KOCHI: The once picturesque valley of Wayanad has turned into a living graveyard, with hundreds dead an equal number of people still injured and scores still untraceable. Unofficial reports from several areas which came under the landslides say that the death toll has climbed to 365 till Sunday evening (although official figures are saying the death toll is at about 300 so far), with about 206 people reportedly still missing and bodies being found every hour from the sites of the landslides.

Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan has said there wasn't any hope of finding survivors now after so many days and the task at hand was to give a dignified burial for those unclaimed dead bodies and body parties that have been retrieved by rescue personnel.

Among the most affected areas are Mundakkai Punchirivatta, Chooralmala, Attamala and Noolpuzha where roads have collapsed and a bridge has been swept, making several areas have become unreachable, Health Minister Veena George said the rescue teams were trying to re-establish the connectivity and Helicopters will also be brought in, but the weather is bad.

More places were searched using human rescue radar. Further search can be compared with the old picture of the area. The search will be strengthened by understanding the difference in elevation of the accumulated dunes. The forest department yesterday deployed more personnel to search the areas sharing forest boundaries. 

Five dog squads of the Tamil Nadu Fire Department were also deployed. 1264 people in 11 categories of NDRF, Army K9 Dog Squad, Special Operation Group, Madras Engineering Group, Police, Fire Force, Forest, Tamil Nadu Fire and Rescue, Medical Team, National Disaster Management Authority Delta Squad, Naval, Coast Guard etc conducted the search in six areas.

The state authorities have set up 53 relief camps in Wayanad at various locations like SDMLP School and D-Paul Public School and WMO College at Kalpetta, RCLP School in Vengapally and GHS School at Pulinjal where over 7,000 affected people have taken shelter, besides 20 more additional camps have been set up in Meppadi and other gram panchayats around the affected areas. 

Even as dozens of civilians are giving help to hundreds of rescue teams, help in terms of relief material and cash contributions is pouring in from across the country and even from abroad. The main task of the administration now would be to resettle the affected people and ensure that they are protected from ailments and diseases arising out of the climatic conditions that have engulfed the area.