Kodagu landslide: 2 weeks on, this youth still waits for pregnant wife buried under debris

Madikeri, Aug 21: As the search for more bodies buried under the landslide continues in Thora village of Kodagu district, survivors who returned from a relief camp evening are in the grip of fear and spent sleepless nights.

From August 6 to 12, Virajpet taluk received 916.90 mm rain, 739% higher than the normal rainfall of 109.30 mm. At Thora, residents saw the only bridge connecting the village to Virajpet submerged under two feet water on August 8 and hoped the situation would improve a day later.  On August 9, a massive landslide wiped out everything in its way, including houses and coffee estates. About 30 NDRF personnel are still digging nearly 20 feet deep in search for the five persons presumed dead.

Harish, who lost his pregnant wife in the calamity, is still waiting for her dead body, which also carries his unborn child. The estate labourer from Tora village now spends his days watching an earthmover turn the mud which buried his dreams. Everyday, he hopes he will get a last glimpse of his wife. They had been married for barely a year.

“Veena was six months pregnant when the calamity hit us. She is now a body under this rubble,” said Harish. Two weeks after the landslide in this village in Kodagu, five people are still missing.

Harish, who belongs to Periyapatna, came to Kodagu in search of work when he was just 13. He started off picking coffee berries at an estate in Tora. The honest, hard-working boy soon caught the attention of the estate owner, Keethiyanda Mandappa. “After some years, Mandappa encouraged me to run the estate. While working for him, I also developed my own estate of 1.5 acres. And I saved up enough to build a house,” he said. Finally, in his 30s, Harish hoped to live the life he wanted.

“I laid the foundation for my house in 2018 but the construction was delayed by a year as my wedding was fixed then. Only that foundation remains today,” he said. The house was to be completed in a few months and the couple had planned to move in with the baby. On August 9, when the landslide struck their line-house, Veena was buried in the debris.

“At 10.30am, I went to visit my employer at his house which is a 10-minute walk from mine. On the way, I heard a loud thud and turned back. I saw a mountain crashing down,” he recounted. “My wife, our unborn baby, my cattle...everything was buried. I’m desperate to see Veena one last time,” he said.