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Pune Command Hospital tends to quake victims

Rucha Chitnis in Pune

All that 10-year-old Akshay wants to do is play kabbadi. But he will have to wait a while for the fractures on his right arm and leg to heal. His father, Sunderji Vora, cries like a child: "I don't know where my wife is. My entire village (Dudhai) has been destroyed."

A small part of Gujarat has been transported to the Command Hospital in Pune in Maharashtra with all its misery and memories of the devastating earthquake.

A girl in the children's ward calls out incessantly for her mother as she moans in pain. Her mother is among thousands missing in Gujarat.

But despite all the pain, most patients share a sense of gratitude for the Indian Army that air lifted them from Gujarat and brought them to Pune for treatment.

Each injured is accompanied by one relative. The relatives have been accommodated at the Armed Forces Medical College.

Many patients have been sent to different hospitals around the city for specialised treatment.

In the Command Hospital, concerned relatives tend attentively to the wounded. A man gently massages his wife's head, another divides time between his two children - feeding an apple to one and rocking the other to sleep.

Almost every patient has a story of courage and fortitude to tell. Forty-two-year-old Razia Darugar was trapped in the debris for 27 agonising hours before she was pulled out by labourers. Razia's right leg has been amputated, yet she smiles.

"At least I am alive to see my three-month-old grand-daughter," she says. Her nephew, Aziz, looks at her and says: "Throughout the ordeal she has not complained even once. She is truly a brave woman."

Aziz, though pleased at his aunt's irrepressible spirit, has tragedy and pain staring at him. "My brother is missing, and we now think that he is dead. But I can't allow myself to break down in front of my aunt." His brother was scheduled to get married in the first week of February. Invitation cards had gone out to family and friends.

In the children's ward, nine children are being treated for head injuries, fractures and wounds. One of the girls lies in a coma. She is the only child who is not accompanied by a relative. But eager volunteers are giving her extra time.

Ward Master D S Sidhu says: "The people of Pune are nice. Civilians have arrived with clothes and fruits and the patients are growing in confidence."

The Command Hospital is bracing itself for more arrivals from Gujarat. "One more aircraft would be coming with the injured. We can accommodate 200 patients and we are doing everything to save as many lives as we can," Major General R S Rathore, commandant of the hospital, said.

And what does the future hold for these patients?

"I have no idea, my village has been destroyed, my house is a heap of rubble. But I don't want to worry about that now. All I want is my son to stand on his feet again," says Dalichand.

Will government compensation help?

Ketan, who is here with his injured mother, wonders how many of them will get a house, or money. "Thousands of people are homeless, will they all get houses," wonders Pushpa.

But then a slight smile breaks on Pushpa's face. "The very fact that we are alive is a miracle and a start of some sort," she says.

The Complete Coverage

OTHER SITES WITH INFORMATION
ON THE GUJARAT EARTHQUAKE:
panjokutch.com
kutchinfo.com
ahmedabad.com

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
USGS: Earthquake Hazards Program

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