Floodwaters are starting to recede in the southern Indian state of Kerala. But they've left nearly 400 people dead and caused billions of dollars' worth of damage to private and public infrastructure. The Indian government has categorized the situation as "severe". People on the ground, however, including the state government, say the damage is so severe that it should be categorized as a "national calamity" to allow more funds to reach the state. Shweta Bajaj has the report.

400 people dead, 50,000 people rescued and more than 700,000 people displaced. The fury of rains in Kerala has left devastation of epic proportions. As the water recedes, the damage is becoming clearer. 10,000 kilometres of state highways and roads have been destroyed. It will take years to rebuild the infrastructure here.

PINARAYI VIJAYAN CHIEF MINISTER OF KERALA "223 people lost their lives from August 8 to 20. The central administration has said that they'll make all necessary requirements available to us. But what is most needed today is the necessary help, equivalent to the total damage caused so far."

The loss to the state has been pegged at a massive 3.8 billion US dollars. India's central government has given only a small portion of that. Many teams of the country's disaster contingency force are still deployed and people across the country are donating in large numbers to the Kerala Relief Fund. Kerala's main airport – Kochi International Airport – was submerged in water and the airport has seen a massive loss of 2.2 billion dollars in expected revenue.

COMMODORE R. R. IYER COMMANDING OFFICER, NAVAL AIRPORT, INS GARUDA "The airport is now again back into civil operations. And substantial amount of work have been undertaken to ensure that the dispersal and all the facilities are available. So, all support is given for the aircraft to operate from here."

The human face of this tragedy is now a central concern as people start to return home to pick up the pieces of their lives. Pushplata and Abhilash have been camping in a temporary shelter after their house was ravaged by the fury of the flood. The couple went back to their house on Tuesday. They had escaped with their children on branches of banana leaves. Worried about her pet dogs which she could not carry as water levels suddenly rose, she had a moment of joy when she reunited with her dogs.

PUSHPLATA FLOOD VICTIM "I have come back to my house after eight days and I just looked around my house and everything is lost. All my food, all my groceries, rice and everything is lost. I have four dogs and they had no food for eight days. They were up on the terrace. Today, after eight days, they will get food to eat, I am so happy to see my dogs. I was very worried about my dogs and pets at the camp. Everything is lost, that is a big problem."

But it's an uphill task from here on. The house is filled with mud and every belonging drowned. It will take her family a long time to return to normalcy.

1.2 million people are in camps. The Kerala government has said they would be helped at every step. With dead bodies in flood waters, there are fears that an outbreak of disease could threaten the state's population of 34 million. The health ministry has airlifted 60 tonnes of emergency medicine and has put six specialized medical teams on standby. With Agency reports, Shweta Bajaj, CGTN, Kochi, India.