Thirteen Adivasi families still await homes after Wayanad landslide

Thirteen Adivasi families displaced by the 2024 Wayanad landslide are still waiting for resettlement, even as rehabilitation efforts progress for other survivors.

The Current Struggle

While authorities have allotted houses at a township project in Kalpetta to 327 families, these 13 Adivasi families remain caught between dangerous zones and delayed construction. Although their homes were not physically damaged in the Mundakkai-Chooralmala landslide, they had to leave because authorities declared their home regions 'no-go zones'.

Living Conditions

Some of these families now live in rented homes using government aid, but this cuts them off from their natural forest environment and traditional jobs. Other families have chosen to return to the forest itself. They went back because construction has not yet started on the new houses promised to them on land allocated at Puthiyavillage in Meppadi under the Forest Rights Act.

Context

Disaster recovery projects often take a long time to finish, especially when moving communities involves special legal land rights and forest laws. Rebuilding lives requires more than just building houses, as displaced tribal families also need access to their traditional forest-based livelihoods to truly feel at home again.