Earthquake in Gujarat

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Dear Forum members, hope you may all understand the urgency

of situation and pardon me for posting the following message

on this forum. [Moderator]

Dear All,

You are all aware of the devastating earthquake in Kutch. Today it has

become clear that the loss of life and other destruction exceeds all

initial estimate by a few times, and it happened without warning. At

least four towns (including Bhuj, the capital of Kutch) and an unknown

number of villages have been flattened. That the region borders a

desert and is relatively sparsely populated means that much less

damage. However damage in towns has been terrible. The villages there

are known to have mainly stone-roof homes, and therefore damage must

be great. Even approximate assessment is difficult at the moment

because communications are down, and few who have gone into the area

have come back yet to tell the tale. The media seems to have reached

deeper than most. We shd know more by tomorrow.

I plan to move close to the area with Drs Roy (surgeon-anaesthetist)

Sunday morning, and join the Bhanasali Trust team at Deesa in N

Gujarat. The need at the moment is likely to be doctors - ortho,

anesthetists, surgeons, and it may be a good idea for those in

Maharashtra / MP / Rajasthan to mobilise such doctors and keep them

ready to move at short notice. Volunteers can please send mail at this

address, or contact Dr Ketan Zaveri at Surat (0261)472495 ® and

473983 (clinic), and indicate convenient dates over the next

fortnight, so that some kind of rotation of doctors can be organised -

it is expected that there will be operative work for at least

one month. The level of organisation is as yet raw, but it should get

better as days go by. We will call for help as and when the needs

become clear.

As regards non-medical relief, huge amounts and manpower will be

needed. There is also fear of certain kinds of elements " capturing "

the relief work, as in previous disasters.

I will try to keep all posted of progress, as and when I can

communicate from there.

Regards,

Sridhar

<sridhar.mfc@...>