Series of EmergencyNet News "Real-Time" Reports Concerning a Devastating Earthquake in India: 25 Jan 2001 to 03 Feb 2001

  This page Has Been Accessed Times
FastCounter by bCentral

03 Feb 2001

INDIA:

Earthquake Victims Continue To Arrive At Field Hospitals

More than one week after an earthquake demolished cities in western Gujarat state, people injured by India's worst-ever quake were still being brought into field hospitals on Saturday. Ambulances continued to bring in a stream of patients to the hospital set up behind a collapsed college in a suburb of Bhuj.

Aid officials have said the great need now was for proper shelter for the hundreds of thousands who lost their homes in the earthquake which registered 7.9 on the Richter scale and killed at least an estimated 25,000. The Red Cross sent assessment teams on Friday into four villages about 25 miles away from Bhuj, and closer to the epicenter which hit in a saltmarsh.

The worry about diseases could increase over the next week but aid agencies and local health authorities said they were on top of the situation. The Red Cross set up a portable water purifying system that cleaned 50,000 liters on Friday and would soon go up to 200,000 liters a day. Another water sanitation team from the French Red Cross was expected to arrive shortly.

01 Feb 2001

INDIA:

Earthquake Survivors Face Threat Of Epidemic??

With medical officials warning that thousands of trapped, decomposing bodies could contaminate water supplies, fears grew on Thursday of epidemics in India's quake-ravaged Gujarat state. The issue of removing the corpses with mechanical diggers has become highly emotional, with local residents in many towns refusing to allow relief workers to bulldoze the ruins.

Even seven days after the quake hit Gujarat, residents insist some people could still be found alive and have stood in front of the bulldozers to prevent them getting at the rubble. Officials in certain areas were having to take contingency measures and spray disinfectant over debris where bodies were believed to be entombed.

Estimates of the final death toll have ranged from 25,000 to as high as 100,000. Thousands of corpses are still thought to be buried under the ruins of buildings throughout the state's northern Kutch region. The official in charge of relief coordination in the worst-hit district of Bhuj said concerns about an epidemic were compounded by the fact that quake survivors were sheltered in very close proximity to each other.

International relief agencies have downplayed the epidemic threat, and some observers allege that the Indian authorities are fanning peoples' fears so that they can send in the bulldozers. Bob McKerrow, regional delegation head of the International Federation of the Red Cross, cited a Word Health Organization (WHO) notice which stressed that decomposing bodies in themselves presented no real health risk.

30 Jan 2001

Death Toll Could Reach 100,000???

According to the the Reuters News Service and BBC, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandez said on Tuesday that the death toll from India's worst earthquake in half a century could be as high as 100,000.

"If one talks in terms of loss of human life, then one is looking at perhaps 100,000 people at the moment,'' Fernandez reportedly told the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). Fernandez also said the number injured would run to "twice that number, if not more.'' The death and injury estimate could not be independently confirmed elsewhere.

*****

Excerpted from: ERRI EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Tuesday, Jamuary 30, 2001-Vol. 5 - 029

30 Jan 2001

INDIA

Earthquake Death Toll Seen Rising; Some Giving Up Hope

During the fifth day of an increasingly desperate hunt for anyone still alive under the rubble, thousands of survivors of India's worst earthquake fled the disaster zone fearing fresh tremors on Tuesday. A mini-exodus from Ahmedabad, an industrial city of five million people in the western state of Gujarat, gathered pace as India's defense minister, George Fernandes, predicted that the death toll from Friday's killer quake could reach 100,000. But officials in Gujarat, which bore the brunt of the quake that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, cast doubt on his projection, sticking with their own earlier estimate of up to 20,000 dead.

Fears of an outbreak of disease are rising and frustration at delays in the relief operation mingled with resignation as survivors waited to recover and cremate their dead. Some media reports spoke of scuffles between angry survivors demanding food and police. Other reports spoke of looting.

Mild tremors shook parts of western India Monday evening. Rescue workers plucked two boys and a 90-year-old woman alive from the debris in Bhuj on Monday but hopes were fading of finding more survivors. Rescuers said lack of heavy earthmoving equipment was hindering efforts to clear rubble and bodies.

