Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan on Thursday said that the Kerala government has urged the Centre to declare the landslides that hit chooralmala and Kandakkai areas in Wayanad a national disaster.

Addressing a press conference here, Pinarayi Vijayan said that the landslide-hit Wayanad needs a comprehensive rehabilitation project and the central government has responded positively to the state’s request for the project.

Chief Minister Vijayan said that the Union Home Ministry has appointed a nine-member expert committee to assess the severity of the Wayanad landslide disaster. “Union Home Ministry Joint Secretary Rajeev Kumar, who is its team leader, visited the office on Thursday. We need a comprehensive rehabilitation package for Wayanad. So far, there has been a generally positive response from the central government,” CM Vijayan said.

Considering the seriousness of the disaster, it is expected that the Centre will provide assistance for the victims’ families and their rehabilitation, he said.

“We hope that Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who is visiting Wayanad on Saturday, will take a positive stand in this regard,” he said.

He said that the exact number of fatalities in the Wayanad landslides will only be confirmed after DNA test.

Vijayan said that the DNA samples from the recovered bodies and body parts have been sent for testing and the exact number of death toll can only be confirmed after getting the DNA test results.

“So far, 225 deaths have been officially confirmed in the Wayanad landslide disaster. As many as 195 body parts have been found. The exact number can be calculated after the DNA sample results. It is not scientifically correct to calculate the number of body parts found as the number of dead, CM Vijayan said.

While unofficial reports suggest that 413 people have died in the landslides, the official death toll currently stands at 225.

The Chief Minister said that a mass search drive involving search teams and local residents will be held on Friday. Landslide victims will be allowed to search the areas where their homes once stood. This is a last-ditch effort to see if anyone can be found.