Unmitigated Disaster on Republic Day

A 7.7 magnitude earthquake strikes the Kutch area in Gujarat, leading to the destruction of most of the region's infrastructure and almost 20,000 casualties, today in 2001.

Rubble from the 2001 Earthquake; Source: BBC UK

There lie numerous undiscovered geological faults along the western coast of India. One of them, in the Kutch region, about 9 kilometres southwest of Chobari in Gujarat, experienced disturbances in 2001.

At 8:46 AM IST, on the 26th of January, 2001, the region was hit by an earthquake of 7.7 in magnitude.

In the devastation which followed, around 12,300 people were killed in the Kutch region itself, and scores more in the nearby areas. The town of Bhuj, a Princely state centre of earlier times, was completely destroyed, as were hundreds of villages in the regions. Monumental sights such as the Swaminarayan temple, the Prag Mahal and the Aina Mahal were severely damaged.

In a report by INTACH, around 40% of the 250 surveyed heritage buildings had collapsed, with only 10% escaping damage.

Most houses (estimated to be around 90%) in Kutch had been levelled, and tremors to Ahmedabad had caused many multi-storey buildings to collapse there as well. The local hospital in Bhuj was destroyed, thus making medical assistance hard to come by. The overall casualty rate was noted to be above 20,000. While the day had been a national holiday, owing to the Republic Day, schools and other areas were open due to ceremonies, and when they collapsed, many were injured or died.

The damage was estimated to be around 5 Billion US dollars in 2001 currency levels, with over 300,000 buildings destroyed, and another 700,000 damaged. Dams, industries, and roads were all badly hit, and landslides combined with soil liquefaction made things worse for the relief effort being organised.

Immediately, the Army along with international assistance was deployed to help survivors, set up medical camps, distribute food and water aid. Alongside, the government began planning to repair and rebuild the destroyed and damaged cities and villages of this devastation, which happened on the 52nd Republic Day.