Hugs, tears as Wayanad landslide survivors reunite at polling booths

Emotional scenes were witnessed at the polling stations set up for the survivors of the landslides, which hit the hill district in July this year, to cast their votes in the bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha constituency when they saw their neighbours and close friends after a long time since the disaster.

The survivors hugged each other with joy and then broke into tears as they recalled how they all lived together as one big happy family before the landslides swept away everything on July 30.

One elderly man broke into tears as he narrated how the residents of Punchirimattam, Chooralmala and Mundakkai villages, which were completely destroyed in the landslides, celebrated every festival together irrespective of their religions.

His friend, whom he met on the bus that was arranged to ferry voters of the landslide-affected to polling stations, hugged and consoled him, saying 'don't cry, everything will turn out to be fine'.

Another woman said after the landslides, the survivors were relocated or rehabilitated to different parts of the district.

"So, when we see them after such a long gap, the first thing we ask is where you are living and not how you are doing," she told media.

A special free vehicle service has been provided for landslide survivors to reach the polling stations from the various places they are temporarily residing at.

Over 200 people were killed in the landslides that swept away the three villages and destroyed hundreds of homes.