QUAKE AFTERMATH

Pride of broken hearts

The Kutchis are ready to fight it out on their own:

Sitting in a camp for earthquake victims Velabhai Mesanbhaib Harijan recalls his dreams. His children, Raniben 20, and Nagjibhai 15, were his passport to a better life. But Velabhai's dreams were crushed when both Raniben and Nagjibhai were found dead under the debris of their house in Lunwa village in Bhachau.

"Now it is a question of our survival," says Velabhai's wife, Paruben. Velabhai is too weak to work in fields and their landlord Samjibhai Lakman Patel's house was also reduced to rubble. With no power to draw water into his fields, his castor crop is under serious threat.

Samjibhai, however, has sufficient foodgrain under therubble to feed the Harijan family and his own for about three months. They hope to be on the recovery path by then.




llustration/Bhaskaran/Bhuj
Chokdi: February 1, 2001

The village was reduced to rubble. Ganga Ben clings to her baby, the only one left to call her own.

They expect no relief from the government or voluntary agencies. "We were given blankets,  foodgrains, tea, sugar and stoves. That is enough," says Velabhai. In fact, all that the 350 homeless families in this village ask for is tarpaulin sheets to erect tents; sleeping in  the open in the chilly nights is near impossible. For now they manage with a bonfire, but it is no permanent solution.

Villagers like Velabhai across Kutch may be heartbroken but not disheartened . Says Veljibhai Patel of Voundh village: "Bahut seva ho gaya. (We have had enough of relief). How long can we survive on aid from outside ? As time passes we will wipe ourtears and rebuild our lives.

In fact, the grit of the Kutchis has forced government officials in Anjar to rethink the
proposal



Jikdi: February 2, 2001

Septuagenarian Gangaben Patel of Voundh village would rather scrape through the  rubble of her house than stand in a long queue for a sari. Well past 6 p.m. Gangaben
locates the brand-new



Lodai: February 1, 2001

The epicentre of the killer quake, claimed 170 lives in the village, and brought down all  the house. Maya Samad lost everything - her husband, children and grandchildren.

Modapur: February 1, 2001

The quake claimed 97 lives. But spared the baby in the crib. The orphan is being taken  care of by the surviving women embroidered 'ghaghras' (long skirts) she had made for her two daughters.

The Kutchis are prefer traditional clothes like 'choli-ghaghra' and 'wanjada-ganji'.  There are very few takers for saris, shirts and trousers, and many relief teams abandoned  their stocks on the roadsides, says Shantilal Muttha of the Pune-based Bharatiya Jain Sanghatana.

Amid death Gujarati hospitality was alive. Sister Suma from the Missdionaries of  Charity, Baroda, recalls her first moments in Vamka village: "A group of women were crying; they had lost children, wealth and property." Then the women amazed her by  offering to cook a meal for her.

The missionaries have been concentrating on medical aid. But marginal farmers like Valjibhai Sonabhai Ahir of Zhikdi village in Bhuj are more concerned about the  future of their wheat, bajra and castor crops. With no power, the pump sets on borewells have stopped working. An impending drought starting in his face, Valjibhai sees hard time
ahead.

The entire village perished. Geeta Ben is in a daze. She lost her family of six.

Failure of crops would hit animals as well as humans. Father Joseph Kunnath, managing trustee of Kutch Vikas Trust, Raidhanpur, said most farmers depend on their crops to  feed their cattle.

The Kutchis are used to coping with droughts; last year's drought was the 33rd since independence. But the hardships caused by the first major quake since independence is bound to rock their lives for a long time.


Anosh Malekar/Kutch

back