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CityScan NewsRoom - Special January 28, 2001
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We received a strong aftershock today morning here in Ahmedabad at around 0635 Hrs IST. Reports are still coming in for a massive destruction in Bhuj, Anjar, Gandhidham, areas and surrounding villages.
We have been receiving tremendous response for the Earthquake news and responses. Lots of distressed emails are coming in. I have been able to help some, who have sighed a relief to hear from their loved ones. For others, please pray because a lot of people have shifted from their homes. I'm trying to help as much as I can. So please donot hesitate to send an email.
Please login to check new additions on Updates, Photos, Helpline calls, Donations, Photos, etc.
We thank all of you who are sending prayers and offers for help.
With love
Roopal Mehta
Ahmedabad, Gujarat. roopal@vsnl.com
Webmaster, Gujarat Online
News from Gujarat -=-=-=-
* Special phone line to Ahmedabad
AHMEDABAD: The Telecommunications Department has opened a special control room at Ahmedabad with phone No 02712-51991-17 for the convenience of the relatives of quake-hit Gujarat residents.
* 16,000 or more feared dead
AHMEDABAD: Nearly 16,000 people may have died in yesterday’s devastating earthquake in Gujarat where massive rescue and relief operations were under way today to cope with the disaster that has wiped out villages and rendered lakhs homeless. Official sources in Bhuj, which bore the brunt of the quake, told UNI that the death toll in Kutch district alone could be around 15,000. BJP leader Narendra Modi, who visited the ravaged district, said the number of dead in the state could cross 17,000 with 13,000 deaths in Kutch alone.
* Heart-rending scenes
BHUJ: Heart-rending scenes were witnessed at Anjar in Kutch where 400 schoolchildren, participating in a Republic Day march, died when the street caved in. None of the children and their 50 teachers could be saved as rescue workers and their equipment could not reach the spot located in a narrow bylane. In Bhuj, 400 college students were feared killed in a hostel collapse.
* The town that was once Bhuj
BHUJ: An estimated 10,000 of the 1.5 lakh residents of Bhuj, epicentre of Friday's earthquake, have perished. Most of the bodies are still lying under the debris of collapsed buildings. From the air, the town, headquarters of Kutch district, seems intact. But at the far end outside the Bhuj airport is a big fire. ``It's a mass funeral pyre,'' explains the pilot of our Cessna who is on his second trip to the city on Saturday. On the way to the main city, 10 km away, we encounter multi-storeyed apartments that were. Many have fallen. Others have sunk partially into the earth. There is no sign of efforts to remove the debris. The road is full of trucks, tractor trolleys and buses. They are all full of people moving out of Bhuj.
* Relief on a war-footing
NEW DELHI: The Union Cabinet held an emergency meeting this evening to take stock of the situation arising out of the earthquake in Gujarat earlier in the day and decided to launch relief on a war footing. The Cabinet meeting, presided over by the Prime Minister, Mr. A.B. Vajpayee, directed the armed forces, public sector undertakings and the different departments of the Central Government to render all assistance to the Gujarat Government
* 400 children trapped
AHMEDABAD: Around 400 children, who had assembled for a the Republic Day function in Bhuj, were buried under rubble while 60 students were trapped inside their collapsed school building in Ahmedabad. A police official said in Bhuj the children had come to school to celebrate the Republic Day on Friday when the earthquake triggered the collapse of the school building. "All the children along with their teachers are buried under the rubble of the school building," he said.
The Weather -=-=-=-
(Jan 27)
Ahmedabad: Maximum temperature 30 deg C, and minimum was 10 deg C.
