Gopalan Kutty, a visually challenged man, was living in his tile-thatched house at Kuttiyilthazham near Mankavu till Thursday. The 91-year-old was being taken care of by his 59-year-old widowed daughter Swarnakumari. When the family woke up to a crashing sound on Friday morning, the roof over their heads had caved in completely.
Gopalan Kutty was not even aware that his daughter had been injured in the roof collapse. It was some neighbours who rushed her to the General Hospital. She had six stitches on her head when she was discharged from the hospital.
“It was quite a sad moment for us as the visually challenged man and his daughter had to undergo such pain in this monsoon season,” said Babu Manassery, one of the neighbours who helped the family to escape. They were badly in need of a better house, but had no income to think of it seriously, he said.
The wooden parts of the tiled roof had been eaten away by termites. No repair work was carried out in the house built 50 years ago. Their old cots and some of the other furniture too got crushed as the roof collapsed.
“The saddest thing was that the family had to seek the mercy of one of the neighbours to arrange a temporary accommodation at the place. There is no certainty that someone will come to help them and repair the house,” said another resident in the area. “So far, Gopalan Kutty was living with the support of Swarnakumari, but, his daughter is struggling to recover from the shock,” he said.
