Amid tragedy, ‘disaster tourists’ flock to Vilangad

Visitors at the site of landslip at Vilangad in Kozhikode on Sunday.
| Photo Credit: K. Ragesh

The landslip site at Vilanagad in Kozhikode is fast becoming a hotspot of ‘disaster tourism’. People from all parts of the district are flocking to the disaster site, causing inconvenience to local people.

Around 25 vehicles, including cars and motorbikes, were seen parked along the road at Manjakkunnu in Vilangad on Sunday evening, one of the worst-hit areas in the region. This is where a narrow stream took the form of a raging landslip, swallowing several houses and later created a ravine as deep as a three-storey building.

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Tourists, including women and children, spend around half an hour in the area absorbing the extent of the calamity, the debris and the sad faces of local people on their mobile phones.

This has created traffic jam on the narrow road. The landslip had washed away the Manjacheeli bridge across the stream. Local people have constructed a makeshift bridge of areca palms over the boulders that have settled in the ravine to facilitate transportation. However, the bridge is only broad enough to allow one vehicle to pass at a time. With several vehicles of the tourists parked alongside the road at the turning where the bridge begins, traffic here has once again become chaotic.

An earth mover being used to clear the debris from the site of the landslip-hit Small Hydro Electric Project at Vilangad in Kozhikode on Sunday.
| Photo Credit:
K. Ragesh

“They come here to enjoy our misery. You cannot fathom the rage we feel,” said K.A. Antony from Manjacheeli whose house barely missed the landslide.

They also fear that the increasing density of traffic through the makeshift bridge could weaken it faster. “This bridge is our only connection to the world outside. It is also necessary for the relief and supplies to reach us. With this kind of traffic, the bridge may not last for long,” Mr. Antony said.

Meanwhile, steps are being taken to wind up the three relief camps in the locality, especially since they are functioning in schools. The camp at St.George HSS at Vilangad has been wound up with all but one resident moving to rented accomodations. Efforts are being made to shift the residents of the camp at Velliyode HSS to the nearby Parish Hall.