Time Dwindles for Survivors of India Quake

N E W   D E L H I, India, Jan. 26 -- As the lonely quiet of the twilight hours pass into morning, India faces a second day of assessing the damage from one of the most intense earthquakes in its history.

Officials estimate at least 2,000 people are dead, but fear hundreds, if not thousands more are trapped under collapsed buildings.

Earthquake blasts western India

Estimates of the death toll were still vague, as rescue teams struggled to reach affected areas.

The quake measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, wreaking the majority of its havoc in western India — toppling high-rise buildings and ravaging communication lines.

The epicenter was in a dry desert region, near the city of Bhuj, which has a population of 2 million. Ninety percent of the structures in Bhuj developed major cracks while 10 percent were leveled, Indian Information Minister Pramod Mahajan said.

Local media reports said rescuers were combing through debris to rescue 30 schoolchildren who were on a school excursion from the southern Indian city of Bangalore.

But by far the hardest hit was the neighboring industrial city of Ahmadabad, the commercial capital of Gujarat state, which is home to more than 4 million people.

"We are really suffering," said one local man. "Such big slabs have fallen down. The whole house has fallen apart."

News outlets across India and around the world broadcast heartbreaking scenes from western India of survivors gathering around campfires on the streets in the cold winter night, as women wept and rescuers continued their desperate search.

The death toll was higher than it might have been because most people were at home today celebrating the country's Republic Day holiday when the quake hit.

Tensions Rise

Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared a state of emergency and the army was put on emergency alert, as thousands of tents and other essential supplies were flown in to the trouble spots from the capital, New Delhi.

Hospitals in Ahmedabad were crammed with injured victims.