INDIA:

New Earthquake Survivors Rescued

The Indian government is negotiating aid to help it cope with the earthquake tragedy that has killed up to 20,000 people. With 7,000 bodies pulled from the ruins of collapsed blocks of flats and hopes fading for any trapped survivors, rescuers in Bhuj in Gujarat state plucked a young woman out alive late on Sunday after she had spent more than two days under rubble.

Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes told reporters on Sunday: "Generally what I have gathered from all sources, I think we ar are looking at not less than 20,000 casualties." If confirmed, the toll would outstrip the numbers killed in a massive quake in Turkey in 1999, when more than 17,800 were killed.

The fear of aftershocks complicated the rescue effort. Officials warned of a serious risk of disease if trapped bodies were not removed quickly. Officials said telephone links between Bhuj, an ancient town of some 150,000 people, and Ahmedabad were improving.

Authorities have been coping with one satellite phone and ham radio. India was in talks with the World Bank and other agencies this week for US$1.5 billion in aid to rebuild in Gujarat state. Individual countries, including the United States, Canada and India's traditional foe Pakistan, offered financial help and relief teams. The financial aid will be important to India's enconomy. Gujarat is India's second most industrialized state.

A seven-year-old boy was pulled out alive in Bhuj on Sunday after nearly 60 hours in the debris. Two hours later his mother was also pulled out alive. A British team pinpointed the mother and boy with heat-sensitive cameras and sensors able to detect the tiniest vibration. But such discoveries were rare and officials admitted they feared the worst as rescuers reached remote villages in the coastal marshlands of the Kutch for the first time. One survivor said his village had been "wiped from the face of the earth."

Excerpt from: ERRI EMERGENCY SERVICES REPORT-EmergencyNet NEWS Service-Sunday, January 28, 2001-Vol. 5 - 028

INDIA:

Confirmed Death Toll In Quake Climbs To 6,072; Govt. Estimates of 13-15,000 Dead

Soldiers dug through the ruins of collapsed buildings on Sunday, pursuing faint voices and bolstered by their first success in rescue efforts -- three survivors pulled from the rubble, 36 hours after the devastating earthquake. But with more than 6,000 confirmed dead -- and with authorities saying the toll from Friday's 7.9-magnitude temblor could reach 13,000-15,000 -- rescue workers were mostly finding bodies under the piles of concrete and masonry. A strong aftershock also hit the western state of Gujarat today, further complicating matters for already scared residents.

Thousands of shocked survivors slept in the open rather than risk entering shelters on Sunday as western India experienced fresh tremors. Officials appealed for calm, as families pushed injured relatives in handcarts, urgently seeking medical help, between heaps of rubble up to 25 feet high.

Officials were unable to give an accurate death toll from the quake, the most powerful to hit India in half a century, as many people were still buried under rubble. Star TV quoted Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes as telling reporters he feared 15,000 had been killed.

The city of Bhuj, only about 12 miles from the epicenter, counted many of the dead among its 150,000 people. Nearby Anjar, home to 30,000, was flattened. Police said some 350 schoolchildren and 50 teachers were feared dead when they were buried in rubble during a school parade. Another 50 were pulled from rubble alive. One official said: "In Anjar, you can't find a single house intact."

Much of Bhuj was also reduced to rubble. There was already a severe shortage of food, water and fuel despite the air force planes which flew in relief supplies, and then ferried bandaged and dazed survivors to safety. Electricity came from only a few emergency generators. Thousands of troops, engineers and doctors joined the relief effort. The Air Force said it had 40 cargo planes and military aircraft ferrying engineering equipment, mobile kitchens, food, water, tents, blankets and power generators.

Officials were also concerned about disease if bodies began decomposing under the rubble. Steps are being taken against the outbreak of epidemic. Public health teams are on standby and some have been sent to Bhuj and Ahmedabad.

Governments around the world sent rescue teams, equipment and financial help to India on Saturday. Britain sent a 69-member rescue team to Ahmedabad. The rescuers carried heat-seeking equipment in hopes of finding survivors in the mountains of rubble. Barry Sessions, who was helping to organize the British rescuers, said: "What they don't have a shortage of in India is people to help dig, but they do need our special equipment."

