Use social media with caution, Kerala CM Pinarayi Vijayan urges people

Vijayan said sending erroneous messages over the Internet will only cripple rescue operations at a time when agencies are fighting against all odds to save the “last person stranded” in the flood-ravaged state.

Kerala chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Sunday urged netizens in the flood-ravaged state to desist from spreading false information on the social media as such actions will only affect rescue operations.

Rescue personnel carry animals and elderly people to safety during a rescue operation in Thrissur’s Mala village on Sunday.(AFP Photo)

“Attention: Efforts are on to save even the last person stranded. Many of the requests coming to helpline numbers are from people who have already been rescued. Sending erroneous information can only delay rescue efforts. Kindly forward only messages that are valid,” the chief minister’s office said in a tweet.

Meanwhile, a video that has gone viral on the social media has accentuated the chief minister’s plea for sensitivity in these troubled times. The clip shows a group of people waving a rescue helicopter down, only to tell the pilot after landing that they had done so merely to click a selfie with his aircraft.

The red alert sounded across Kerala has been downgraded to amber for 10 districts (implying increased likelihood of bad weather and warning people to take precautionary measures) and yellow for two (indicating that the weather may change or worsen in the next few days). The red alert is sounded when the government wants people to take appropriate action to keep themselves as well as others safe in extremely bad weather.

 

Rains in the catchment areas of the big dams in Idukki district have also subsided, enabling the authorities to shut down two of Idukki dam’s five floodgates. The outflow from both Mullaperiyar and Idukki dams has also reduced, reducing water flow into the Periyar and its tributaries that flow through Ernakulam and Thrissur. As of Sunday, the death toll since August 9 stood at 370.

(With IANS inputs)