Sep 06
The year was 2001. All the world was still celebrating the advent of the new millennium. Post Mortem of the past century was still being done by the world . The print and visual media was dissecting everything from politics to people to achievements by people and various other landmarks - be it in sports , acting , discoveries inventions, media, crime, hospitality, diseases, population , family , weather, space , relationships, matrimony - the list was endless. In one corner of the world in general and India in particular events were unfolding which were soon to have a devastating effect on the entire Indian subcontinent. The tectonic plates were clashing against each other and it was a disaster waiting to happen. On 26th January 2001 the the 52nd Republic day an earthquake of the magnitude measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale occurred at Bhuj and the nearby town of Bachau . Gujarat and the nearby Ahmadabad were also affected. More than 30000 (official)people lost their lives and about 167000 people were injured. Around 300000 people along with children were rendered home less. More than 21 districts were affected while four districts of Bhuj and around were the worst affected. 3000 people in bhuj were killed in this earthquake. The administration was caught totally unawares. The relief agencies all around the world in general and India in particular swung into action immediately. They provided relief saved lives and tried to ameliorate the sufferings of the people all round.
One of the first organisations which swung into action was the Indian Army. This is the story of the Indian Army in action.This is the story of one of my friends who was posted in Bhuj at that point of time. A first hand account of the occurrances and the sequence of action thereafter. A few days prior my friend was posted out of Bhuj and was in the process of moving out. His house was packed and he was loading his truck to leave.Let us hear the story as told by my friend...
The First Signs
The previous evening We had started preparing for the Republic Day Celebrations in the mess. It is a custom in the Army that we invite the Junior Commissioned Officers to the Mess as a part of the day long festivities. It was in this regard that I had gone to the mess to decorate the mess in the evening. Having completed the task I left for home. The next morning, at around 0830 hrs. having completed my breakfast I stepped outside. The place was eerily silent and there were no birds in the sky. All the chirruping and the general hubbub was absent. Of course this I remembered only on hindsight. What was evident was the general silence. At around 0840 hrs. I found my neighbour's dog running hell for leather and the master following soon after. As he was passing my house it was 0842 hrs. That was when I felt the first violent tremors . Even standing outside I could feel the tremors. I quickly ran into my house and pulled out my wife and child. We kept standing outside and saw the whole world turn topsy turvy. Within some time it was evident that this was no ordinary occurance . The garrison got active almost immediately.
In those days the mobile phone was not yet widely used . We were still in communication only on landline. Due to the earthquake all the lines were down and so was electricity. So the good old system of dispatch riders and runners was activated. All this did not prevent the garrison from being activated in 45 mins. The army was on the roads at that time. We thought we would be home by the evening - that was not to be.When our troops went to Bhuj we were shocked beyond belief. The buildings had fallen like a pack of cards . There was wide spread destruction and devastation all round. What was heart rending was the entire town was strewn with dead bodies. It was a horrible sight - something which I will never forget all my life.
The Rescue
After hurried consultations we decided that our priority was not the dead but the living who might still be buried under the debris . Somewhere someone lying under the concrete pieces was still hanging on to the hope that they would somehow survive this nightmare and wake up to the world as they knew it before 0842 hrs. on 26th January 2001. Bhuj was such a big area, how would we go about the job? We distributed the town into sectors and allotted it to the various sub groups. Then there was the problem of tools and heavy machinery. We put all we had into action and also anything and everything available in our homes . Most of the town was abandoned and some implements were 'borrowed' from there. We started working with inborn urgency. Many people who had to go on leave for parent's operation , sister's marriage, own marriage and a multitude of other problems forgot all about these problems. I am proud to say that not one person in the garrison asked for leave .The job at hand was all important - every thing else took a backseat . We started working feverishly and we rescued countless number of people. There is that satisfaction in seeing that look of relief on a person's face when he has cheated death. But what is more reassuring is the gratefulness that a person expresses when he is saved from certain death. For the next 96 hrs. we worked to this end and were hugely successful. Other rescue teams from Indian subcontinent and foreign countries joined in about 72 hrs.
