Declare Wayanad landslides a national disaster: Minister Sridhar Babu

Hyderabad: Minister for Industries Duddilla Sridhar Babu has demanded the Union government that the Wayanad landslides in Kerala be declared a national disaster.

The Minister said that the tragedy of Wayanad landslides, which claimed the lives of more than 350 people, should be treated differently and warned that the people wouldn't forgive if the tragedy was considered to be just a State problem, a release stated here.

"Such an incident had never taken place in the South India. The Centre should look at the Wayanad province not from a political perspective, but from a humanitarian perspective," Sridhar Babu pointed out.

He stated that a comprehensive action plan should be prepared to deal with early warnings in cases of heavy rains, cloud bursts and landslides, mud flows with rain water.

The Minister also suggested that modern scientific technology should be used to map the areas prone to landslides and a system should be set up to issue accurate warnings through satellite images as the orange and red alerts given by the Meteorological department could not predict the dangers.

He said that just as the earthquake areas are divided into zones, the areas prone to landslides should also be identified as categories.

The Minister further suggested that arrangements should be made so that support teams are continuously available in those prone areas of landslides during the monsoon.