2018 India Kerala Flooding

19.08.2018

Updated as of August 19, 2018 at 2:00am local time in Kerala.

Humanity Road activated its disaster desk on August 16 after severe flash flooding and landslides impacted the state of Kerala in India. This report number 2 provides early indications based on social media for August 17-18, 2018.

The Government of Kerala continues to maintain centralized information for response efforts, providing a single website portal including rescue requests, needs, offers, volunteers, and non-governmental organizations at https://keralarescue.in and has now added a crowdsourced

rescue heat map with needs, and shelters at https://keralarescue.in/map

Situation Overview

18 Aug

Humanitarian Aid International in India reports that the state of Kerala has seen the worst flooding in the living memory, due to heavy rains continuing since July. The Indian Meteorological Department has declared Red Alert in the entire state, but amongst all Alapuzha, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Ernakulam, Wynadu, & Idukki districts continue being the worst affected. The chief minister has described the situation as “very grim” and sought support for relief and recovery. For the first time in the history of Kerala, all the gates of 37 reservoirs had to be opened to release excess water, which caused widespread inundation of rural as well as urban areas. The coastal area habitations are also facing serious danger due to intrusion of seawater and overflowing of rivers.

source: https://reliefweb.int/report/india/kerala-floods-disaster-response

Download PDF Reports:

  • Humanity Road Sitrep No 1, Kerala India Floods, 16Aug2018 (1).pdf
  • Humanity Road Sitrep No 2, Kerala India Floods, 18Aug2018.pdf

Significant Updates

18 Aug:

  • Government of Kerala continues to maintain centralized information for response efforts, providing a single website portal including rescue requests, needs, offers, volunteers, NGO’s at https://keralarescue.in and has now added a crowdsourced rescue heat map with needs, shelters at https://keralarescue.in/map/
  • Residents all over the state of 33 million have made urgent appeals on social media for help, saying they cannot make contact with rescue services as power and communication lines are down. source
  • Flood Situation in Kerala is easing as many of the rivers are falling and have fallen below the Previous Highest Flood Level source
  • Due to the floods in Kerala, there has been a shortage of drinking water. Railways is providing 1,500,000 litres of water to Kerala from Pune and Ratlam. source
  • Death toll has risen to 324. Approximately 223 000 people have been left homeless and sought refuge in more than 1 500 relief camps. An estimated 10,000 km of roads have been submerged or buried by landslides. Railways, power supplies and communication systems have been severely disrupted. Kochi airport is expected to remain closed until 26 August. More than 80 dams have been opened to try to ease the pressure of the floods source
  • 5:00pm Rescues continue. Over 314,000 people are in relief camps and 190 deaths reported to date. More rain coming and red alert for 11 districts source
  • The worst affected districts are Kochi, Pathanamthitta, Kottayam, Alleppy, Idukki, Wynadu, Ernakulam, Palakkad, Malappuram and Trisur. source
  • The weather department has forecast more rains, therefore, it is feared that the situation would further deteriorate. It is feared that more urban areas may also inundate including hospitals and primary health centres. source
  • Oxfam is working with the Indian Government and will be providing aid including clean water, toilets, food and temporary shelter in two districts initially – Idduki and Wayanad – then scaling up to cover Alappuzha, Palakkad and Pathanamthitta. To help prevent an outbreak of disease, Oxfam teams will be working with communities to remove debris from villages and distributing hygiene kits containing soap and other items. source
  • Humanitarian Openstreetmap has volunteer teams improving mapping of the impacted area source
  • Metro railway has been turned into a major rescue and rehabilitation network with volunteers utilising it to convey relief supplies to shelters and camps across Kochi. source
  • Minister of Railways reports that the railway has supplied 280,000 litres of drinking water and 100,000 bottles of water for relief efforts. source
  • Relief camp facilities are being set up at the Kendriya Vidyalaya and Sir Robert Bristow Memorial School at Cochin Port including Medical facilities source
  • Army, Air Force, Navy and Coast Guard are also deployed for assisting the State in search & rescue operations. A total of 38 helicopters have been deployed for rescue and relief measures. In addition, 20 Aircraft are also being used for ferrying resources. source
  • 57 Teams of NDRF involving about 1300 personnel and 435 Boats are deployed for search and rescue operations. Five Companies of BSF, CISF and RAF’s have been deployed in the State to carry out rescue and relief measures. source

