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Home , Karapuzha Dam, Pazhassi Raja, Wayanad district

Tackling a deluge.

Wayanad 2020

The report illustrates how District Administration and DDMA , Wayanad studied, analyzed the disasters and designed solutions to save lives un- der the leadership of Dr. Adeela Abdulla I A S, Chairperson of DDMA.

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

Table of Contents

Sl no Content Page no

1 Abstract 3

2 Wayanad at a glance 4

3 Brief Disaster Profile 5

4 General aspect of the District 6

5 Initiatives at a glance 7

6 Dam Management 8

7 Rain gauge data collection 9

8 Debris removal 11

9 Sustainability 12

10 Conclusion 13

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

Abstract:

The disasters are not a new phenomenon for Wayanad anymore. The deluge, landslide, land subsidence or any other monsoon related mayhem is usual in Wayanad during the South West monsoon which usually commence from the first week of June. The heavy rainfall makes the situation tougher and danger- ous in most of the parts of the District. The DDMA has been taking up various Disaster mitigation measures to safeguard the General Public from any even- tuality after close observation of past incidents. The learning and assessment from the past disasters helped the Administration to take proactive measures to reduce the impact of the natural disaster. This report is an attempt to bring all the novel initiatives before the public. In the ensuing years this will help the District Administration to replicate the activities in the eve of disasters and

catastrophes of various natures.

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

Wayanad at a glance

Wayanad District is situated in an elevated picturesque mountainous plateau in Western . It lies between north latitude 11 degree 26’28’’ and 11 degree 48’22’’ and east longitude 75degree 46’38’’ and 76 degree 26’11’’. The District came into being on November 1, 1980 as the 12th district of . Comprising an area of 2,132 sq. kilometers, Wayanad has a cherished history and it is be- lieved that organized human life existed in these parts at least ten centuries be- fore Christian era.

Countless evidences about New Stone Age civilization was seen on the hills of Wayanad. The heritage carvings on the Edackal Caves at Ambukuthi are the vis- ible embodiment of the rich history of District. It is believed that in ancient times, this land was ruled by the Rajas of the Veda dynasty. Later, Wayanad came un- der the rule of the of Royal Dynasty. In 19th century, Wayanad fell into the hands of British and it paved a new turn in the history of the area. Roads were laid across the dangerous slopes of Wayanad from Kozhi- kode and Thalasseri extending to the cities of and . Through these roads’ settlers from all parts of Kerala poured into the virgin forest lands of Wayanad and the region proved to be a veritable goldmine with incredible yields of cash crops.

When the State of Kerala came into being in November 1956, Wayanad was part of district. Later, south Wayanad was added to district and North Wayand to . In order to fulfill the aspirations of the people of Wayanad, north Wayanad and South Wayanad were carved out and joined together to form the present district of Wayanad on 1st November 1980.

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

Brief Disaster profile

Wayanad is a centre of attraction and gem among the hill tourism destinations of southern because of the fabulous weather and natural attractions. The Western offers a wide variety of tourism attractions to a visitor and it is considered as an all-season destination for many. However, the District also has many disaster-prone areas especially the hills, and the river sides. The hills are situated at a maximum of 2100 Meter from MSL in the entire stretch of South -West -North wayanad. The deluge in 2018 and 2019 became an eye opener and several preventive and mitigation mechanisms were put in place to deal the situation effectively in future. The waterfalls from the hills which were eye pleasing becomes an avalanche of flood water on the next day, which was furious enough to wipe out everything in its way, when the scenario changes. The flood in 2018 took away four precious lives, and thousands of people became homeless, lost livelihood, left them stranded and broken. The rain hit as hard as it could and the rivers and streams were insufficient to contain the water due to blockages and unscientific constructions. The Government have introduced relocation and rehabilitation package for the vulnerable community in order to build their lives back to normal. When the process is progressing, as predicted, harsh rain brought in havoc and killed 17 people and five of them are still remain unfound there.

The box below gives a glimpse of the situation from 2018 to 2020

Year Rainfall (June to No of death No of Camps Inmates August) 2018 2956.9 mm 4 272 32506 2019 1967.7 mm 20 196 29109 2020 1615.5 mm 3 83 4309

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

General aspect of the District The months of south west monsoon is a nightmare for the people in Wayanad irrespective of whether they live in river side or in a hilly region. The major hills of Wayanad lies in the Southern tip through western side until Northern parts and it is a treasure house of important flora and fauna. The hills are always getting huge quantity of rainfall compare to the plains and causes lot of disruption in the soil. Thereby, landslide, land subsidence or land slip would occur in the areas where huge quantity of rain accumulated. Moreover, this heavy water would create flood in the plains of Wayanad too. About 40000 people were shifted to 280 temporary shelters during the great deluge of 2018. The rainfall pattern was similar in the year 2019 as well as and had landslides in the slops which killed about 20 people in total.

