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Tears, grief marks 4th anniversary of Gujarat quake

     Ahmedabad: Hundreds joined tear-eyed parents in Ahmedabad on Wednesday to pay homage to the 32 children who were buried alive under the debris of their school this day four years ago in a devastating earthquake. The children were among 13,800 people killed in Gujarat on January 26, 2001. The school children, most aged between seven to twelve, were participating in the Republic Day celebrations being held in their school, when the quake, measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, struck. However, this Wednesday morning, the haunting memories came back as survivors prayed at the school compound and garlanded the photographs of the lost children. "I had one son, he is gone. Now that he is gone, for whom should we live? I would pray that such types of buildings are not constructed again and that the builders are punished so that more children do not have to pay with their lives," said Goverdhan Bhai, a bereaved parent. The quake left at least 167,000 people injured, rendered millions homeless and caused damage worth around 300 billion rupees. At least 400,000 houses are still awaiting restoration.

Grieving relatives look for bodies after stampede (Go To Top)

     Wai/Mumbai: People on Wednesday anxiously gathered at the morgue in an effort to identify the dead and find out, whether, the people who lost their life in the temple stampede near Wai were their near and dear ones. The official death toll was 257, although police say that the number of dead may rise. Earlier, on Tuesday, stampede broke out when as many as 300,000 people converged on the Mandher Devi temple, on a hilltop near Wai, about 260 km southeast of Mumbai. Witnesses said it started around midday after pilgrims slipped on the temple's steep stone steps, which were wet with coconut water spilled from fruit presented as offerings to the local goddess, Kalubai. To add to the problem, a fire swept through roadside stalls selling flowers, sweets and food. In the end, scores were crushed to death on the steep and narrow hill path leading to the temple and many others were charred. "I came to know in the afternoon about this incident. My relatives informed me about my mother who was visiting this place," said Madhav Singh, a pilgrim. Dishevelled and mangled bodies lay in lines, many covered in the green saris that are traditionally offered to Kalubai.

     Maharashtra Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh visited the site, announcing compensation of 100,000 rupees for the dead and 10,000 rupees for the injured, besides announcing an inquiry into the incident. "We have ordered for a judicial inquiry by a retired high court judge and we have also called for an immediate inquiry through the Sub-Divisional Officer," said Deshmukh in Mumbai. The 300-year-old Mandher Devi temple is popular among lower caste Hindus who undertake the annual pilgrimage on a full-moon day in January and participate in a 24-hour-long festival that includes ritual animal sacrifices to the goddess. Incidentally, this is not the first time that people have been killed in such religious ceremonies. Earlier in 2003, more than 32 people died at a stampede in Nasik, during the Kumbh Mela.

Stampede doesn't deter devotees from thronging to Wai (Go To Top)

     Wai (Maharashtra): Devotees began flocking to a temple here, even a day after more than 250 people were killed on an annual pilgrimage. Police said 258 dead had been counted, and the number could rise. Some 200 bodies have been identified, more than half of them women and children. Crowds of pilgrims from villages too remote to have heard about the stampede continued to arrive at the temple on Wednesday. District officials tried to get the word out to stop devotees from hampering relief efforts, although the temple remained open. "We won't get to see the temple but we plan to go a bit nearer to the main temple so that we can offer our prayers," said Nand Kumar, a pilgrim.

     Earlier, on Tuesday, a stampede broke when about 300,000 people converged on the Mandher Devi temple, on a hilltop near Wai, 260 southeast of Mumbai. Scores were crushed to death on the steep and narrow path to the temple, and many bodies were charred. The remains of tin-roofed food stalls smouldered near the temple and adjoining settlement on a craggy hilltop about 4,000 ft high. Dishevelled and mangled bodies lay in lines, many covered in the green saris that are traditionally offered to the local goddess, Kalubai. Police said that anxious relatives have also started arriving for looking out for the bodies. "Naturally after such a disaster, people out of curiosity and anxiety, in order to find out their relatives, they try to go up. We are stopping them to complete our own formalities. We are still carrying out the search operations," said SG Kumbhar, Superintendent of Police, Satara.