Over million displaced

Calamity of severe nature

01:5301:5301:53Kerala floods: How to pack relief supply kits

Lives lost, rescue ops on

Relief and

rehabilitation

Air and road connectivity

Helping the victims

Overcoming the tragedy

A total of 10,28,000 people have been sheltered in 3,274 camps in the flood-hit districts, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday while tonnes of emergency aid poured in from all over the country. Some people could be seen returning to their homes from camps in Kozhikode, Wayanad, Malappuram and parts of Pathanamthitta after volunteers helped to clean up their muddy homes.The massive flood in Kerala has been declared a calamity of severe nature, the Union home ministry said on Monday. "Keeping in view the intensity and magnitude of the floods and landslides in Kerala, this is a calamity of a severe nature for all practical purposes," a home ministry official said. This categorisation will enable the state to get greater monetary and other assistance from the Centre.While Kerala got some respite from rain, K Santosh, director of India Meteorological Department's Thiruvananthapuram centre said all alerts have been withdrawn and the state experienced only light to moderate rainfall today. Similar precipitation has been forecast for the next five days.At least 216 people have lost their lives in the rains, floods and landslides in Kerala. Fifty cases of snake bites were reported in some areas as snakes from overflowing ponds had entered homes, the officials and volunteers said.The Army, Navy, and NDRF teams continued their rescue efforts. Lt Gen D R Soni, the chief of the Army's Southern Command on Monday said that 1,500 army personnel were engaged in rescue operations and people stranded on rooftops and inaccesible areas were being winched with the help of defence helicopters. Soni also highlighted the mammoth logistical problem the force was facing while trying to rescue people and reach them relief .Relief material, including provisions, water and fuel have started arriving at the Kochi port from different parts of the country, official sources said. Maharashtra has sent 30 tonne aid consisting of ready-to-eat food packets, milk powder, blankets, bed sheets, clothes, soaps and sanitary napkins to Kerala, an official release said in Mumbai.Efforts are now under way to clear the houses of the debris to make them habitable, officials said, underscoring the need for making available disinfectants like bleaching powder in adequate quantities to prevent outbreak of water- borne diseases.Kerala needs electricians, plumbers, and carpenters to bring it back to normalcy, Union minister K J Alphons said today. "There'll be no electricity in homes. Carpentry, plumbing would be gone. We need hundreds and thousands of electricians, plumbers and carpenters to rush to Kerala. People with technical capabilities are required to put life back into Kerala," tweeted the Union minister for tourism.Commercial flight operations from the naval airport at Kochi commenced on Monday with the first Air India flight from Bengaluru arriving this morning. Small aircraft are being operated from the naval airport as the Kochi International Airport has shut operations till August 26 following flooding of the runways.IndiGo will operate three additional daily relief flights to and from Kochi Naval Base, from August 21 to August 26Train services between Thiruvananthapuram and Ernakulam have resumed and railways is also planning to conduct a trial run from Shornur to Ernakulam. Train services from Thiruvananthapuram to Chennai, Mumbai, Bengaluru and Delhi have been partially restored.A team of around 100 doctors and paramedical staff from Maharashtra left for Kerala today to help the flood- affected people. The doctors flew to Thiruvananthapuram in two aircraft of the Indian Air Force.Earlier, Union minster of health, JP Nadda announced that the first batch of 90 different medicines has reached Kerala. Till now, 3757 medical camps have been setup in Kerala and quick response medical teams are expected to start work as soon as water recedes.Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said Kerala is striving together as one to overcome the "catastrophic" floods with "monumental strength".Referring to some messages being circulated on social media denigrating the relief efforts by the government, he said in a Facebook post that anyone trying to "pull us down will face serious consequences".