Fear of epidemic increases

AHMEDABAD, FEB. 1. Fears of epidemic grew today amidst bodies decomposing for the seventh day under the rubble of buildings devastated by the killer quake as complaints about relief measures were voiced in the worst-affected Bhuj, Anjar and some other areas of Kutch region in Gujarat.

Even miracles of rescuing survivors ceased to occur save for a 13-year-old girl Priyanka Thakkar who was brought out alive by Turkish rescuers this morning in Bhuj and reunited with her parents who had given up all hopes of seeing her.

Reports of gastroenteritis among survivors have come from the worst hit areas, even as the Chief Minister, Mr. Keshubhai Patel, cautioned the emotionally-charged people to cooperate in taking up debris-clearing operation and to cremate them at the earliest.

Toll 35,000: Patel

Mr. Patel, who is camping in Bhuj and visited Anjar today, said the people were still not willing to give up hope about their kith and kin trapped under debris and stood in the way of demolition operations to clear the rubble. He put the death toll around 35,000.

With hopes of finding any more survivors drying up, the international rescue teams packed up to leave Bhuj and other towns. Officials of a large British contingent said they had to draw a line between rescue operations and relief efforts for survivors.

Rescuers were tired after days of scouring for survivors but coming out only with bodies from under the rubble. The Chief Minister said the Government has put in action a contingency plan under which disinfectants were being sprayed over debris and water chlorinated.

Mr. Patel, who estimated the damage to property at Rs. 15,000 crores, said the Government was now concentrating on providing relief and rehabilitation. However, survivors in Bhuj, Anjar and nearby areas complained of woefully inadequate relief despite aid from within and outside the country pouring into the State.

People complained of lack of coordination between the administration and relief agencies in reaching the succour to the affected. They said relief was distributed in villages along the highway and not in the interior places.

Officials maintained that there was a terrible shortage of employees who are themselves victims of the quake. In the commercial city of Ahmedabad, bulldozers went into action to bring down 14 high-rise buildings identified as risky following cracks.

Some residents protested saying it would harm the chances of rescuing any survivor. But authorities went ahead holding that decaying bodies posed a serious health problem. Old Bhuj city and Anjar town have been cordoned off by the Army for security reasons.

- PTI

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