The District Administration decided to look into the areas where disaster impact could be reduced. A thorough analysis has shown that, the impact of the floods will be minimal if the people have been relocated in advance. This should be done in effective manner.

The geographical peculiarities of Wayanad are critical in flood and other disasters. Especially, the water accumulated in the hills flows down streams with huge velocity causing flood situation in the plains. Also, the Beechanhalli Dams gate opening will be crucial in case of the heavy rainfall reported in Wayanad. The Beechanhalli Dam serves irrigation needs of Southern Karntaka and it is critical for them to store the water for the summer. The rains in Wayanad bring all the water to Beechanhalli dam through Kabani River, by , rivers. The drainage of the water through the rivers of Wayanad is depends on the storage of Beechanhalli Dam and it has to be clear the water from Wayand to avert flooding the areas near to the rivers. It is also important to release the water in advance to accept the monsoon rain water as the storage in at Padinjarathara. In case, the Dam at FRL at the time of heavy rain, there would be chance of flooding the downstream while the shutters get open.

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

Initiatives at a glance. 1- Rule curve mechanism and strict monitoring of Dams in Wayanad 2- Joint meeting with Mysuru District Administration in connection with the Beechanhalli dam opening in the scenario of heavy rain in Wayanad.

3- Local Level rain fall data assessment through community involvement

4- Debris removal from the rivers and streams of Wayanad

5- Advance evacuation/intimation to the vulnerable population

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No. 1. Rule curve mechanism and strict monitoring of Dams in Wayanad

a) We have implemented a stringent system to monitor the effective implementation of Rule Curve system and release mechanism of water in Banasura Sagar Dam. The gate opening schedule of the dam is based on the ‘rule curve’ and It is part of the “core safety” mechanism in a dam. The FRL & MWL of the Dam is at : 775.60m and in order to maintain a safe limit the Water Level will be maintained as somewhere 757 m so that the excess water can be stored without stress. b) There are two dams in Wayanad ie Banasura Sagar and . Bansura Sagar Dam is used for Hydro Electricity generation purpose and Karapauzaha reservoir has envisaged for irrigation and drinking water project.

No 2. Joint meetings with Mysuru District Administration.

a) The data sharing and communication with Beechanhalli Dam authorities and Mysuru District Administration helped a lot in terms of releasing adequate water from the Beechanhalli dam so that the heavy water flow from wayand will be managed and stored. The entire Panamram, Mananthavady, Pulapply stretches will be relieved a lot by the decision of our counterparts in . b) The Banasura Sagar Dam authorities have started sharing the rainfall and other details like river water level at various places with the Beechanhalli Dam authorities for better understanding of the scenario. c) The District Collector and Engineers of the District visited Beechanhalli Dam and had discussions based on the data and facts. d) The activity had been continuing throughout of the 2020 monsoon and it yielded results. Though the water level rose due to heavy rain, the activities helped it manage very well. The overflowing water drained rapidly due to the bilateral communication and operations by the Dam authorities.

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No. 3 Rain fall disparity in Wayanad and data analysis through community involvement a) have huge hills in South and Western parts which ranges from 700 meter to 2100 meter. The plains of East and middle portion of Wayanad lies at an elevation of 700 -800 meter MSL whereas the flow of the water from the hills will have heavy impact in the rivers in the plains. The water level will increase dramatically and dangerously and many parts of Wayanad will be inundated in a matter of few hours. Usually, the eastern parts of Wayanad receives a far lesser amount of rain compared to hills, probably just one third of the rain. b) In order to tackle the situation and to have a better prediction of the rain and calamities, the District Disaster Management Authority have decided to community involvement in the rain gauge data collection. Traditionally, the District rainfall data is assessed from three locations for decades. c) The scenario has changed ever since and a dedicated team started working under District Soil Conservation Officer to collect the data from about 54 rain gauges installed at various locations in different parts of wayanad. The 24 hours rainfall totals are tabulated and verified based on the severity of the rainfall. Immediate alerts will be made from the District Emergency Operating Centre for the general public through television, radio, social media etc. d) The rain gauges were either owned by private or under various government institutions. Majority of the estates /plantations have the unique system in place to measure the rain fall in the region and this has been used for the effective farming. Therefore, the locations were distinct and helped to have better understanding of the rain pattern in Wayanad. The community involvement is crucial and effective in dealing the disasters. e) The data has been consolidated and made into a pictorial representation for better and easy understanding for the laymen. This community level intervention has been a great tool to provide effective and smart alerts in time, because the we have the data of the particular region, and also such efforts built confidence among the people.

