NEW DELHI, Aug 1 — The death toll of Tuesday's (July 30) massive landslides in India's southern state of Kerala rose to 256, confirmed the state's Health Minister Veena George today while speaking to the local press.
She said one of the main focuses of the state government was to prevent the spread of contagious diseases in the area since it was still raining there and bodies were buried under the rubble of the landslides.
"So far we have conducted post-mortem on 256 bodies, which includes human body parts too. 154 dead bodies have been handed over to the district administration after the post-mortem.
"Genetic samples of human body parts recovered are being collected and DNA tests on dead bodies are also being conducted. It will help us in identifying the dead bodies and human limbs at a later stage.
"I visited the hospitals and relief camps. Our priority is to provide psychological support, and focus on controlling contagious diseases," George said.
Another 220 persons were still missing, and the rescue work was on to pull out the injured from under the rubble.
Within a span of two hours, three landslides had hit the Meppadi area of Kerala's Wayanad district early on Tuesday morning amid heavy rain, while the people were still asleep. The tragedy was described as one the biggest in recent times in the southern state.
The state government had set up relief camps to accommodate those rendered homeless after the natural tragedy. Over 3,500 people were rehabilitated in these relief camps.
Thousands of personnel of the Indian Army, the Indian Air Force, the Indian Navy, the National Disaster Response Force, state-level disaster management bodies, local police, doctors, medical teams, and other local administration officials have been dispatched to carry out rescue work, and also provide relief and succour to the survivors, a local government official told Xinhua over the phone.
— Bernama
