A family gathers in a prefabricated house donated by the Philokalia Foundation in Kerala state in India. / Credit: Anto Akkara

Bangalore, India, Dec 17, 2024 / 12:30 pm (CNA).

Amid a lack of government response to the worst landslide in the history of Kerala state in southern India, Catholic groups have responded with programs to help victims of the catastrophe.

The devastating July 30 landslide that virtually wiped out the bustling townships of Chooralmala and Mundakai in the mountain areas of Wayanad district claimed more than 400 lives and rendered over 1,500 families homeless.

Project Vision, a Catholic action group led by Claretian Father George Kannanthanam that serves the blind, leprosy-affected, and distressed from Bangalore, facilitated the recent distribution of half a dozen prefabricated houses, imported from China, to those rendered homeless by the deluge.

“This is a timely and model initiative for the suffering people. I congratulate those behind it,” T. Siddique, a member of the Kerala Legislative Assembly representing the region, said after handing over house keys to Lijo Thekkilakattil, whose house had been washed away along with his parents, Joseph and Leelama.

“The government should have done it to soothe the struggling people. I congratulate the priests behind it,” Siddique told CNA.

“I will certainly ask the government to provide such interim shelters without further delay ahead of building permanent houses for the families,” he added.

Kannanthanam explained to CNA: “Our target is to provide immediate relief to the people with these temporary houses that will last for three years until they get a permanent house the government has promised.”

“We do not want to discriminate and are giving two houses each to Christians, Hindus, and Muslims,” the priest said. The network has been setting up shelters for hundreds of houses for distraught families in India.

“I am very happy that we have a house near our church to attend Sunday Mass now,” Thekkilakattil, who works in a tea factory up the hills, told CNA.

“If we had been at home, we too would have been washed away with our parents and the house. Only the floor is left now,” Thekkilakattil said.

“Our parish with just 40 families suffered a big trauma as eight members besides an engineering student who had come to visit his relatives were washed away,” Father Jibin Vattukulam, the parish priest of Chooralmala’s St. Sebastian Church, told CNA. The priest helped identify the beneficiaries for the house distribution.

After its biannual assembly on Dec. 6, the Kerala Catholic Bishops’ Council (KCBC) urged the Kerala government to finalize the locations to start building 100 houses for the displaced under the leadership of the local Mananthavady Diocese.

Meanwhile, the Philokalia Foundation, headed by Muslim convert to the Catholic Church and evangelist Mario Joseph, has already built and handed over 14 two-bedroom houses to distressed families including four on Dec. 7 at Sita Mount, 40 miles from the disaster spot.

“We are building the houses with donations from good Samaritans at four plots, donated by those who responded to our appeal,” Joseph told CNA on Dec. 12.

Due to government restriction on building houses near the disaster zone, Joseph said, the Philokalia Foundation (meaning “attaining bliss through goodness, holiness, and love”) opted for the distant locations.

“Our priority is to provide comfortable houses for the suffering people, and we hope to complete 25 houses by [the] new year and 100 houses at the earliest,” Joseph said.

Aneesh Rangaswami, a 39-year-old Hindu, is “thrilled” with the two-bedroom house the Philokalia Foundation gave to his family of five on Nov. 12 at Sita Mount near Pulpally.

“Though we are in a far-off place, we are very happy. I have got a job as a tile worker here and our three children have already enrolled in a nearby school,” Rangaswami told CNA.

“When we heard the huge thud of earth breaking [the landslide] on the mountains, all of us including my parents ran off to higher places. That saved our lives,” Rangaswami recounted.

“While we were staying in the relief camp, sisters [nuns] in Mepadi school got us connected with this group, offering houses. We could not have dreamed of a house like this,” he said. 

Sumita, Rangaswami’s wife, was equally elated with the “blessing” of the free house and the foundation’s assurance to get her a job soon in the nearby coffee estates, a job she is familiar with.

“The calamity has brought a blessing to us. We thank God for it,” 75-year-old widowed Rosily, who has been struggling to take care of her specially-abled unmarried daughter Philomina and her two orphaned granddaughters, told CNA from the new house they were given.

The Sisters of Charity running the nearby Catholic school connected the family to the Philokalia Foundation.

“Three of our schools were used as relief camps for over a month. We had seen and listened to their misery. So, we knew the needy people closely and have been recommending them for rehabilitation,” Sister Maria told CNA.