BHUJ, Feb 12 — Insecticides have replaced “havan samagri” in the earthquake-devastated Gujarat. With massive destruction of houses in towns like Bhuj, Bachau and Anjar in the Kutch rescue workers are retrieving bodies from the debris even 18 days after the devastation on January 26.

Since heavy machinery cannot enter the narrow lanes, the removal of debris is manual and slow. The bodies are in a highly decomposed state. In the walled city of Bhuj, which has been reduced to a rubble, it is the Army which is engaged in the horrendous task of retrieving bodies, for which volunteers of no other organisation are coming forward. Guided by relatives of the deceased, Army jawans dig at the places, which were once homes to many, in search of the bodies.

A body lies sprayed with DDT before being cremated on the spot in Bhuj. — Photo by writer

 It is difficult to remove the decomposed bodies. Insecticides are sprayed over them, before cremating them by using kerosene or some other inflammable material at the site itself.

Manik Bhai laments his misfortune as a son, who is unable to cremate his mother in a dignified manner. “Instead of havan samagri, I had to pour DDT on her body”.

Though bodies are being recovered here at regular intervals, the rush seen during the first week after the unprecedented tragedy at the five cremation grounds in the town has receded considerably because it is much easier for the rescue workers and the relatives to cremate the decomposed and maggot-eaten bodies at the site of recovery itself. So much was the initial rush to cremate the bodies, we are told, that at one of the local cremation grounds, the fuel wood stocks meant to last two years were exhausted in two days. Fuel wood was sent from neighbouring states.

It is an irony of fate on one hand the Republic Day function led to the Anjar tragedy, and on the other it saved many lives at other places. In Anjar, about 400 school children, who were taking out a rally through a narrow lane in connection with the Republic Day celebrations, were buried alive under the falling debris when tremors started. So far the bodies of only a few students have been retrieved.

In Gujarat, schools, particularly in the rural areas, remain open on Republic Day for “dhwaj vandana (flag hoisting)”. Mrs Surya Ben S. Makwana and Mr Kirti Bhai Patel, teachers in the primary school of Wajepar village, told TNS that students and their parents had just come out of the school hall for “dhwaj vandana” when the earth shook and the building like the houses in the village came down tumbling.

Mr A. Jiwankar, a teacher in Gauripar village in Rapar taluka, said the toll would have been much higher but for the Republic Day. While most of the men had collected in the schools, women were busy cooking food in the courtyards of their houses. In Kutch villages, the kitchen is normally open-air in the courtyards.