IIT-M team inspects landslip spot in Tiruvannamalai town

A four-member team from the Indian Institute of Technology-Madras (IIT-M) inspected the location of the landslip at VOC Nagar in Tiruvannamalai town on Tuesday in the wake of seven persons, including five children, dying in the disaster.

A landslip hit the rear end of the Arunachala Hill near Arunachaleswarar temple in the town on Sunday.

The IIT-M team comprised professors of the Department of Civil Engineering – Narasimha Rao; K. Akash; S. Mohan of the Environmental and Water Resources Engineering Division; and A. Boominathan of the Geotechnical Division. “We have inspected the location, and the extent of damage. We will submit our recommendations to the State government in two days,” Professor Mohan said.

Professor Mohan was responding to questions from mediapersons on residents needing to take precautionary measures while constructing buildings or other structures on the foothills. He said that owing to continuous rain, loose soil and rocks on the Hill became weakened. Rainwater on the hills eroded the loose soil and rocks, resulting in the landslip. 

The National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) team recovered two bodies – of N. Rajkumar, 28; and his daughter R. Iniya, 7 – on Tuesday. On Monday evening, the bodies of five persons – Rajkumar’s wife R. Meena, 26; his son, R. Gautham, 9; S. Maha, 12; M. Vinodini, 14; and S. Ramya, 12 – had been recovered. The seven persons were killed after a huge boulder fell on Rajkumar’s house in the landslip.

Earlier in the day, family members and relatives of Rajkumar staged a protest against the delay in retrieving the remaining bodies. Based on an alert, police and revenue officials rushed to the spot and pacified the agitated relatives of the deceased, who dispersed peacefully after assurance from authorities, police said.

Published - December 04, 2024 12:44 am IST