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EdWords
Dangers Unseen
THE one that passed away recently was ugly enough in so many ways. Despite our optimism the one that has begun recently off on a damp note, accompanied by a heavy shower late on the New Year's eve. Marked by four total eclipses-two lunar and two solar-2001 has already begun proving stranger than the last year, notwithstanding whether one subscribes to superstitions or not. On the Republic Day, while the entire country was gearing up for the celebrations, taking in their stride the possibility of terrorist strikes, one of the worst earthquakes eclipsed a sizeable section of the country's western State of Gujarat at 8.46 IST. The deathquake was worse than the one which killed 10,000 people at Latur in Maharashtra in 1993. The unforeseen and unprecedented disaster buried beneath the piling debris of several buildings bodies estimated to be anywhere between 50,000 and 1,00,000, with thousands injured and over a lakh rendered homeless. The cities of Bhuj, Anjar, Bhachau, Jamnagar and Ahemedabad suffered the worst. The Union government has estimated the loss at Rs.20,875 crore and sought an assistance of $1 billion and $500 million from the World Bank and the Asian Development Bank respectively for the gigantic rehabilitation process. Many could have been saved had the government put its act together in time. But it took three days for the authorities to launch the massive non-stop rescue operation, with 22,500 troops deployed in Ahmedbad and Bhuj sectors. Massive aid has been pouring in from everywhere, from funds to foodstuff. Bhilai has sent 5 wagonloads of cranes. But what Gujarat needs most at the moment is about 50,000 and blankets to shelter the homeless from the biting cold. In Goa, prayers have been offered in Catholic churches all over Goa since January 27, when people came to know about the catastrophe in Gujarat, the second most developing State in the country. Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar announced Rs.25 lakh as immediate relief. Governor of Goa, Mohd Fazal, urged Goans to contribute generously to the mammoth rescue and rehabilitation operations in Gujarat. Goa despatched a 20-member team of paramedics and doctors to Gujarat, to help in the mammoth rescue and rehabilitation operations. The Journalists Union of Goa made arrangements to collect clothes, foodgrains, medicines and others items from Goa, to be sent to the quake hit areas. Gujarat relief funds have been started by Goa's government, newspapers, churches, schools and umpteen comanisations. With several comanisations raising funds for the Gujarat earthquake relief, many people in Goa and abroad do not know how to send their money or assistance to the quake-hit people in Gujarat. People are skeptical about the aid every reaching the affected people as in the case of contributions which were meant for Latur, Kargil, Orissa and other drought relief funds. Through Mario and Muriel, Goa Foundation's Dr Claude Alvares has posted on the net a letter from R.K. Joshi of the Viniyog Parivar Trust. The Trust, Dr Alvares says, is an reliable comanisation of Jain activists, who have always supported environment and animal-welfare related work in Goa. They can be trusted to use the assistance fully for the work it is meant. Natural
calamities are unpredictable. Some places in the country were known
to be prone to floods and droughts but with the calamities in Koyna,
Latur and now Gujarat, no place in the country appears to be really
safe from earthquakes too. Such unfortunate eventualities, however,
serve as warnings which the people and the government should take a
note of. Joel
D'Souza P.S: |