10 numbers tell the story of the catastrophic Kerala floods
Kerala, August 17: As India celebrated its 71st Independence Day on Aug. 15, the southern coastal state of Kerala was being ravaged by the worst floods in nearly 100 years.
Here are 10 numbers that show the intensity of the devastation in the state:
915% more rainfall
…than usual received by Kerala on Independence Day. Over the past seven days, the state has received 257% excess rainfall.
14 districts
…which is the entire state, are on red alert. All of Kerala’s 44 rivers are overflowing.
A drowning man being rescued on the outskirts of Kochi, Kerala, on Aug. 16, 2018.
256 dead
…since the rains began in May. This includes over 20 lives lost on Aug. 15 alone. The search for missing people is currently on.
1,65,000 people
…have been shifted to 1,155 relief camps. Five days ago, Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that the floods have destroyed 20,000 houses, a number which has been growing since then. Makeshift relief camps are also cropping up while victims await food, water, medicines, and electricity to charge their phones.
10,000 kilometres
…of roads are damaged, Vijayan has said. The sluice gates of 35 out of Kerala’s 39 dams have been opened. The state electricity board switched off 4,000 transformers to prevent electrocution.
The Athirampally falls in Thrissur district on Aug. 13. The region is on a high alert with schools and offices being closed due to the rising water levels of River Periyar after the gates of the Idukki reservoir were opened.
$1.19 billion
…or Rs 8,316 crore was the preliminary estimate of the state’s loss as on Aug. 12. The state is spending an additional Rs3,000 crore ($428 million) on immediate relief measures. Kerala sought Rs1,220 crore from Narendra Modi’s central government as immediate relief, but for now has been allotted only Rs100 crore ($14 million).
211 landslides
…were reported from across the state till last week.
30 teams
…from the National Disaster Relief Force, 24 from the Indian Navy, 13 columns of the Indian Army, and 10 teams of the Indian Coast Guardare engaged in search and rescue operations, along with other emergency responders. The Indian Air Force has airlifted 340 individuals, many of them from rooftops of flooded buildings.
Rescue workers evacuate people on the outskirts of Kochi on Aug. 16, 2018.
20 aircraft
…and over 50 boats have till now been deployed by the defence ministry for relief work.
82 tourists
…were stranded inside a bus in Munnar district in central Kerala. Hundreds of students are stranded at the Sree Sankarcharya University of Sanskrit in Ernakulam district.
Courtesy: qz.com
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Shivaji statue collapse case: HC grants bail to consultant Chetan Patil
Mumbai (PTI): The Bombay High Court on Thursday granted bail to consultant Chetan Patil arrested in connection with the collapse of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj''s statue at Rajkot fort in Malvan in August.
A 35-foot statue of the iconic Maratha warrior king collapsed in Sindhudurg district on August 26, nearly nine months after Prime Minister Narendra Modi unveiled it on Navy Day.
Patil was arrested on August 30 from Kolhapur.
A single bench of Justice A S Kilor on Thursday held that no case was made out to implicate Patil in the case as he had not been appointed as the structural designer of the statue.
The bench further said Patil had only submitted a structural stability report of the pedestal of the statue and the pedestal was intact even after the collapse.
Another accused, Jaydeep Apte, who was the sculptor and contractor, was also arrested in the case. The HC said it would hear his bail plea on November 25.
The Sindhudurg police had registered an FIR under Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita for negligence and other offences last month against Apte and Patil for the statue's collapse.
Patil and Apte moved HC seeking bail after a sessions court rejected their pleas.
