1 - 7 February 2001
Issue No.519
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 1 - 7 February 2001 Issue No.519 |
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Year of the earthquake
INDIAN Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee sent out a call for civilians, recovery teams and military units alike to approach the state of emergency following the violent earthquake that rocked western India on Friday morning on a "war footing". For days, distraught and dispossessed residents in the coastal state of Gujarat have trembled at more than 200 aftershocks, scrambled through wreckage in search of survivors and transported the wounded to makeshift hospitals. Army surgeons have been forced to perform hundreds of amputations and attend to crushed bones in the open, furthering a war-time atmosphere only enhanced by the stream of "refugees" fleeing hard-hit centres with all their belongings.
Early this week, the death toll was approaching 20,000, making this one of the most deadly earthquakes in recent years -- comparable in damage to the devastating quake that hit Turkey in 1999, killing some 17,000 people -- and the worst in India in the last half-century. It is the second major earthquake to strike this year, however. Only a few weeks ago, an earthquake measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale wreaked havoc on El Salvador, taking over 700 lives.
International aid will be stretched thin, with specialist teams and sniffer dogs given little rest between Central America and the subcontinent. The Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI) has estimated that rebuilding the region will cost at least 150 billion rupees ($3.2 billion) and Prime Minister Vajpayee, surveying the worst-hit areas on Monday, repeated his plea for $1.5 billion in aid from the international community. Even arch-rival Pakistan has sent aid. As San Salvador was piecing together its already fragile economy and attending to tens of thousands of homeless, India was coordinating an unprecedented, large-scale search and recovery mission. Said Defence Ministry Spokesman S K Bhatnagar: "It's the biggest-ever rescue operation simply because this is the biggest-ever disaster."
Most of the damage was levied on Gujarat's commercial centre, Ahmedabad, and the small town of Bhuj, located close to the quake's epicentre. Measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, Friday's quake also led to a reported 12 deaths in neighbouring Pakistan and was felt as far as Nepal and Bangladesh. But many are saying that most of the damage could have been avoided were it not for shoddy construction, poor urban planning and ill-prepared emergency response. Though recovery efforts were shocked into a desperate dash against time, on the ground reporters and victims said that rescue efforts were disorganised and primitive, depending too heavily on local residents digging through rubble and sending out frantic pleas for help in freeing trapped survivors.
The quake struck at 8.46pm Friday morning, when many residents were home for a national holiday known as Republic Day. A holiday parade in the town of Anjar was tragically sabotaged by falling masonry, killing some 400 children. Hundreds of thousands have since been rendered homeless and concerns have now shifted not only to the conditions in makeshift shelters, but to fears of health hazards caused by the many bodies that remain trapped and widespread cremations being performed around the city in line with Hindu custom.
Hopes were fading by Tuesday for finding survivors, but some miraculous rescues provided sweet relief for a tragedy-stricken community. On Monday, a Swiss team managed to free at least eight people still alive, having spent four days helpless amid the debris.
(photo: AP)
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