“It all happened within minutes. All we could hear were screams and huge rumbling noises. We started running to save ourselves and the next we saw was a big rock rolling through our houses,” recalled Anjala (56), who witnessed the landslide in Tamil Nadu’s Tiruvannamalai that killed seven members of a family, including five children. Anjana, another resident who was there when the tragedy struck, said that the deceased family was running out of their house, but were swept over and crushed by mud and rocks. The next thing the residents remember is the inordinate delay in rescue operations and the bodies of the deceased, some dismembered, being pulled from under the debris, nearly two days later.
Cyclone Fengal brought unprecedented rainfall to Tiruvannamalai from the morning of November 30, and at around 4.30 pm on December 1, there was a massive landslide in the Annamalaiyar hillock – a place which has not seen a landslide as far as the residents can remember.
“We heard people screaming and rushing to escape, but initially, we didn’t realise the extent of the landslide until we saw the 40-tonne rock having already buried three houses. It is later that we came to know that seven people were missing, including children, and we immediately called for an emergency rescue team,” a resident told TNM.
Nearly 20 houses were located in VOC Nagar under the hillock where the disaster occurred. The residents, most of who work at a brick kiln in Thandarampet, approximately 20 km away from Tiruvannamalai, allege that the rescue personnel, including the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF), arrived only by 10 pm, close to five hours after the tragedy. And while they mourn the heart-wrenching deaths of seven people including children, the Ward Councillor and district administration not only refute allegations of delayed response but are engrossed in conducting a temple festival.
Inordinate delay in rescue operations
The landslide, triggered by cyclone Fengal on December 1, spared almost 20 houses on 11th street in VOC Nagar, except for 28-year-old Rajkumar’s family – wife Meena (25) and his children, Gautham (9), Iniya (7), along with three of his nieces, Ramya (13), Vinothini (14) and Maha (10). Ramya’s parents narrowly escaped the landslide, but are now navigating the irreversible grief of losing their children. Though they did not want to talk to the media, other residents said that it was routine for their children to play with Rajkumar’s kids. On the fateful day of the landslide too, the children were waiting for the rain to subside inside their house so that they could go out and play. But a 40-tonne rock came rolling down the Annamalaiyar hillock, crushing them and their tin-sheet-made house.
The very street where the children used to play until just a day before, witnessed their funeral procession on December 4 –residents, police personnel, and district administration officials walked 5 km to the crematorium, along with the seven hearse vans carrying the bodies, the air filled with oppari (a traditional form of lament or mourning song) and a sense of helplessness at the fury of nature. All seven bodies were placed near each other and cremated together.
Anjala said that they couldn’t help Rajkumar and his family because everything was destroyed within a few minutes.
Arumugam (36), working as a lorry driver, alleged that he had to make multiple calls just to alert the rescue team. “As soon as the landslide happened and we realised seven people were missing, I immediately called for the emergency rescue team. I called up to 30 times for someone to visit the spot,” he said. He added that the team arrived hours later and that the extensive damage stopped them from conducting rescue efforts by themselves.
However, rescue personnel told TNM that they could not immediately start operations because of continuous rainfall and the massive accumulation of mud, soil and stones. “Further, because of the severely saturated soil and the collapsed landscape, we were not sure about bringing larger equipment immediately. The next day, we brought in an earthmover and sped up the rescue efforts,” they said.
It took more than 48 hours for the rescue team of close to 100 people, including the residents of the area and 35 NDRF personnel to find the bodies of the seven persons. The priority was to take the residents to relief camps and provide them with food, clothes and essentials, they said.
When asked, District Collector Baskara Pandian refuted the allegations of delay and said that the rescue team arrived at the spot immediately.
Meanwhile, other residents who escaped the fatal tragedy are sheltered in government schools turned into relief camps. Sakthivel (62), a relative of Rajkumar, told TNM that they are still taking shelter in relief camps and are uncertain about their relocation because the district administration is busy with the Deepam festival.
Prioritising festival over relief and relocation
Amidst the tragedy, preparations for the Arunachaleswarar Temple’s Karthigai Deepam festival are in full swing. Deepam festival is a Hindu festival, celebrated during the tamil month of Karthigai (November-December), with a grand lamp (Mahadeepam) lit at the top of the Annamalaiyar hills, symbolising spiritual illumination.
Saravanan, Ward Councillor of VOC Nagar, said that the district administration asked him to be patient until the Deepam festival is over. “The focus now is on the Deepam celebrations, and any relocation plans will be discussed later,” he told TNM. He also added that the Collector assured residents that the affected site would soon be rehabilitated, and those displaced would be relocated to a newly renovated area.
The decision to prioritise festival preparations over immediate relocation efforts has sparked fury among the people. “How can they think of celebrations while we are mourning?” asked an angry Anjala.
TNM has reached out to the Collector for his response and this copy will be updated as and when he responds.
Meanwhile, Deputy Chief Minister Udhayanidhi visited the site on December 2 and promised compensation to the relatives of the deceased. He has also proposed the relocation of families to areas of lower risk. In response, the residents maintained that the new location must be at least 5 km away from their current location.
Chief Minister MK Stalin also extended his condolences to the families affected by the landslide and announced a compensation of Rs 5 lakh for the family of the deceased from the Chief Minister’s Distress Relief Fund. The residents, however, said that compensation is only given to the family of the deceased, and several other survivors who lost everything except the clothes they wore, are struggling.
Talking to TNM, GeoAnalytics expert Raj Bhagat P pointed out that the landslide in Tiruvannamalai was primarily caused by severe soil saturation due to heavy rainfall and strong winds. “Typically, about 30 cm of rainfall is enough to saturate the soil, making it prone to landslides if preventive measures aren’t in place. In this case, the region experienced up to 50 cm of rainfall, which overwhelmed the soil’s capacity to hold together,” he explained.
He further highlighted that poor drainage management might exacerbate the situation. When drainage systems are not properly maintained, water accumulates, saturating the soil even more rapidly. “Even if the roofs of houses were sturdy, such extreme weather conditions with 50 cm of rainfall make it extremely difficult for residents to escape,” he said.
(With inputs from Akshara Sanal)