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Chronicle of a quake foretold unfolds amid jailbreaks!

Sheela Bhatt in Bhuj, Gujarat

Bhuj must be the only region in the world where some people see glad tidings in the killer earthquake!

In a shocking exploitation of chaos in the wake of death and destruction, some 270 'hardened criminals' have escaped from the Bhuj jail, considered the most impregnable of prisons in Gujarat.

"This is a cause for more worry," a grave-looking Suresh Mehta, industries minister and former chief minister, told rediff.com on Sunday afternoon.

"We are moving 85 more such criminals to Ahmedabad jail now to avoid any more jailbreaks," he added.

Mehta said he personally suspects some 10,000 people have lost their lives so far, 4,000 in Bhuj alone. "My eyes have not dried in the last 48 hours," he said, weeping.

He was seen directing senior officials of the Indian Oil Corporation to supply adequate quantities of petroleum products. "We have run out of logs of wood to cremate the dead. I am afraid, we have to do the cremations using petrol and kerosene."

A team of 400 doctors and hundreds of defence personnel are leading the frantic rescue operations. "A nine-storey building has crashed and all the floors have sunk into the inner layers of earth. Only the water tank on the building terrace can be seen now on the surface of the earth. This is unimaginable," Mehta said.

Apparently, some cranes used to clear the rubble have broken down. "They are not capable of lifting superheavy loads," a state government official said.

"This quake has destroyed our economy. It will take decades to restore normalcy," Mehta said.

Meanwhile, shocking revelations continue to surface about how warnings by scientists and seismologists fell on deaf ears in the state government.

From December 22 to 24, 2000, the Benaras Hindi University had organised the 'National Symposium On Advances in Geology and Research Potential of the Kutch Basin.'

At the seminar, Professor S S Medhe of M S University, Baroda, had warned that the Himalayan range is connected via subterranean channels to the Kutch region. "Forget industrialisation and mineral exploration. Worry about earthquakes," Professor Medhe had warned then.

Twenty other experts had agreed with him at the symposium. Dr K K Biswas of Dehradhun had made a multimedia presentation in which he clearly hinted at an imminent disaster. He had also advocated setting up of a National Geological Park in the Kutch region, to be fenced all around so civilians can be kept off the danger zone. The region is said to be rich in remnants of pre-historic times (Jurassic Age).

Dr D S Shringar of MS University, Baroda, who researched the subject for 35 years, had apparently forecast in 1996 itself the possibility of a major earthquake in Gujarat in 2000 or 2001.

A local daily, Kutch Mitra, edited by Kirti Khatri, had covered the symposium extensively. In one of its editorials, the newspaper warned the administration of what it called the imminent disaster lurking under Gujarat's earth.

Incidentally, nine staffers of the daily died in the aftermath. "I have no courage and zeal anymore to carry on my crusade through the paper," a dejected Khatri said.

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