- A major landslide hit the Kozhikode-Wayanad tunnel project site in Wayanad district
- Local rescue teams saved three people; several workers remain trapped under debris
- Wayanad has a history of deadly landslides, with major events in 1984, 1992, 2007, 2024
Another tragedy has hit Kerala's Wayanad district. Triggered by torrential rains, a major landslide has struck the construction site of the Kozhikode-Wayanad twin-tunnel road project at Kalladi, near Meppady. While local residents acted quickly to rescue three people, the nightmare isn't over yet. Several workers are still feared trapped under the debris. Right now, massive search and rescue operations are in full swing, with the local police, Fire and Rescue Services, and the NDRF working tirelessly to save lives.
A Tragic History of Changing Landscapes
Sadly, Wayanad is no stranger to these natural disasters. The hills here have a heartbreaking history of giving way during the monsoons.
The scars of July 30, 2024, are still fresh. On that fateful night, a ferocious landslide changed the very landscape of the district. Striking between 1:30 AM and 4:00 AM, the disaster caught most victims while they were fast asleep in their beds. The sheer scale of it was terrifying originating at a height of about 1,550 meters above sea level, the debris flowed for a massive 8 kilometers, destroying an area of 86,000 square meters. The government informed Parliament in April 2025 that 298 lives were officially lost, though several ground reports suggested the death toll had crossed the 420 mark.
But 2024 wasn't an isolated incident. Over the decades, Wayanad has witnessed multiple such tragedies. Older generations still remember the Mundakkai debris flow in 1984, which wiped out prime agricultural land and claimed 14 lives. This was followed by the Kappikkalam landslide near Padinjarethara in 1992 (11 deaths) and the Valamthode disaster in June 2007, which took 4 lives.
Why is Wayanad so Vulnerable?
So, why does this keep happening? To understand this, we need to look at Kerala's geography. Nearly 17,000 square kilometers of the state mostly along the western side of the Western Ghats is mapped as highly prone to landslides.
Sitting at the southern tip of the Deccan Plateau, the landlocked district of Wayanad takes the hardest hit. In fact, research papers identify Wayanad as the most susceptible district to landslides in all of Kerala. To make matters more complicated, the district falls under Zone III for earthquakes, meaning it also faces a moderate risk of seismic damage. Experts at the Centre for Earth Science Studies (CESS) have specifically flagged the hilly terrains bordering Wayanad, Malappuram, and Kozhikode as highly sensitive and disaster-prone.
Much of this devastation could perhaps have been minimized if the warnings from the 2011 Madhav Gadgil Committee Report had been taken seriously. The report had explicitly classified large parts of the Western Ghats as highly sensitive, warning against heavy infrastructure projects and quarrying in these fragile hills. Sadly, these ecological warnings were largely ignored a choice that continues to cost lives today.
The Bigger Picture: India's Landslide Threat
This recurring nightmare isn't just limited to Kerala. On a global scale, India ranks among the top five countries most vulnerable to landslides, sharing this grim list with China, the US, Italy, and Switzerland. Across the country, roughly 12.6% of our land area about 0.42 million square kilometers lives under the constant threat of landslides.
Until stricter infrastructural guidelines and ecological safety measures are enforced in fragile zones like the Western Ghats, the threat of the earth slipping away will continue to loom large over districts like Wayanad.