Switzerland sent a 48-man rescue team, search dogs and aid supplies. The Swiss Disaster Corps team included army experts and nine dog handlers with their animals. They took with them ten tons of relief supplies from the Swiss Red Cross.

Turkey, which suffered two massive earthquakes in 1999, was sending a 35-member rescue team with dogs and equipment. Taiwan, which also suffered a 1999 quake that killed thousands, readied a team of 64 rescuers and four dogs.

A Russian Il-76 from the Emergency Situations Ministry headed for India on Saturday carrying equipment for a mobile hospital and dogs trained to search for people under rubble. Also aboard were 71 rescue workers who have previously worked in earthquake disasters in Turkey, Colombia and Taiwan.

The German government assigned a 27-member team equipped with electronic locating devices and special search cameras. They would likely be deployed in Ahmedabad. The Red Cross in earthquake-prone Japan announced plans to dispatch a 13-person medical team to Gujarat.

INDIA:

Indian Quake Toll Rises To About 10,000

Local authorities quoted by the Press Trust of India said Saturday that close to 10,000 people have been killed in the earthquake that devastated the western Indian state of Gujarat. The death toll will continue to rise as there are reported to be thousands of victims trapped under collapsed buildings. In Pakistan, at least eight people were killed and many injured in the southern province of Sindh.

Rescue workers worked to pull people from the debris while officials announced an ever-increasing number of dead as reports came in from remote towns near the epicenter of the quake, which hit the western state of Gujarat on Friday. The U.S. Geological Survey said it measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. Police in Ahmedabad, Gujarat's commercial center, said the final death toll could be above 10,000.

Worst hit was Bhuj, a coastal town of some 150,000 people near the Pakistan border and about 12 miles from the epicenter. Along the cracked roads leading to Bhuj, collapsed houses and buildings dominate the landscape. In Pachchao, a once prosperous town of 40,000 people 42 miles from Bhuj, about 90 percent of the buildings had reportedly collapsed.

Injured people and affected families were sleeping in the open in the villages along the road as army convoys including ambulances and water tankers moved in large numbers toward Bhuj. Television news reports said that up to 6,000 were feared killed in Bhuj alone.

In Ahmedabad, rescue workers and survivors clawed away at the rubble, passing chunks of concrete and bricks alone a line. But in many places it was too late. Rescue workers spoke of voices which had gone silent in the night, as they carried on the grim task of pulling dead bodies from the rubble. Star News Television said that around 30 children were still trapped under the rubble of a collapsed school.

Rescue operations began quickly in bigger cities like Ahmedabad, a prosperous town of some five million people. But in the remote towns near the epicenter of the quake, in the marshy district of Kutch, many were still waiting for help. The Indian army and air force swung into a massive rescue effort, flying in satellite telecommunications equipment to restore Gujarat's links with the rest of the country.

Hospital officials said it was becoming steadily more difficult to cope with the torrent of patients and corpses. Doctors said that many people had died of asphyxia or were trampled in stampedes.

Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee appealed to relief workers "to help quake victims on a war-footing," and offers of help flowed in from several countries as well as from the United Nations.

An Indian Embassy official said that India is ready to issue visas to Japanese medical and rescue teams planning to respond to Gujarat. A plan by the Japanese National Police Agency to send a 12-memeber team to join rescue operations in Gujarat on Saturday had been suspended "due to circumstances in India." Also, a plan by the Japanese Red Cross to send a medical team to Gujarat had reportedly been delayed. A two-member advance squad had been scheduled to leave for India on Saturday, but the Indian embassy had yet to grant them entry visas.

A Red Cross spokesman said: "Basically, India says it does not need external assistance in the event of a natural disaster. Also it is a weekend which makes it difficult to process visa issuance." The Indian Embassy has reportedly denied the Red Cross allegation.

