On July 30, 2024, multiple landslides occurred in a couple of villages belonging to the Wayanad district. It is being considered as one of the deadliest natural disasters in Kerala’s history with at least 300 deaths reported, over 200 injuries, and 218 still missing.
A woman, Sujatha, from Chooralmala, which is one of the villages devastated by the Wayanad landslides, shared how an elephant saved her and her family on the night that the disaster occurred. She calls it a “divine intervention”, reported Indian Express.
That night, the water levels rose like a sea, with trees floating by. Sujatha watched in horror as her neighbour’s two-storey house collapsed, destroying her own home. She managed to escape, hearing her granddaughter Mridula’s cries. She pulled Mridula out of the rubble, wrapped her in a cloth, and began swimming through the floodwaters.
Meanwhile, her son Gigeesh, daughter-in-law Sujitha, and grandson Suraj were in a nearby house. Gigeesh bravely dragged them one by one through the water. When they finally reached dry land and moved through a coffee plantation, they encountered an elephant blocking their path.
Wild elephants, especially tuskers, are often thought of as aggressive toward humans. But Sujatha had a different experience.
The family, exhausted and terrified, faced the elephant. Sujatha felt a sense of pleading for mercy from the tusker. She told the elephant, “We are coming from a great tragedy. We are afraid. There is no light, and water is all around. We somehow came swimming. Please don’t do anything to us.”
Astonishingly, the elephant stood still, with tears rolling down its eyes. It remained motionless until dawn, providing a sense of safety to the family huddled at its feet.
The next morning, rescuers found Sujatha and her family and took them to a safe house where they received dry clothes, food, and water. Sujatha and Mridula arrived at the Meppadi camp wearing the provided clothes, while the rest of the family was taken to a hospital.
How beautiful is the bond between animals and humans!