An Incident
The time passed by and soon the 96 hrs. deadline was drawing to an end. We were just about winding down and going back . Not one of the persons slept or had a wash or thought about food. The finding of people under the debris fueled us on. But the extreme stress and strain was telling on us. I had just given the order for falling back to the barracks, when one of the officers came running to me . " Sir" he said " I can hear some noise from under the debris over there" pointing to a fallen building. I was impatient and attributed it to the tiredness. However one could not take a chance and what was a bit more of digging if it meant saving someone? We got down to work - imagine our surprise when we found a young boy - alive and well. Holding him in my arms I felt a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. The redeeming feature was the child felt as if he had woken up from sleep. He wanted a thums up. And we provided it by breaking into a deserted kirana shop. This particular incident gives me thrills even to this day.
The Dead
By now the dead were making their presence felt. The bodies were starting to rot and smelling away to glory. If we did not do something there might be widespread epidemic in the area. There was no requirement to search for these bodies. They were all over the place. People require a closure. So we started publicizing the fact, and a lot of bodies were claimed. But this was only a minimum number. We photographed the unclaimed bodies and started disposing them as we felt that further delay was not humanly possible. Soon we exhausted all the wood that was available and we had no option but bury them. We ensured that the people were disposed off as per their religion as far as possible.
The AfterMath
It was a wearying ten days and it left us all emotionally and physically exhausted. For the next month the tremors were felt throughout the region. The next six months were spent under tentage. Water was supplied to us in tankers and at best it was brackish and muddy. We were cooking on fires and washing clothes by hand. The stink of rotting flesh refused to go away. Along the way we recovered a lot of cash jewellery amounting to crores of rupees. I suppose you have to have a natural disaster to flush out all the black money...We handed it over to the police. Of course it also attracted a lot of thieves who had to be dealt with summarily. One thing I remember was the recovery of thousands of bottles of liquor in this state of Gandhiji . Chivas regal, black label , Red Label, Blue Label - to name a few - again handed over to the civil administration...Post the earthquake we were employed in rebuilding. After sometime we humans have a short memory span. It is fourteen years since this devastation - now no one remembers - hope this refreshes peoples' memory...
The year was 2001. All the world was still celebrating the advent of the new millennium. Post Mortem of the past century was still being done by the world . The print and visual media was dissecting everything from politics to people to achievements by people and various other landmarks - be it in sports , acting , discoveries inventions, media, crime, hospitality, diseases, population , family , weather, space , relationships, matrimony - the list was endless. In one corner of the world in general and India in particular events were unfolding which were soon to have a devastating effect on the entire Indian subcontinent. The tectonic plates were clashing against each other and it was a disaster waiting to happen. On 26th January 2001 the the 52nd Republic day an earthquake of the magnitude measuring 7.7 on the Richter scale occurred at Bhuj and the nearby town of Bachau . Gujarat and the nearby Ahmadabad were also affected. More than 30000 (official)people lost their lives and about 167000 people were injured. Around 300000 people along with children were rendered home less. More than 21 districts were affected while four districts of Bhuj and around were the worst affected. 3000 people in bhuj were killed in this earthquake. The administration was caught totally unawares. The relief agencies all around the world in general and India in particular swung into action immediately. They provided relief saved lives and tried to ameliorate the sufferings of the people all round.
One of the first organisations which swung into action was the Indian Army. This is the story of the Indian Army in action.This is the story of one of my friends who was posted in Bhuj at that point of time. A first hand account of the occurrances and the sequence of action thereafter. A few days prior my friend was posted out of Bhuj and was in the process of moving out. His house was packed and he was loading his truck to leave.Let us hear the story as told by my friend...The First Signs
The previous evening We had started preparing for the Republic Day Celebrations in the mess. It is a custom in the Army that we invite the Junior Commissioned Officers to the Mess as a part of the day long festivities. It was in this regard that I had gone to the mess to decorate the mess in the evening. Having completed the task I left for home. The next morning, at around 0830 hrs. having completed my breakfast I stepped outside. The place was eerily silent and there were no birds in the sky. All the chirruping and the general hubbub was absent. Of course this I remembered only on hindsight. What was evident was the general silence. At around 0840 hrs. I found my neighbour's dog running hell for leather and the master following soon after. As he was passing my house it was 0842 hrs. That was when I felt the first violent tremors . Even standing outside I could feel the tremors. I quickly ran into my house and pulled out my wife and child. We kept standing outside and saw the whole world turn topsy turvy. Within some time it was evident that this was no ordinary occurance . The garrison got active almost immediately.
