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Gujarat people go to sleep with
fear in their hearts; toll 1967

The death toll in the earthquake the hit Gujarat is mounting at an alarming rate and the official figure late on Friday night stood at 1967 deaths while another 4500 remained trapped inside collapsed buildings.

Some people have been trapped under debris for more than 16 hours now and chances of their survival are receding by the minute. In Ahmedabad, the death toll has reached 350 by late night and many are still trapped under the debris.

All these figures pertain to urban centres and accurate information from rural areas is yet to come in. The state administration fears that the toll may go beyond that in the Latur earthquake.

Worst affected is Kutch region and Bhuj, Rapar and Bhachau have been severely hit. The epicentre of the quake is believed to lie around 20 km north east of Bhuj. The casualties in Kutch-Bhuj region are expected to run into thousands.

Cities like Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau and Rapar in Kutch, the worst affected district in the state, have turned into ghost towns. There has still been no information from Kandla-Gandhidham, which is the largest urban centre of the district.

In Bhuj alone, more than 2000 persons are said to be trapped in crashed buildings while 1500 persons are facing a similar fate in Bhacha in Kutch district.

Communication channels to Bhuj have been disrupted. The airport in Bhuj has been damaged and, hence, the air link has been disrupted. However, the IAF managed to land a transport aircraft in the evening.

The land route to Bhuj from Saurashtra has been cut. The Suraj Bari bridge, which connects Kutch with Saurashtra, has been badly damaged. The only route now available is via Radhanpur in north Gujarat.

Rescue teams could not be organised due to the complete chaos that prevailed in the state.

Union Home Minister L K Advani who rushed to Gujarat said some contact has been established in Kutch, but that no accurate information about the casualties is coming in.

More than two hundred injured villagers of Kutch reached Patan and Mehsana on their own. According to them, Rapar and Bhachau towns of Kutch are almost destroyed and even Bhuj has not been spared.

With a population of 150,000, the death toll in Bhuj is expected to be high.

IAF personnel are trying to restore the communication links in Bhuj. Unfortunately, IAF personnel of the Western Air Command headquarters at Gandhinagar were away in Jodhpur for military exercises along with the Indian Army.

However, police personnel were available in full strength at the districts headquarters owing to the R-Day celebrations though they could do little as removing heavy debris required special cranes and machinery, which were in short supply.

The condition in Morbi in Saurashtra is also expected to be bad. At least 146 people have been killed in Morbi. The hostel of the engineering college of the city collapsed, but many students have been rescued.

Though Rajkot was also affected, the death toll is not expected to be high. Bhavnagar, which over the last year experienced frequent minor earthquakes, escaped major destruction. Very few deaths have been reported from the city so far as it is far away from the epicentre.

Ahmedabad city was rocked by a quake measuring around 6.9 on the Richter scale at around 0850 hours (IST) leaving 249 dead and 556 injured. The official figure for the toll in the state stood at 1967 at Friday evening, but it could go up as rescue work is yet to pick up. Many are feared trapped in collapsed buildings.

Eighty-two buildings have collapsed in Ahmedabad alone. With many people still trapped under the debris, it is feared that the death toll in the city alone could go up to 750.

People took it upon themselves to rescue injured people from the debris. Many social organisations have come forward to organise relief operations.

Ahmedabad Mayor Himmatsinh Patel reached V S Hospital at around 1000 hours and was trying to goad the Ahmedabad Municipal Corporation administration into action. As phone lines were dead in early part of the morning, the AMC's wireless system was used for information gathering and dissemination.

Chief Minister Keshubhai also rushed to Ahmedabad from Gandhinagar and stayed put at the Police Control Room. Later, he ordered setting up of a control room at the Circuit House. However, the task proved difficult.

Electricity supply had been cut off as a precautionary measure. However, it was restored around noon and Doordarshan started transmitting news bulletins. The chief minister went on air and appealed for calm and requested people to help each other and the administration.

In Ahmedabad, all the roads were jam packed with vehicles as people were rushing to enquire about kith and kin. Besides, few dared to go back into their homes.

Ironically, the decades-old houses in old Ahmedabad city remained comparatively intact while the flashy high-rise buildings that came up in the last decades proved fragile.

Many multi-storeyed buildings collapsed killing large number of people.

Manasi Apartment, a 10-storeyed residential tower in Satellite area collapsed. The just completed and half-empty D-block of Shikhar Tower in Vejalpur also came crashing down. Raghu Kripa, another high rise shook wildly before titling to one side. However, residents had a miraculous escape.

Many buildings have developed cracks and some are leaning to a side. Even a slight tremor can cause them to collapse. Residents are not prepared to move into them and are spending the night in the open.

People are helping each other and organising community kitchens while some whose homes survived the destruction are giving shelters to others.

Night has engulfed the state while fear has engulfed the hearts of the people. Experts have warned of some minor tremors following the major quake and, hence, everyone is keeping their fingers crossed.

The casualties in various cities and towns are as follows:
Bhuj, dist. Kutch - 500
Anjar, dist. Kutch - 650
Ahmedabad city - 355
Morbi, dist. Rajkot - 176
Vankaner, dist. Rajkot - 20
Malia, dist. Rajkot - 57
Jamnagar dist - 87
Surendranagar dist - 55
Surat city - 33
Porbander city - 5
Patan - 4
Navsari - 5
(These are not the final figures)

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EXTERNAL LINKS
The RD Killer Quake of Jan 26, 2001: Technical details
All about earthquakes in India and their impact
India Meteorological Department's earthquake reports
Disaster relief set-up in India
Major earthquakes across the world in recent times
A post-quake volunteer's unusual tryst with the departed
Earthquake News: Web site offering comprehensive news, information and features
Earthquake site map

COMPLETE COVERAGE
Earthquake hits India

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