M A I N   N E W S

Fernandes visits Bhuj
Final toll may never be known
From R. Suryamurthy
Tribune News Service

AHMEDABAD, Feb 5 — The Air Force base in Bhuj escaped largely unscathed from the Republic Day quake, the Defence Minister, Mr George Fernandes, who visited Bhuj, the epicentre of the quake, said. He expressed the doubt whether the exact toll would ever be known.

Without giving the number of Air Force personnel killed in the quake, Mr Fernandes said all planes and bases were operational.

“We suffered some loss of Air Force personnel and their families on the first day of the earthquake. Beyond that there has been no loss,” Mr Fernandes said.

“None of our assets have been hurt,” the Defence Minister said, adding that some buildings housing radar facilities had been damaged but the equipment was still working.

Talking to reporters he said most MIG fighter jets normally based at the airport had been temporarily removed when the quake struck because the runway was being relaid.

“There were some MIGs in reinforced hangars and some in shelters, but none was damaged,” he said. “They have now been taken to another base.”

Mr Fernandes, visiting the historic town which has been completely destroyed by the quake, expressed the doubt whether a final death toll would ever be known.

“I said if my worst fears came through, the number will go up. They are still clearing the debris and extricating decomposed bodies. I don’t think we will ever know the final figure,” he said.

He said there might be discrepancies in the number of dead as a lot of families carried out cremations on the first day itself.

“I don’t think anyone will ever be able to have the final figures because from day one, January 26 itself, as the casualties became known in the villages people started cremating the bodies. And no one may have reached that village to make a tally of the number of people who live there and the number of people who have died,” he said.

The Defence Minister had last week stated that the death toll in the quake measuring 6.9 on the Richter scale, could touch 100,000.

The state Home Minister, Mr Haren Pandya, yesterday said that 16,435 bodies had been recovered so far.

Left without shelter, many in the quake-affected area were sleeping in the open. With about 3.5 crore people affected by the quake, the government faced a daunting task of providing relief material.

Lack of coordination had hampered the work during the past 10 days and the Gujarat government, especially the state Chief Minister, Mr Keshubhai Patel, had come under sharp criticism from different quarters.

Though aid from different parts of the globe had reached here, it was piled up at one place or another for lack of coordination and the quake victims were forced to sleep under the blue sky with temperatures at night dipping to six degrees.

The state government had so far distributed 70,000 tents and they need at least 150,000 tents, the state Home Minister said and appealed to the international community to help in providing tents for the rehabilitation of the residents.