17 Aug:

  • A total of 82,442 rescues were made today. 3,14,391 people from 70,085 families are safe in 2094 camps across the State. source
  • Indian Army has made 13 temporary bridges to reconnect 38 remote areas, total of 3627 personnels have been rescued till date, including 22 foreign nationals. source
  • Indian Coast Guard Mobilizes additional resources for rescue source
  • Kochi: Ernakulam: shortage of medical staff is hampering response efforts. Just 20 percent of paramedical staff is present. Nurses and pharmacists are urgently needed. Staffing for doctors is adequate source
  • In Kozhikode, Operation Navajeevan has been launched to provide medical aid to people impacted in Kerala. The Kozhikode district health department launched the mission with the active support of National Health Mission, Active Network Groups of Emergency Lifesavers, Kerala Private Hospital Association, Indian Medical Association and Non-Government organisations to ensure medical aid to people in various relief camps. source

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National Links

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Regional and Local Links

Kerala

 

 

Emergency Numbers

 

Information Helplines

  • Disaster Management Section Collectorate Pathanamthitta
    • Dy.Collector ( Disaster Management)0468-2322515 , 8547610039
    • Collectorate, Pathanamthitta0468-2222515
    • CA to District Collector0468-2222505
    • Tahsildar Adoor04734-224826, 944703482

Reuniting / Reunification Numbers and Websites

Toll Free No. 1800 220 161

Maps and Situational Awareness

Google Map and Response Page link

Kerala flood affected area map Link

Resource Inventory by District http://sdma.kerala.gov.in/idrn/

Reliefweb Aid Agency situation reports India link

Situational updates from Express News links

Status

18 Aug:

  • Government of Kerala continues to maintain centralized information for response efforts, providing a single website portal including rescue requests, needs, offers, volunteers, NGO’s at https://keralarescue.in and has now added a crowdsourced rescue heat map with needs, shelters at https://keralarescue.in/map/
  • Humanitarian Openstreetmap has volunteer teams improving mapping of the impacted area source

Shelters and Evacuation Centers

18 Aug:

  • Shelter locations can be found on https://keralarescue.in and now shelters are on the map at https://keralarescue.in/map/
  • More than 1,200 people are shelter in the Government Higher Secondary School in Elamakkara near Kochi, one of 2,094 relief camps operating across the state and is one of the biggest such in Ernakulam district source
  • Over 314,000 people are in relief camps source
  • 223 000 people homeless and sought refuge in more than 1 500 relief camps. source

Useful Links

Hospitals

Status

18 Aug:

  • Kochi: Relief camp facilities are being set up at the Kendriya Vidyalaya and Sir Robert Bristow Memorial School at Cochin Port including Medical facilities source

17 Aug:

  • Kochi: Ernakulam: shortage of medical staff is hampering response efforts. Just 20 percent of paramedical staff is present. Nurses and pharmacists are urgently needed. Staffing for doctors is adequate source
  • In Kozhikode, Operation Navajeevan has been launched to provide medical aid to people impacted in Kerala. The Kozhikode district health department launched the mission with the active support of National Health Mission, Active Network Groups of Emergency Lifesavers, Kerala Private Hospital Association, Indian Medical Association and Non-Government organisations to ensure medical aid to people in various relief camps. source

 

Useful Links

General Needs

16 Aug

Special Needs Population

Useful Links

  • State Commissionerate for Persons with Disabilities
    • Website https://kerala.gov.in/state-commissionerate-for-persons-with-disabilities
  • Association for Welfare of the Handicapped
  • Senior care services in Kerala google map
  • Services for people with disabilities google map

Schools

Status of Schools

16 Aug:

  • The Kerala education department has announced that schools across the state will close for Onam holidays on 17 August. They will reopen on 29 August. The district administrations of Kozhikode, Alappuzha, Palakkad, Kottayam, Kollam, Kasaragod, and Malappuram have declared Friday a holiday due to the rains. source
  • Cochin University of Science and Technology and Calicut University are postponing exams until 31 August. The universities will be closed till 29 August. Other universities have also postponed exams. More here: source.

