While the South Indian state of Kerala has been battered under heavy showers and floods, the Indian Army and Navy have deployed personnel in Kerala for rescue operations. Helicopters and Gemini boats struggled to reach people stuck in remote areas, while the water level continues to rise.
The death toll has crossed 400. It is the worst disaster in a century. For rescue operations, Southern Naval Command deployed 21 rescue and diving teams and as many as 1342 personnel have been so far rescued by the coast guard; over 4250 personnel have been made move to safer locations.
8 columns of army personnel were deployed in various parts of flood-hit regions in Kerala. Indian Navy has launched “Operation Madad” and Indian Army has launched “Operation Sahyog.” The rescue operations carried out by Indian Army, Navy and Air Force in association with NDRF personnel is still on.
Ecologist Madhav Gadgil has accused the disaster to be a man-made due to avoidance and negligence towards environmental concerns and ecological safety norms.
In a 2013 article, Mr. Thummarukudy also predicted a flood disaster to happen within 50-100 after the 1924 flood.
The state government of Kerala had not pay a heed to the major environmental warnings in pursuit of reckless development of industries, power plants, coal mining, new housing, hotel resorts, tree-lined beaches and lush plantations and more.