it should not be built at any cost. Finally the issue was not discussed in the meeting," Manivasan said.

The Mekedatu reservoir is proposed to be constructed by Karnataka across Cauvery river near Mekedatu, about 110 km from Bengaluru, in Kanakapura taluk.

It was first proposed along with Shivanasamudra hydro power project at Shimsa in 2003 with an intention to use the water for a hydro power station and supply drinking water to Bengaluru city. It was designed to store 67 tmc feet of water.

While Tamil Nadu is claiming that the construction of a balancing reservoir will disturb Cauvery water flow to the state affecting irrigation, Karnataka says the project is basically designed to take care of the drinking water needs of Bengaluru after releasing water to Tamil Nadu as per the quantum specified by the Cauvery water disputes tribunal.

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