Only a vantage view of the hill captures the true scale of the horror. A wide, sludgy scar runs down its sideways, revealing the trail that the dislodged rocks and soil took to bury alive a five-member family living there.
In the closely packed colony of Maliyekkal on the Adoormala, a wash of mud and rubble travelled faster than screams during the early hours of August 29 . Ashokan Naramangalath, a local resident was in his bedroom when he heard the commotion around 3.30 a.m. It sounded as if the land was opening up and the ground shook.
He rushed outside for a better view and followed the dirt path to his neighbourhood, only to see a pile of dark-brown debris where a house had stood for years. The house belonged to Chittadikkal Soman, a 55-year-old, who had lived there along with his mother, wife, daughter, and grandson.
