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As corpses mount, Bhuj residents fear epidemic

Sheela Bhatt in Bhuj and Anjaar

"Rescue operations in Bhuj are in full swing, but inadequate," claims Dr Gyaneshwar Rao, chief of the Indian Medical Association's Gujarat chapter. A resident of Bhuj himself, he said, "As of Monday night, that is four days after the tragedy, we don't have an operation theatre to even manage a simple pregnancy. We hope the infrastructure will be created in 24 hours' time so we can treat those with injuries and other sickness.

"Another cause for worry is that as more and more dead bodies are unearthed, on the one hand the gutter system has collapsed while on the other bodies will start decaying. That could lead to infection and epidemic."

Rasik Thakker of the Bharatiya Janata Party, who has virtually been living in the Lohana Samaj funeral ground since January 26, told rediff.com, "Since the arrival of foreign experts, more dead bodies have been extricated. They are in a state of such advanced decay, that I pray it does not lead to an epidemic."

In Bhuj, the British, German, Israeli, Turkish and Russians experts have have been diverted to disaster zones that are feared to contain more than 100 persons trapped in the debris. Col Eli, the defence attache with the Israeli team, told rediff.com, "We have expertise to set up a fully operational hospital in 24 hours time. We hope with our medical staff of 150, we are able to start performing operations by January 31." The Israelis have brought along six aircraft of equipment with them.

A Turkish expert told rediff.com, "We are only six persons, but will help."

In Anjaar, where the Russians are highly visible, high-tech rescue efforts are on. Armed with cameras and sensors to pick up human heartbeat, their arrival led to great relief among the locals. And not without reason: the Russians managed to pull out six students from the debris in one day.

Naushad Khalipha, who was among those rescued, told rediff.com, "I was singing Vande Mataram when suddenly the whole bazaar collapsed from both sides on me and my friends."

His friend Mohsin was not so lucky, but Naushad's father does not have the heart to tell his son that. A dazed Naushad is unable to say much. Their teacher, Rita Ganatra, lost some 40 colleagues in the quake. Speaking to rediff.com at a camp in Anjaar, where she and her students have been housed, she said, "The children were screaming, save us, save us, but what could we do? When it suddenly started raining concrete in the bylanes we could not see anything, how could we have saved anyone..."

In Anjaar, some 300 students are still trapped under the debris in one narrow lane, and rescuing them is the authorities' priority. Pavitra Narayan Roychaudhri, officer in charge of Kutch district, told rediff.com, "Our first priority is to save the children, if they are still alive."

The court area of Bhuj is another huge, insurmountable mountain of debris. There are few rescue experts around.

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