Author: Saurabh Shah
Publication: Mid-Day
Date: February 27, 2001
When the siren blew at 8.46 am
in Bhuj calling for two minutes of silence, on Monday morning, we were
in Bhachau, 77 km away from Bhuj. Exactly a month ago, 18,122 people were
killed in a deadly earthquake in the Kutch district.
In Bhuj, the death toll was 4,293.
The toll was the highest in Bhachau and Anjar - 7,421 and 4,659 respectively.
Though the tragedy struck many parts of Gujarat, the siren that recalled
the tragedy, blew only in Bhuj.
Soon after the earthquake, many
high-level bureaucrats, left their air-conditioned offices in Ahmedabad
and Gandhinagar to assist in the relief work being conducted from under
the roof of a cycle-stand in the compound of the ruined collector's office.
"I slept in my Ambassador (GJ 1
G-1899) for the first 10 days," says Manish M Jivani, superintendent engineer.
Now he has a tent to sleep in. He has been entrusted the responsibility
of counting the number of destroyed or damaged buildings in Bhuj. His department
is also jointly responsible for deciding on whether heavily damaged buildings
should be demolished.
On Sunday afternoon, at Vijaynagar
on Hospital Road, a few metres away from Jivani's office, we saw Shradhha
Building being demolished.
Another 11 buildings including Kalpataru,
Jainbhuvan and Tulsidham have been placed on the danger-list. Demolition
work on these buildings has commenced. Nearly, 84,650 pakka residences
of the district have become totally useless. The number of useless kachcha
houses is even eater at 89,108.
Old Bhuj has five well-known nakas
(areas) Bhidnu Naka, Mahadev Naka, Saraat Naka, Parwadi and Vaniawadi Naka.
There was a time when Bhuj throbbed
with life, day in and day out, but now it resembles a destroyed sand-castle.
The residents of Bhuj are still unable to decide whether they should go
back to where their old homes stood or create new colonies.
"One just can't live within the
Kot area," says Nanalal Shah who had come to meet us alongwith his wife
and a young son near Bazar Chavdi Police Station. "At the most, we can
use this area for shops. Residents have to be moved out," Shah owned an
electronics shop called Radio Ghar. His family owns a shop of the same
name at Sion Circle, Mumbai.
Anil Shah was a well-known ghee
merchant. He suffered losses worth lakhs after the earthquake. He moved
to Baroda with his family. He had promised never to return to Bhuj. But
he was not happy in Baroda. "How can I cut myself off emotionally from
this city," he asks, "We will come back and stay here."
Navinbhai Murarji Thakkar owned
a 125-year-old grain store called The Raghavji Bhagavanji and Co. After
minor repairs he reopened his store on Monday. Even the thought of leaving
this store and city makes him uncomfortable. "We were on the police grounds
when the quake rocked the city," says Navinbhai, "so we were saved. My
19-year-old twins Hamish and Hiren had gone for tuitions, which were in
the basement of Antariksh Building. They too were safe." Not all storekeepers
in old Bhuj have been able to reopen their stores. There is a hand written
note on the board of Bhupendrakumar and Co saying, 'New address: Near Hotel
Tamu, under Janta Ghar, near Bus Stand, Bhuj. Raskas, grains, dryfruits,
masala, tea, sugar and material of puja is sold.'
"We would let people decide whether
they want to rebuild their houses in old Bhuj's Kot area or shift to new
Bhuj," says Anil Mukim. IAS officer Mukim, 40, is a district collector
and relief commissioner. Mukim says, "People's safety is my first and foremost
responsibility. While considering whether one wants to rehabilitate in
old Bhuj, one has to consider the factor of safety first. Monetary concerns
come later. First of ad, one has to clear debris. Then comes planning.
Keeping this in mind, one must compare the cost if he wants to settle down
in new Bhuj."
When Mukim served as a deputy collector
in Bhuj, he had earned the image of a no-nonsense, honest officer. Today,
because of this image he can make government officials work the way he
wants to. This has been the biggest ever experience of crisis management
for Mukim. He says, "I have been given a chance to do a job which one doesn't
get even after so many fives." So he has left his wife and daughters back
home in Baroda and has been working for 18-20 hours a day.
Aarushi Rai hails from Orissa and
is a student of the Tata Institute of Social Sciences, Mumbai. At present,
she lives in a tent in a garden called Madansinghji Park, Bhuj. Kipa Raja
of Arunachal Pradesh and another two dozen youth stay with her. They are
workers of the Kutch Navanirman Abhiyaan known as Abhiyaan, a non-governmental
organisation (NGO) run by Sandeep Virmani and Sushma Ayyanger.
Abhiyaan uses a network of 22 other
NGOs including the Kutch Yuva Sangh, Mumbai to made relief work smooth
and fast. Aarushi say, "We received a message stating scarcity of fodder
in Bachchau. We immediately contacted the main fodder depots in Gandhidham
and depots in Bhuj and Anjar, too. Bhachau's requirement will be met within
hours."
Bhuj is the epicentre of relief
work run by the government and NGOs. Insufficient boarding facilities for
government officers and other workers irritates Mukim. But he ensures you
that the NGOs are doing a great follow up job, keeping track of relief
supplies and distributing it. Dhirubhai Shah, Speaker, Gujarat Assembly
claims that never have victims of natural calamities in India received
as much financial help from the government within 30 days.
One can write editorials and articles
about the Gujarat Government's inactivity, but real perception can be acquired
only by visiting Bhuj. Then one realises that Nero (Keshubhai Patel, in
this case) was not blowing a flute while Rome burned.