INSTANT   22:00CST - 26 Jan 2001  

In a dramatic turn for the worse, the Times of India, quoting Gujarat State Home Minister Haren Pandya, says that 5,000 people have now been confirmed dead in the aftermath of a massive 7.9 earthquake that devastated S.W. India at about 08:46 (local) on Friday. This report has not been confirmed by other sources. Rescue officials said that as many as 3,000 deaths were being reported in the city of Bhuj alone, and that other areas -- such as Rajkot, Jamnagar, Bhavnagar and Surat districts -- were badly damaged as well.  Frantic rescue efforts continue in numerous areas as this report is written, with people seen digging with shovels, sticks and even their bare hands. Local rescue officials have complained of a lack of cranes and other mechanized earth-moving equipment to assist in the rescue efforts.

*****

INSTANT   20:00CST - 26 Jan 2001

Death Toll Continues to Rise; More than 2,200 Reported Dead   

AHMEDABAD, INDIA (EmergencyNet News) -- According to police sources in Ahmedabad, 2,257 people are confirmed dead across the state of Gujarat and the number of injured is estimated at over 14,000. Local rescue officials say that the death toll could still continue to rise and that they believe that "thousands" of people are trapped in the rubble of collapsed buildings. A majority of essential services like telephone, water, and electricity are out in a large area near the epicenter of the quake. EmergencyNet News continues to monitor rescue efforts and will provide additional updates as the circumstances warrant... 

*****

INSTANT   12:00CST - 26 Jan 2001

Death Toll Continues to Rise; More than 1,100 Reported Dead    

AHMEDABAD, INDIA (EmergencyNet News) -- As originally feared by ERRI analysts, the death toll in the Western India earthquake continues to rise at a staggering rate.  More than 1,100 people are reported dead at the time of this report and hundreds of others are injured. Medical and rescue services are reportedly stretched to the maximum and makeshift field triage and treatment areas have sprung up on the roadways. Complaints have been received about a lack of overhead lifting capability (i.e. heavy cranes), and people are said to be digging for survivors with their bare hands.

Additional rescue and recovery supplies are reportedly being flown in to the disaster area by Indian Air Force planes and helicopters. It is not currently known what, if any, international rescue teams have been dispatched to assist with the specialized rescue effort.  

Rescue experts say that the death and injury toll will probably continue to rise as additional collapsed buildings are searched.  Home Minister of the coastal state of Gujarat, Haren Pandya, reportedly told the Reuters news service, "I expect the figure now to be in the thousands."  

*****

INSTANT   09:00CST - 26 Jan 2001  

INDIA:

650 Dead; Death Toll Keeps Rising From Major Earthquake..

Officials said more than 650 people have been killed by a major earthquake that rocked the entire Indian subcontinent on Friday. The quake toppled buildings and houses in India and Pakistan. 

The 7.9-magnitude quake was also felt in Bangladesh and Nepal. The worst damage from the early morning quake was near the epicenter in India's western state of Gujarat. This tremor, thought to be India's most severe earthquake in 50 years struck at 08:46 (03:16 GMT).  Police in the commercial center of Ahmedabad reported at least 200 dead in that city alone, with that number expected to rise. Two more people died when their home collapsed in neighboring Pakistan.

Hundreds of buildings have collapsed in the Gujarat region. India's prime minister called an emergency Cabinet meeting. The epicenter of the quake, which struck at 08:46 hours (local time), was near the town of Bhuj in a desert plateau near the border with Pakistan. The death toll in the town of Bhuj in the region was at least 150. 

Learn more about the rescue process...review "BUILDING COLLAPSE RESCUE" by ERRI's C. L. Staten. Click here.

ERRI Analyst Note: A 7.9 earthquake can be expected to cause significant damage were it to strike built-up and populated areas. We are monitoring this event closely because of it's potential for a major numbers of injuries and loss of life. Very preliminary reports coming from the disaster area at 02:00EST suggest that more than 100 people have died....that number could rise.  Additional reports will be provided as more information becomes available.

© EmergencyNet News Service, 2001. All rights reserved. May not be redistributed or otherwise published without the expressed permission of ERRI/EmergencyNet News.

Emergency Response & Research Institute
6348 N. Milwaukee Ave., #312
Chicago, IL. 60646
(773) 631-3774 - Voice
(773) 631-4703 - Fax
(773) 631-3467 - Modem/Emergency BBS On-Line
http://www.emergency.com - Main Webpage
webmaster@emergency.com - E-mail

Return to the EmergencyNet News page

Return to the ERRI Disaster Operations Archive Page