Kuttiyadikkar' came, they saw, and they conquered the flood-hit village

Kochi: The flood brought in a lot of mud, slush and even snakes, leaving houses unlivable and rendering household items useless. But it also triggered a humungous humanitarian response across the state.

Volunteers came from the worst-affected Kuttanad in Alappuzha to the least affected Kuttiady in Kozhikode to do the ‘dirty’ job: of claring the muck.

Ask the people of Maleth near Koonammav in Ernakulam. The 500-odd houses in the village were submerged when the swollen Periyar took a fatal digression. People fled their homes and when they returned from relief camps after a week, they were in for a shocker: all possessions gone, nothing left to pick up their lives from.

There was mud, a foot or two thick in most homes, furniture was smelly, electric wire hung down and fridges, with compressors damaged, were bloated with rotten food. Worst, the wells were filled with dirty water. The story was similar in every flood-affected village in Kerala.

Enter ‘Kuttiyadiakkar’ or ‘People from Kuttiyadi’, and the narrative changes for the better. The 39-member team landed at Koona-mmavu by bus on Sunday evening with electricians, computer hardware specialists, plumbers and others skilled in cleaning wells. They had brought along high pressure diesel pumps and cooking utensils.

The operation kicked in soon as they split into small teams. One set took out the furniture while the electrician mended electric wiring and appliances. Another team drained the well with a diesel pump. The well would then be entrusted to the cleaning team, which would use the repaired pump and clean the house using the well water. They even painted the walls in some houses.

By this time, all kitchen utensils had been cleaned. “We gave utensil kits worth Rs 2,000 to those who had nothing left in their kitchens,” said A.K. Shamseer, who took the lead in organising the team. The team distributed one mat each to the 500 houses, too.

In three days, the team tidied up most of the houses in the village. Their last task was to clean the local church which had suffered huge losses, including a broken stone lamp.

“We fixed the lamp, too,” said Mr Shamseer. “The village won’t ever forget that we brought back the light.” Before hopping back home, the team even spread out a Kozhikodan biriyani for the villagers.

Fr Joby Jose Aryanchery, vicar of Our Lady of the Rosary Church, lauded Kuttiyadikkar: “They not only restored our homes, but instilled in us a sense of hope, too,” he told DC.

He recalled the group bringing home an old woman, who was in an orphanage, and cleaning her home. “Salute their passion,” the vicar said.