More than 11,000 killed in India quake

January 27, 2001
Web posted at: 9:58 p.m. EST (0258 GMT)

In this story:

Toll could hit 15,000

Residents voice anger

Offers of aid, assistance

Quake hit on national holiday

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AHMEDABAD, India -- Government officials say more than 11,000 people died in Friday's devastating earthquake that leveled communities and turned cities into rubble.

Desperate rescue workers climbed atop mountains of debris and screamed into the crevices Saturday, hoping for some sign of life from thousands trapped by the magnitude-7.9 earthquake.

While rescuers worked and hope faded, stunned survivors slept in the open, panicking as more than 80 aftershocks rippled through the hardest-hit state, Gujarat.

Most had no water, food or medicine. Others refused to eat, keeping a tearful vigil as emergency workers' drills bored into concrete in search of their buried loved ones.

Much of the damage was in Ahmedabad, a metropolitan area of 7.7 million people. Rescue workers reported that more than 50 high-rise buildings collapsed and many others sustained heavy damage.

Toll could hit 15,000

After returning from a tour of the epicenter, near the resort town of Bhuj, Indian Defense Minister George Fernandes predicted the death toll could rise to 15,000.

Fernandes said 90 percent of the buildings in the center of Bhuj had been damaged or destroyed, with a hospital and several schools flattened. Aided by soldiers, relief workers used everything from heavy cranes to bare hands to pick through the rubble of one school, where 450 children were believed to be entombed.

Hope of finding survivors diminished with each passing hour.

In Bhuj district, thousands of terrified people fled in cars, jeeps and on foot, carrying their belongings. Many had been walking since soon after the temblor struck.

Buses and trucks were forced to stop before a cracked bridge on a dry river that connects the district with the rest of the state.

"We have been walking since morning. We are fleeing for our lives," said Harjivan Vyas, 37, a factory worker in Bhuj town. "There is no drinking water, no food. All houses are destroyed."

Residents voice anger

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee called the disaster a national calamity, and promised relief efforts would be run as though the country were at war.

Still, frustrated residents voiced their anger with the Rapid Action Forces sent out by the government, saying that not enough troops or equipment were being made available and that those who were there were not working fast enough.

Elsewhere in Gujarat, thousands of people spent the night outside, afraid to go back into their damaged homes and shaken by the continuing aftershocks from the original earthquake. Many stood watching funeral pyres that illuminated the night sky across the region.

Offers of aid, assistance

Offers of help poured in from other countries, including India's longtime enemy, Pakistan. The neighboring country also was affected by the quake when a building in Hyderabad collapsed, killing at least four people.

Britain was planning to send 60-70 rescue specialists and several dogs trained to search for people under rubble to assist the efforts of rescue workers.

The British government promised $4.5 million in assistance, and Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a condolence message to Vajpayee.

U.S. President George Bush offered condolences to the victims and said the United States is willing to provide assistance "as needed and desired by the governments" of both India and Pakistan.

The European Union's humanitarian office gave $3 million for relief in Gujarat state, in western India near the Pakistani border. The money was being used to provide shelter, blankets, safe drinking water and emergency health care. The EU said it was prepared to donate more, depending on needs.

The International Red Cross was planning to airlift two hospitals to the affected zone.

Taiwan, which in 1999 suffered a quake that killed thousands, readied a team of 64 rescuers. They would depart, together with four dogs, as soon as Taiwan gets permission from India, officials said.

Quake hit on national holiday

The U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado, set the magnitude of the quake at 7.9 and said aftershocks could be expected for days or even weeks. It struck at 8:46 a.m. Friday, the morning of the 51st Republic Day, an Indian national holiday in which many people were at home.

People in the quake zone were using CNN's online message boards to ask about relatives and relay their experiences. Help lines were also kept busy.

The quake was the most powerful to strike India since August 15, 1950, when a magnitude-8.5 temblor killed 1,538 people in northeastern Assam state.

The last major quake to hit the Gujarat area was in 1819, when a quake estimated at 8.3 magnitude killed about 2,500 people.

It was the world's second major quake of the year. On January 13, a magnitude-7.6 quake killed at least 700 people in El Salvador and left 10 percent of its population homeless.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.