After a devastating landslide put a halt to life in India’s Kerala state, killing at least 160 people, several UAE residents and businessmen have come forward to pitch in by helping with relief operations.
Dubai resident Shabna Ibrahim, who hails from Wayanad, said that her entire family has been assisting in the relief operations. “My brother and his wife are Ayurveda doctors and have been assisting the medical team in rescue operations,” she said. “They have been verifying dead bodies and treating the injured. My parents have also opened the doors of our house to anyone who has been displaced.”
Another Wayanad resident Shajahan Kuttiyath, who lost almost 100 family members in the landslide, said that he along with a group of friends are initiating relief operations. “People there have to start from scratch and will need a lot of help,” he said. “I am part of a group here in the UAE who helped out during the 2018 floods. We are working with associations in Wayanad to see what people need and will help accordingly.”
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On Tuesday, a landslide hit the district of Wayanad in Kerala. Along with an expected rise in death toll, hundreds of people have been displaced and several homes, schools and other buildings have been flattened. It is the worst tragedy to have hit the state since the 2018 floods which killed over 400 people.
According to Shajahan, the only bridge connecting his village Chooralmala to the rest of Wayanad collapsed in the landslide, hampering the relief efforts. Attempts to construct a temporary bridge is under way.
Several UAE-based businessmen have also announced monetary help to the Kerala government. Chairman and managing director of LuLu Group MA Yusuff Ali as well as B. Ravi Pillai, chairman of the RP Group, have each donated approximately Dh2 million to the Kerala Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund.
Help in rescue
Dr. Shamsheer Vayalil, Chairman of VPS Healthcare, has reached out to the Chief Minister of the southern Indian state of Kerala to volunteer the expertise of their subsidiary Prometheus Medical International’s mountain rescue team.
In an email seen by Khaleej Times, the entrepreneur wrote, “We are ready to deploy our team to the affected area as soon as possible and are flexible to accommodate your specific needs and requirements.”
According to a spokesperson for the VPS group, they are awaiting instructions from the Kerala government to mobilise their resources. Prometheus has a highly qualified team which includes mountain rescue specialists, emergency medical professionals and nurses.