Hope For Quake Survivors Fades in India

A H M E D A B A D, India, Jan. 27, 2001 -- A day after an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale rocked western India, hope of finding survivors among the mountains of rubble faded by the hour as the death toll was feared to have risen to as many as 15,000 people.

Earthquake blasts western India

Officials said today about 30,000 are reported injured and thousands more are thought to be buried under the rubble following the worst earthquake to hit the region in two centuries. So far, they said, at least 2,500 bodies have been recovered.

Rescue workers finally reached Bhuj today, the town nearest to the quake's epicenter, but no one can say for sure how many of the 150,000 people who lived there remain buried in the wreckage.

The quake hit India as the country was preparing to celebrate its 51st Republic Day. The holiday meant most people were home with their families, raising the death toll considerably, officials said.

Ahmedabad, farther south of the epicenter, has a population of 5 million — many who lived and worked in shoddily constructed buildings that crumpled like paper in the quake.

In the heart of the city was a middle school named Sacred Flower. The school was closed for classes yesterday except for one group of students called in by a dedicated teacher. Forty of the children are confirmed dead so far. Parents are waiting desperately for news of the others.

One parent said rescue workers could hear the children Friday afternoon under the debris, but today there was only silence.

Another family had been preparing for a wedding celebration when the quake struck just before 9 a.m. local time Friday. Now they are planning funerals and, like thousands of others, mourning the loss of loved ones. Among those killed were the groom and his mother.

Thousands Missing, Many More Homeless

On Friday, Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee declared a state of emergency in the western state of Gujarat, the region worst hit by the quake. Today he said on Monday he will visit the devastated area, where more than 30,000 people are now homeless.

In Anjar, a town of about 25,000 people south of the epicenter, witnesses said not a single building remained intact, although rescuers and family members continued digging through the rubble — some using their bare hands hoping for the almost impossible.

An army official told Reuters this afternoon the search was now mostly for the dead. "We are basically recovering dead bodies," he said.

A group of 350 school children and 50 children are feared buried under fallen debris. The group was marching down a narrow lane in a Republic Day parade when the quake hit, showering debris from every direction.

In Ahmedebad, Gujarat's commercial center where as many as 5,000 are confirmed dead, high rise buildings sat in pieces, many communication and power lines were still cut off, and thousands of people remained unaccounted for.

Tonight, as Friday night, the rescue effort goes on and campfires scatter the broken landscape where thousands of survivors spend the night shivering on the streets in 55-degree temperatures, still too scared to go back into their fragile homes.

In the old quarter of Ahmedabad many of the buildings tilt at precarious angles toward the street. Authorities warned people not to enter their homes, but a few residents of ground floor apartments still decided to return to their dwellings.

In the 24 hours following the quake, as many 180 after shocks continued to shake the region, about 19 of them with a magnitude of 5 or more on Richter scale.

Growing Frustration

As the prescious minutes tick many people are expressing a growing frustration with the rescue effort so far.

"It's been 24 hours," said one resident of Ahmedabad. "My sister's son is trapped, no one is listening to us."

Rescue operations began quickly in the bigger cities such as Ahmedabad, but relief was slow to reach smaller cities and especially rural areas.

Panic gripped the shattered city of Bhuj today as survivors lined up to get fuel for their cars so they could flee the arid border city of 150,000 located 12 miles from the quake's epicenter.

The Indian government said air force helicopters and planes were flying 10,000 tents, 10,000 tons of grain, 20 doctors and surgeons, generators, satellite phones and seismology experts to the region, where smoke from funeral pyres clouded the air. Because many phone lines were still down the government has set up satellite phones for key relief work and has turned to ham radio operators to help relay information.

By this afternoon, seven water tankers had reached Bhuj, although road traffic was hindered by a damaged railway bridge and highway

The difficult conditions delayed deliveries of tents, biscuits, blankets, and bread to many areas through the day.

Area hospitals, many severely damaged in the quake, are overflowing with the injured. In Bhuj, for example, hospitals were not operating and the military hospital had only 90 beds. To ease the glut of injured, the army and air force have set up temporary medical camps across the region.

World Leaders Offer Help,Condolences

Governments around the world responded Friday and today with promises of relief and words of condolence.

In Washington on Friday, President Bush offered his condolences to the victims of the quake in India and Pakistan, where as many as ten people were killed.

Officials at the U.S. Agency for International Development have sent $1 million in emergency supplies to arrive in Gujarat Monday, officials said.

Putting aside a history of acrimony between his country and India over the disputed Kashmir valley, Pakistan military ruler Gen. Pervez Musharraf offered his condolences to Vajpayee in a written statement today.

The European Union's humanitarian office said it would give $3 million in assistance and donate more if needed. Switzerland sent a 48-man rescue team, search dogs and aid supplies. Britain sent a 69-member rescue team to Ahmedabad and promised $4.5 million in assistance. Prime Minister Tony Blair sent a condolence message to Vajpayee. The German government sent a 27-member team equipped with electronic locating devices and special search cameras.

Taiwan, which in 1999 suffered a quake that killed thousands, is ready to send a team of 64 rescuers as soon as Indian officials approve the assistance.

Also, the Interfax news agency reported Russia today sent a plane carrying equipment for a mobile hospital and dogs trained to search for people under rubble.

The American Red Cross has released $25,000 to the Indian Red Cross and promised an additional $20,000 of relief supplies including 100 rolls of plastic sheeting and 2,500 blankets.

The International Red Cross today launched an appeal for $1.2 million to aid victims of the disaster. To donate call 1-800- HELP-NOW.

ABCNEWS.com's Claire Moore, ABCNEWS' Richard Gizbert in Ahmedabad, ABCNEWS Radio, Reuters and the Associated Press contributed to this report