Wayanad (Kerala) | On July 30, 2024, life changed forever for hundreds of families living on the picturesque foothills of Mundakkai and Chooralmala in Kerala's Wayanad district.

Within seconds, a massive landslide tore through the hills. Homes, shops, places of worship and roads were swallowed by mud and rocks. Entire stretches of land disappeared. Three wards of Meppadi panchayat were wiped out.

When the rain stopped and the dust settled, several people had lost their lives.

Some children were left with no one in their family. Many survivors stood alone where once their homes had stood, with nothing left to repair or rebuild.

Rescue teams worked for months in difficult terrain, searching through slush and debris.

For those who survived, the days that followed were filled with grief, fear and uncertainty about the future.

During rehabilitation talks with the government, survivors made a simple request -- they wanted to live together again. They did not want to be scattered across different places.

The Kerala government listened. It drew up a township project to rehabilitate all the affected families in one place.

At Elton Estates, on 130 acres of land acquired by invoking provisions of the Disaster Management Act, a new settlement has taken shape.

Neat rows of well-built houses now stand where there was once open land. The township being built includes basic facilities such as a hospital, school, community hall and playgrounds.

Shops and other services are also planned to help families restart their livelihoods.

The first batch of 178 beneficiaries of houses constructed under the Model Township project near Kalpetta will begin living there from March 1, after Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan hands over the keys.

"We are so happy and so thankful. This is such a good area, so close to Kalpetta town and we never dreamt of having such a good house in this area. The government has done better than what we all imagined," Manoj JMJ, a survivor and the convenor of the action council for the landslide survivors, told PTI Videos.

Manoj had come with his wife to see their house, allotted to them through a draw.

"The government gave us the rent, money for survival and now this beautiful house with all the amenities and even with a compound wall and gate," Manoj said.

He said soon after the disaster and losing many of their near and dear ones, what continued to haunt them was the seperation they felt as those who once lived so close had to live in different areas in rented houses.

"Now we all are going to be living in one place again and we are so happy. We are so thankful," Fousia, another beneficiary in the first phase told PTI.

The works to complete the finer details of the houses in the first phase are on a warfooting. The governement had to postpone the handing over of the keys to the beneficiaries to March 1 from the first proposed date of February 25.

"It is not that work is happening only on these 178 houses. In fact, we have completed more than 210 houses and only minor works remain. The demand these people have made is that they all want to live here before the next monsoon, and they want the remaining works to be completed as well," said Dr Arun JO, Chief Operating Officer of the Wayanad Township project.

He said a total of 410 houses would be completed and that public amenities would also be finished in three phases.

"The contract we have with the construction contractor is for 540 days, and all the works will be completed within this time frame," he said.

At present, 320 people have sought houses in the township. Several families who were initially unwilling to join the project and instead accepted Rs 15 lakh in lieu of a house have now begun returning, requesting homes in the township and offering to repay the money they had taken.

The District Collector has already said that their requests are being actively considered.

Emotions are expected to run high when the beneficiaries gather to receive the keys from the Chief Minister on March 1.

Many survivors have been visiting the township to see the progress of construction.

Road laying work is under way, with around 12 kilometres of top-quality tarred roads planned within the township, connecting all the houses. Every cluster of 20 houses will have a common green space, which residents can use as a park, for playing, or for small-scale cultivation.

Each house has a built-up area of 1,000 square feet, with a strong foundation that allows owners to build additional floors in the future if they wish. Solar panels have been installed on the terrace of every house to ensure power self-sufficiency.

The township also has two centralised sewage treatment plants that are power-neutral and use eco-friendly treatment methods. A 95-lakh-litre water tank supplies water to each house.

"This water flow is also based on gravitational flow as the water from Karapuzha dam flows in to the water tank using gravity and the water from tank to the overhead water tanks in each house also using gravity and no electric power required," Arun JO said.