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Sombre Garhwals get down to the task of clearing up

A new stillness enveloped the Garhwal hills today as bodies were cremated and massive relief operations were in progress after the devastating earthquake on Sunday night killed as many as 110 people and injured 350 others.

The debris of collapsed houses yielded 15 more bodies overnight in Chamoli and Rudraprayag districts.

Information and Broadcasting Minister Pramod Mahajan indicated in New Delhi that the toll could mount after rescue teams reach fresh areas affected by the quake.

Unofficially, the toll was said to be as high as 200.

Twenty-six bodies were cremated on the Alaknanda ghat near Alkapuri in Chamoli district last evening. The quake, which had a magnitude of 6.8 on the Richter scale, had its epicentre at Nandprayag town in the district.

Sixty-one persons were killed in Chamoli, 34 in Rudraprayag and six in Tehri Garhwal districts.

At least 30 villages were devastated in Chamoli district alone.

Jawans of the Indian Army and the Indo-Tibetan Border Police were assisting the civil administration in the rescue efforts. Seventeen medical teams, five of them in the rural areas, were treating the injured.

Many of the injured were admitted to base hospitals in Srinagar.

Meanwhile, the Union Cabinet today decided to release Rs100,000 to the kin of earning members who died in the quake, Rs50,000 for the kin of non-earning members killed, and Rs10,000 to those injured.

Garhwal Divisional Commissioner B M Vohra said that as per present indications, about 100,000 persons have been affected by the quake.

Nearly 750 houses were damaged in Tehri, 200 in Chamoli, and 2,000 in Rudraprayag district as per preliminary estimates.

Chamoli Development Council president Anand Singh Rawat said most of the houses damaged were those not supported by columns.

The Border Roads Organisation restored traffic on the Rudraprayag-Gurikund road this morning.

Repair work on the Gopeshwar-Ukhimath road was in progress.

The Centre today also decided to distribute food packets in the worst-hit areas. It also decided to send two teams -- under Planning Commission Deputy Chairman K C Pant and a senior official -- to assess the damage to life and property.

Chief Minister Kalyan Singh visited Chamoli and Rudraprayag today to oversee rescue and relief work. He said a Rs210 million World Bank aided project for "eco-restoration and development of hill areas" would be unveiled to protect the fragile ecosystem of the region.

Experts say the damage in the region could have been much higher had the epicentre been at a lesser depth. While the 1991 Uttarkashi quake, which claimed more than 1,500 lives, had its epicentre at a depth of 12km, this quake was centred 30km below the ground.

Still, it was one of the strongest to rock the Himalayan foothills this century.

It occurred because the Himalayas, the world's youngest mountain chain, is inching north towards the Eurasian plate at the rate of one to two inches a year. Pressure builds up over time and explodes in an earthquake.

On Sunday, the main central thrust of the tension built up in the hills passing through Chamoli district, which sits at the heart of the lesser and higher Himalayas.

UNI

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