In those days the mobile phone was not yet widely used . We were still in communication only on landline. Due to the earthquake all the lines were down and so was electricity. So the good old system of dispatch riders and runners was activated. All this did not prevent the garrison from being activated in 45 mins. The army was on the roads at that time. We thought we would be home by the evening - that was not to be.When our troops went to Bhuj we were shocked beyond belief. The buildings had fallen like a pack of cards . There was wide spread destruction and devastation all round. What was heart rending was the entire town was strewn with dead bodies. It was a horrible sight - something which I will never forget all my life.
The Rescue
After hurried consultations we decided that our priority was not the dead but the living who might still be buried under the debris . Somewhere someone lying under the concrete pieces was still hanging on to the hope that they would somehow survive this nightmare and wake up to the world as they knew it before 0842 hrs. on 26th January 2001. Bhuj was such a big area, how would we go about the job? We distributed the town into sectors and allotted it to the various sub groups. Then there was the problem of tools and heavy machinery. We put all we had into action and also anything and everything available in our homes . Most of the town was abandoned and some implements were 'borrowed' from there. We started working with inborn urgency. Many people who had to go on leave for parent's operation , sister's marriage, own marriage and a multitude of other problems forgot all about these problems. I am proud to say that not one person in the garrison asked for leave .The job at hand was all important - every thing else took a backseat . We started working feverishly and we rescued countless number of people. There is that satisfaction in seeing that look of relief on a person's face when he has cheated death. But what is more reassuring is the gratefulness that a person expresses when he is saved from certain death. For the next 96 hrs. we worked to this end and were hugely successful. Other rescue teams from Indian subcontinent and foreign countries joined in about 72 hrs.
An Incident
The time passed by and soon the 96 hrs. deadline was drawing to an end. We were just about winding down and going back . Not one of the persons slept or had a wash or thought about food. The finding of people under the debris fueled us on. But the extreme stress and strain was telling on us. I had just given the order for falling back to the barracks, when one of the officers came running to me . " Sir" he said " I can hear some noise from under the debris over there" pointing to a fallen building. I was impatient and attributed it to the tiredness. However one could not take a chance and what was a bit more of digging if it meant saving someone? We got down to work - imagine our surprise when we found a young boy - alive and well. Holding him in my arms I felt a lot of pleasure and satisfaction. The redeeming feature was the child felt as if he had woken up from sleep. He wanted a thums up. And we provided it by breaking into a deserted kirana shop. This particular incident gives me thrills even to this day.
The Dead
By now the dead were making their presence felt. The bodies were starting to rot and smelling away to glory. If we did not do something there might be widespread epidemic in the area. There was no requirement to search for these bodies. They were all over the place. People require a closure. So we started publicizing the fact, and a lot of bodies were claimed. But this was only a minimum number. We photographed the unclaimed bodies and started disposing them as we felt that further delay was not humanly possible. Soon we exhausted all the wood that was available and we had no option but bury them. We ensured that the people were disposed off as per their religion as far as possible.
The AfterMath
It was a wearying ten days and it left us all emotionally and physically exhausted. For the next month the tremors were felt throughout the region. The next six months were spent under tentage. Water was supplied to us in tankers and at best it was brackish and muddy. We were cooking on fires and washing clothes by hand. The stink of rotting flesh refused to go away. Along the way we recovered a lot of cash jewellery amounting to crores of rupees. I suppose you have to have a natural disaster to flush out all the black money...We handed it over to the police. Of course it also attracted a lot of thieves who had to be dealt with summarily. One thing I remember was the recovery of thousands of bottles of liquor in this state of Gandhiji . Chivas regal, black label , Red Label, Blue Label - to name a few - again handed over to the civil administration...Post the earthquake we were employed in rebuilding. After sometime we humans have a short memory span. It is fourteen years since this devastation - now no one remembers - hope this refreshes peoples' memory...
A tell-tale portrayal of the grim and pathetic disaster. We seem to have learnt the wrong way after the Tsunami and Bhuj to form National Disaster set up to handle such natural calamities.
ReplyDeleteVery poignant and touching. Country is blessed to have such soldiers stand guard day and night to make us live fearlessly. A big thanks, truly mean it, for selfless help and restoring lives to people. Who say's doctors are God?
ReplyDeleteSuch a sobering reflection on the worst natural disaster in recent memory. Prevent? May we can't. But can we go ahead to mitigate and create infra to get back on feet quickly and with less loss of life- surely we can...
ReplyDelete