Useful Links

Communications

Status

18 Aug

  • Residents all over the state of 33 million have made urgent appeals on social media for help, saying they cannot make contact with rescue services as power and communication lines are down. source
  • Communication systems have been severely disrupted. source

 

Useful Links

  • Telecommunications service providers in Kerala: google map

Amateur Radio

Useful Links

Power and Fuel

Status

18 Aug

  • Power and communication systems have been severely disrupted. source

 

Useful Links

Water Systems

18 Aug:

  • Due to the floods in Kerala, there has been a shortage of drinking water. Railways is providing 1,500,000 litres of water to Kerala from Pune and Ratlam. source

Airports

Status

18 Aug:

  • Kochi airport is expected to remain closed until 26 August. source

 

Lists of Airports / Links

Roads and Bridges

Status

18 Aug:

  • An estimated 10,000 km of roads have been submerged or buried by landslides. Railways, have been severely disrupted. source

 

Useful Links

Railways and Buses

Status

18 Aug:

  • Southern Railway on Saturday said it has taken several initiatives to assist people in the flood-affected state by operating trains through diverted routes and setting up help desks to assist stranded passengers.”In order to get Kerala connected, trains are being run to various destinations through the available diverted routes of Erode, Dindigul,Karur, Tirunelveli and Nagercoil” source
  • Metro railway has been turned into a major rescue and rehabilitation network with volunteers utilising it to convey relief supplies to shelters and camps across Kochi. source
  • Minister of Railways reports that the railway has supplied 280,000 litres of drinking water and 100,000 bottles of water for relief efforts. source
  • Bus Service:
    • Bus services to Kochi were affected after parts of national highways connecting the city submerged. source
    • Inter-state bus service has been affected. The Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation (KSRTC) on Wednesday cancelled bus services from Bengaluru to places like Kannur, Kozhikode, and Kasargod. With KSRTC cancelling services, many passengers were stranded at bus stations across the city. Private bus operators have also scaled back service to Kerala. source

Useful Links

Maritime / Shipping / Ports

Kerala has two major port and 13 minor ports and 2 intermediate ports.Kerala has a coastline of around 590 km. Kochi Port, which is an all-weather natural harbour, is the major port present in Kerala. It is one of the largest commercial ports in India and the closest to international shipping routes (as well as safest for ships to dock). https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ports_in_Kerala

 

Useful Links

Kochi Port

Pictures and Videos

16 Aug

  • Kalady Town video drone footage of flooding source
  • Kerala house collapse video source
  • Pathanamthitta district photos source
  • Aluva town photos source
  • Video of boy being airlifted source
  • Flooded Baby Memorial Hospital, Calicut City source
  • Video of Ernakulam Thrissur Highway source

Twitter Accounts of Interest

Hashtags

Event: #KeralaFloods #KeralaFlood #KeralaFlood2018

Micro-Hashtags: #KeralaSOS, #kochimetro, #keralafloodrelief, #soskerala, #standwithkerala

 

Accounts of Interest

 

Facebook Accounts of Interest

 

Traditional Media (TV, Radio, Newspapers)

 

  • Indian Express Kerala floods live updates: source
  • Economic Times Kerala flood updates: source
  • Times of India Kerala flood updates: source
  • NDTV Kerala flood updates: source

Animals in Disaster

Status

18 Aug:

  • HSI India is supporting animal rescue efforts source

Useful Links

Volunteers Reporting

Alice, Aline, Chris, Crystal, Paras