PM Modi carries out aerial survey of disaster-hit areas of Wayanad

Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday carried out an aerial survey of disaster-hit areas of this north Kerala district where landslides claimed hundreds of lives.

Modi conducted aerial survey of the landslide-ravaged Chooralmala, Mundakkai, and Punchirimattom hamlets aboard an Indian Air Force helicopter, on which he departed to Wayanad from Kannur Airport around 11.15 am.

The PM was accompanied by Kerala Governor Arif Mohammed Khan, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan and Union Minister of State for Tourism and Petroleum and Natural Gas Suresh Gopi.

After the aerial survey, he will land at the SKMJ Higher Secondary School in Kalpetta here from where Modi will proceed to certain landslides-hit areas by road.

His visit comes at a time when the Kerala government has sought Rs 2,000 crore in assistance for rehabilitation and relief work in the disaster-stricken region.

At least 226 people died and many remain unaccounted for after landslides hit the region on July 30 in what is seen as one of the biggest natural disasters to have impacted the southern state.