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Heavy rains triggered multiple landslides in the southern Indian state of Kerala on Tuesday, killing more than 100 people, injuring dozens and leaving many others buried under rubble.
The landslides destroyed hillside villages in Wayanad district including Mundakkai, Choralmala, Attamala and Noorpuzha.
Authorities say rescue efforts are continuing but have been severely hampered by bad weather and hundreds of people are feared to still be trapped.
Health Minister Bina George said several areas had been rendered inaccessible due to extensive damage to infrastructure, including collapsed roads and washed-out bridges.
“We need to re-establish communication links. Helicopters will also be deployed but the weather is bad,” she told news agency ANI.
The scale of the disaster is yet to be fully determined, but authorities confirmed that at least 93 people had been killed by 4:30 pm local time on Tuesday (noon GMT). Local AsiaNet TV station put the unofficial death toll at 107. Some 116 injured people were hospitalized.
Video from the scene showed rescue workers wading through rubble and downed trees and muddy water flowing over the remains of destroyed homes.
Authorities have mobilised helicopters to assist with rescue efforts and the Indian army has been called in to build a temporary bridge connecting the affected areas after the original was destroyed by a landslide.
Further rainfall is expected in Kerala throughout Tuesday, with authorities closing schools in some parts of the state.
Landslide-prone Kerala state experienced heavy rainfall in northern and central parts of the state, with Wayanad recording up to 28 centimetres (11 inches) of rain in the past 24 hours, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi offered his condolences and announced financial assistance of ₹ 1,900 to the families of those who died and ₹ 475 to those injured.
“Rescue operations are currently underway to assist all those affected. I have spoken to Kerala Chief Minister Shri @pinarayivijayan and have assured all possible assistance from the Central Government,” he posted on Twitter/X.
Leader of the Opposition and former Congress leader from Wayanad Rahul Gandhi spoke in Parliament about the rise in landslides, urging the Modi government to increase compensation to victims.
“There has been an alarming increase in landslides in our country over the last few years,” Gandhi told Parliament.
“There is an urgent need to map landslide-prone areas and put in place mitigation measures and action plans to address the increasing frequency of natural disasters in ecologically fragile areas,” he said.
Landslides have also been recorded in the mountainous state of Himachal Pradesh in recent weeks, with many areas in the north suffering flooding.
Scientific assessments show that the climate crisis caused by the burning of coal, oil and gas is making rainfall more erratic and increasing the amount of rainfall over shorter periods. The past 13 months have been the hottest on record on Earth, and Sunday marked the hottest day on record.
Meanwhile, human activities such as construction in environmentally sensitive areas have made many hilly areas prone to landslides.
“Monsoon patterns are becoming increasingly erratic with more rain falling in a shorter period of time. As a result, landslides and floods are becoming more frequent along the Western Ghats,” Roxy Matthew Cole, a climate scientist at the Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology in Pune, told The Associated Press.
Cole also said authorities must monitor the rapid construction activity taking place in the landslide area.
“Landslides and flash floods are frequent in areas where the effects of both climate change and direct human intervention in the form of land-use change are evident,” he said.
