"We have to think in terms of longer-term as well": Shashi Tharoor on relief supplies to landslide-affected people in Wayanad

Wayanad (Kerala) [India], August 3 (ANI): As the search and rescue operations are still underway in landslide-hit Wayanad, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor called for an active policy framework on disaster response and mitigation on Saturday and asserted that long-term responses from the government are needed to rehabilitate the people affected by the natural disaster.
Tharoor told ANI, "Food and so on, is plentifully available in Wayanad but we were able to bring some mattresses, soft, spongy things that you can spread out on the floor and lie on to help people. But all of these are just urgent, immediate responses. We have to think in terms of the longer term as well. For example, the relief camps are all in schools, but the schools have to reopen. Children have to go back to school and study. So we need to get them out into longer-term residential arrangements, such as rented homes or hostels. And the government has to take a role and then we're all helping. Then we have to build homes for them for the longer term."
He further pointed out that the Leader of Opposition, Rahul Gandhi, has announced that 100+ homes will be built by the Congress alone.
"Rehabilitation is a whole big issue. Now there is a proposal coming from the central government to declare 10,000 square kilometres near the Western Ghats in Kerala as ecologically sensitive areas. They're seeking comments from the public for the next 60 days. It's important to understand that the public is the stakeholder. We have to see really what they feel because it's their futures and their lives that will also be affected by all this," he added.
The Congress MP also mentioned that he wrote a letter to Union Home Minister Amit Shah to declare the Wayanad situation a national calamity.
"I wrote to the Home Minister three days ago, asking that we should have a provision to declare this a national calamity so that under the MP funds, all of India's MPs 543 in the Lok Sabha, 250 in the Rajya Sabha would be entitled, should they so wish to give up to a crore in assistance to the victims of Wayanad. I'm still awaiting a reply because currently under the MP fund rules, only the local MP, the MP of Wayanad, is in a position to give money, and there is no MP in Wayanad, so they have not even called a by-election yet," Shashi Tharoor said.
The death toll in the massive landslides that occurred on July 30 in Chooralmala and Mundakkai of Wayanad stands at 308 as of Friday, Kerala Health Minister Veena George said.
As per the latest update, 215 bodies and 143 body parts were recovered, including 98 males, 87 females and 30 children. The post-mortem procedures were completed on 212 bodies and 140 body parts and 148 bodies have been identified by relatives so far. (ANI)