From Archives :GUJARAT AFTER EARTHQUAKE 26th January 2001 - India’s 52nd Republic Day

GUJARAT AFTER EARTHQUAKE

By Dr. Sunil Mittal General Secretary Caring
 Foundation & Mr. Suneel Vatsyayan Director Caring
 Foundation about their experiences during their visit to Ahmadabad ,villages of Morbi and Maliya in Gujarat After Earthquake  26th January 2001 - India’s 52nd Republic Day

We were seeing horrifying pictures on the TV and reading horrendous stories in the newspaper’s on the death and destruction on the January 26^th earthquake in Gujarat.  But, on our visit to Ahmedabad, the capital of the western Indian State and the worst affected Bhuj area, dawned on us that none of those pictures on TV or words in cold print could articulate the severity of the damage to human lives and property.  The skyscrapers in Ahmedabad and humble dwellings in the Bhuj area were reduced to piles of rubble big and small, reminded us of our own vulnerability in a city like New Delhi.  The overwhelming feeling was one of awe, a lingering sense of the fear of nature’s fury. Did ruined and desolate lives with no more tears to shed evoke sympathy?  No…… empathy, we feel.

Being mental health professionals it was not difficult for us to understand the need for psychiatric help to the survivors.  Surprisingly, even the relief workers who volunteered to help the victims put back their lives back on rails were under stress - too dazed and numbed with the type of human misery they had witnessed.

 

In Ahmedabad we were invited to the Townhall to speak at one of those regular public meetings.  At these meetings people share their experiences as a therapy to empathise and for release of pent up emotions.  At this meeting a lady who had lost everything explained how she gets nightmares; another victim, a man said that since the earthquake he is always scared.  He has physical problems, of course arising out of the psychological trauma.  He has a splitting headache and pain in the chest.  To crown it, he has this terrible feeling of insecurity. Will their be another earthquake of higher intensity?,  he asks himself.  Yet another victim who did not know what was happening when his house crumbled, said that he just ran out for dear life.  Every one in his family died. Was he too preoccupied with himself and about his own safety and forgot his near and dear ones who perished in the quake?  He wept bitterly as he narrated this.  He suffers from survival guilt.  He questions himself as to why he survived and forgot to save his family members?  He mistakes natural survival instinct to desertion.  This is not an isolated story.  Today there are many in Gujarat who suffer from survival guilt.  They need psychological and psychiatric counselling.  Sharing helps them to slowly get over this guilt feeling.

 The experiences narrated by victims were varied and heartbreaking.  We were asked to address the Town Hall audience with special emphasis on teachers.  A number of school buildings had collapsed, killing a large number of children.  The teachers say that parents do not want their children to be sent to school.  Will the teachers give them a guarantee that the students will be safe in the school building? the parents ask. We suggested that the teachers themselves should be in the building and set an example.  This would reassure parents to send their wards to school.

 

There are also instances of school principals not allowing those who have been orphaned by the quake to attend the school.  Such orphaned children who face separation anxiety may sob or breakdown in the class.  The principals fear that this will have a negative effect on the morale of other students.

As we visited the areas near the worst affected Kutch area, we could sense fear, frustration and anger seething among the survivors.  We were in Maliya village with a population of about 30,000 with a large minority presence.  The volunteers of the Nehru Yuvak Kendra, Nehru Youth Centre and Azadi Bachao Andolan (Save Freedom Movement) both NGOs, themselves were under stress.  They faced hostility when they first arrived at the village.  The hostile reactions of the villagers, a natural phenomenon as relief reached this remote village a week or  ten days later.  Their village, bordering the worst affected areas is a transit point for relief trucks to move over to other villages.  So when they see only a couple of them being off loaded in their village, they accuse the government for neglecting them. We realised that the volunteers and the villagers did not have a proper rapport.

So, our initial task in Maliya was to talk to the volunteers.  They were committed and sincere.  But they too were under stress which was telling on their quality of work.  We then started talking to the villagers who were not very forthcoming.  It took some time to break the ice.  We invited them to come and join us and the volunteers.  After initial hesitation, they started joining us one by one.  Soon we were talking to them, inquiring about what had happened. Their closed body language was giving way to more positive ones.  We told them about relaxation exercises; about breathing exercises; a few postures from yoga to relax.. Can we laugh? we asked them. We all laughed.  There was heartiness in that laughter.

We asked them to hold our hands.  They were a little reluctant.  But laughter, the best medicine had worked.  We discussed with them how unexpected things happen.  How we have no control over nature and that we should accept things over which we have no control.  We were leading them to the serenity prayer.  The group had swelled by now.  There were not less than a fifty villagers holding hands with us and the volunteers.  The power of touch communication could be felt.  It seemed, they had at least for that moment forgotten their irreparable losses.  So we led them in the serenity prayer which we use with drug dependents on their path to recovery.  Prayers go well with these village folks in India where people have great faith in a supreme power. So we prayed … “God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, courage to change the things I can … and wisdom to know the difference”. The prayer had a cathartic effect. Mutual suspicions between the volunteers and the villagers were evaporating; we felt judging from their body language. We earnestly hope the rapport continues.

          What other impressions do we have? True life stories of children, men and women in state of shock; seeking help and solace; at least a shoulder to weep on… We remember that 18 year old girl from Morbi. Nobody knows who she is and from where she comes from. She says that her name is Barkha Bhukamp (Barkha is a common name and Bhukamp means earthquake). She cannot speak more than that. She has been sent to a Nari Niketan (a women shelter home). Or this three year old girl in Rajkot who is dazed and does not speak. Here again, no one knows who she is; or that migrant labour from Bihar… there were thousand of them from one or the poorest states of India, Bihar, who had migrated to work as daily wagers. They have no proof of residence no ration card to claim (ration cards are issued by the government to get food grains, sugar etc from a nation wide network of subsidized fair price shops) the princely sum of Rs.1500/- (approximately $40) given by the government as exgration payment. Nor did they have a dwelling place which they claim to have been theirs…. Are we talking about despair and hopelessness? Not in the least… Village women are still seen trekking long distances with 4 or 5 brass pots precariously balanced on their head or men nonchalantly walking around greeting others Ram Ram. Life seems to be getting back to humdrum. Yet most of them leave under the canopy of temporary tarpaulin sheets or the blue skies.

         

          What we saw and photographed of a school building near Maliya sums up the spirit of hope. To remind us of what it was before the earthquake, just one wall and a door still stand. Near the door there is a wall cupboard tilting down. A nine year old boy was sort of scavenging for something… sometimes he picks up something…puts it back and searches further expectantly.. Did we see hope writ large on his face? May be dreaming of life getting back to what it was before that fateful Republic Day  (the earthquake hit Gujarat on the morning of 26^th Januray 2001 - India’s 52^nd Republic Day).