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

f) An alert which was given based on the rainfall at Mundakkai , on 8 -08-2020 helped to save multiple lives because the field team had evacuated the families from the in time. The next day, a massive landslide destroyed about 4 houses in the area but none of the human lives. The keenness and vigilance on the data assessment and dissemination helped the District to do better. g) It is proposed to have an online tool to collect and analyse the data from the rain gauges, as it was done in the year 2020, where we can have faster and accurate predictions. It is also proposed to install Automatic Weather Stations in each Grama Panchayath where the data will be accurate and collected at frequent intervals.

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

No. 4. Debris Removal:

a) In order to avoid the overflow of river water during monsoon, the DDMA decided to remove the debris that accumulated in rivers during the flood of 2019. An action plan was made for the implementation of the program and monthly review meeting was conducted for Local Self Government secretaries. As a result of continuous monitoring and evaluation by the DDMA , all the 26 LSG’s in the district completed the activities of removing the debris from rivers and streams in time and as a result of it the water level had not been crossed beyond a limit. Thereby, the rivers and could carry all the excess water flowing during the monsoon. b) A total length of 409.85 Kilo Meter of rivers and streams were cleaned by the 26 Local Self Government Institutions in a war footing mode. c) The result is visible and effective even today. The Local Self Governments are continuing the process of cleaning the river/streams using the fund available with the concerned office for the society. d) The Local Self Governments are keen on the activity whereas the risk and impact of the disaster will be reduced through the activities. This will help the river/streams to be rejuvenated and the surroundings too. The removal of waste from the streams should be a regular activity owned by Community level. The community-based activities have better and optimum results in risk reduction. No.5 Advance evacuation /Intimation to the vulnerable population a) A special task force has been set up at Collectorate to deal the matter related to vulnerable areas identified earlier through scientific studies. The team collated the data related to vulnerable communities and made phone calls to each and every household to alert them about the situation. b) The people living in vulnerable locations has been requested to move away from the houses in case of heavy rainfall reported in the area. The task force also alerted them about the special camps which are intended to accommodate the covid -19 symptomatic people.

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REPORT ON ACTIVITIES BY DISTRICT ADMINISTRATION & DDMA in 2019 and 2020

c) The task force politely requested the people to try and move into relatives’ homes in case if they have any such option. The families who were left with no such option came to camps and the number of people dramatically reduced in the year of 2020. Please refer the table given above. d) A special plan for Tribal community has been prepared by the Tribal Department in concurrence with the directions of DDMA and evacuated all the people from the settlements in disaster prone areas well in advance to avert the casualties in case of mishap. e) The synchronisation between various agencies and departments are crucial and any shortcomings will badly affect the disaster management efforts. The gaps were identified and the issues were resolved in a time bound manner to smoothen the function of Administration. f) The Police, Fire Force, revenue, Panchayath, Civil Defence, other volunteers are the first responders in case of an eventuality and they have to engage in the process with proper co-ordination.

Sustainability A society will be strong if sustainable solutions were provided for various challenges in their day to day life. This gives confidence and hope for the society to grow along with nature. All the people will have to have an understanding about the environment around them, the peculiarity, the seasonal changes, so that, the community can involve in mitigation process effectively. The rain gauge data collection from the common people is just a beginning of a process which is connected deeply with the society. The data are being used to give alert among the local public in cases if required. Therefore, a sustainable community should keep an eye on the changes in hill slopes and trees, observe colour changes in the well, sliding or holes in the slopes and so on. Simultaneously, the local rainfall data assessment will help the farmers in cultivating and preparing for the harvest etc. The details will be helpful for hospitality industries as well.

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Conclusion

The snap shot of initiatives taken by the District Administration and DDMA Wayanad is a replicable model for similar Districts. The cost incurring for the activities were met from State Disaster Relief Fund and by the Local Self Government. The activities are more or less based on the community level involvement whereas, the community is the first and foremost stakeholder in any disaster. Lets all have a better , sustainable and safe living.

Dr. Adeela Abdulla, I A S

District Collector , Wayanad

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