Background
On January 26, at approximately 8:46 AM local time, an earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter Scale occurred in western India. The epicenter of the earthquake was located 13 miles northeast of Bhuj in Gujarat State, India. Since January 26, there have been 77 confirmed aftershocks, 19 of which registered above 5.0 on the Richter Scale. On January 28, two aftershocks caused additional structural damage. Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh were also impacted.
The earthquake was the most powerful to strike India since August 15, 1950, when an 8.5-magnitude earthquake killed 1,538 people in northeastern Assam state.
Numbers Affected
Official Government of India (GOI) figures placed the death toll at 6,072 and the number of injured at 14,512. Local officials in Gujarat publicly predict that there may be 20,000 dead and 50,000 injured. Unofficial estimates indicate 40,000 dead and 80,000 injured.
A local official in Gujarat estimated that approximately 125,000 people remain missing. Local GOI sources confirm that tens of thousands may still be trapped in collapsed buildings.
An additional 11 people are reported dead and 68 injured in the Pakistani towns of Hyperbad and Badin-located in the southern province of Sindh.
Current Situation
The GOI has delegated the Indian Red Cross as coordinator for the distribution of relief commodities.
The Indian Army has dispatched approximately 5,000 personnel to Gujarat to assist with rubble clearing and the offloading and handling of relief supplies.
The GOI has identified several critical needs in affected areas including earth moving equipment, concrete cutting and breaking supplies, medical equipment and supplies, mobile field surgical hospitals, potable water, sanitation facilities, food, and shelter.
Logistical constraints continue to be the largest factor delaying the delivery of relief supplies to the affected population. Limited airport receiving and unloading capacity in the affected area has created a bottleneck in secondary distribution networks.
While food security is normally not an issue in earthquake situations, a third consecutive year of drought conditions has made emergency food assistance a concern.
Bhuj
The Kutch district, which includes the town of Bhuj, was the most severely affected area and remains isolated from surrounding areas. Field reports from Bhuj indicate that water, communications, power, fuel and medical infrastructures have been destroyed. The Indian Red Cross and Indian Army have set up twelve distribution points throughout Bhuj.
Cargo flights are no longer being accepted in Bhuj and are being redirected to Ahmehabad. According to field reports, 40 railway stations in the area were also damaged.
Severely injured residents are being evacuated to three public hospitals, which are operating at a limited capacity.
Ahmedabad
According to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (UNOCHA), as many as 50% of the buildings have been destroyed and 95% are uninhabitable. The local media reported that the Nehru Bridge, which spans the Sabarmati River, was structurally damaged. Media reports also cite damage to power lines, phone infrastructure, gas lines, railways, and water systems.
U.S. Government Assistance
The United States Agency for International Development/Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance (USAID/OFDA) is prepared to provide $5 million in emergency humanitarian assistance.
An airlift of USAID/OFDA-funded commodities arrived in New Delhi on January 29 to meet the immediate needs of 8,000 affected families. The aircraft includes 800 rolls of plastic sheeting, 16,000 blankets, 16,000 5-gallon water containers, 10 water distribution kits, 2 water purification units, 10 generators, 20 light stands, and 20 electrical cords. The total value of this shipment is approximately $822,156, including airlift from the United States to India.
USAID/OFDA provided an initial $100,000 in disaster assistance through USAID/Delhi to the Prime Minister’s National Relief Fund for immediate assistance to those affected by the earthquake.
Catholic Relief Services (CRS) began distributing 500 MT of U.S. Title II emergency food commodities valued at $187,000 on January 29. The emergency food assistance was already in-country and will provide 100,000 daily rations to earthquake-affected persons in Bhuj and Ahmedabad. CARE began distributing 100 metric tons (MT) of U.S. Title II emergency food commodities on January 27. The emergency food assistance was already in-country and consists of ready-to-eat food aid that will meet 40-50% of the daily food requirements for 4,000 families in Bhuj for 15-20 days.
On January 28, USAID/OFDA sent an eight-member Disaster Assistance Response Team (DART) to India. The team includes a team leader, logistics officer, information officer, administrative officer, press officer, communications officer, field officer, and a technical expert. Two Department of Defense (DOD) logistics personnel from the Defense Attaché Office at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi will complement the USAID/DART.
On January 26, USAID/OFDA activated a 24-hour Response Management Team in Washington, D.C. to coordinate the U.S. Government response to the disaster.
Since 1998, USAID/OFDA has provided funding in support of the Program for the Enhancement of Emergency Response (PEER)-, a regional training initiative designed to promote, develop and strengthen Search and Rescue (SAR) capabilities in earthquake-prone countries of Asia. This collaborative program, implemented in partnership with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC) and Miami-Dade Fire Rescue Department has helped to increase earthquake preparedness and response capabilities in India prior to this disaster.
Other Donor and International Organization Assistance
The European Union (EU) provided $2.78 million in emergency assistance. Additional donations have been made by Britain ($4.5 million), Italy ($2.1 million), Norway ($1.1 million), Netherlands ($420,000), Ireland and Belgium ($920,000), Kuwait ($250,000), Greece ($270,000), South Korea ($100,000), and China ($50,000).
The Government of Israel is dispatching a mobile field hospital, including a team of doctors, medical staff, and medical equipment.
The International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) has deployed a mobile field hospital to Bhuj.
Search and Rescue teams from Russia, Switzerland, Britain, Turkey, and Germany are operating in the affected area.
A United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination Team was deployed to the affected area on January 27.
USG Funding Summary
|
USG Agency
|
Implementing Partner (if applicable)
|
Project/Sector
|
Region
(if applicable) |
Dollar Amount
|
|
USAID/OFDA
|
Prime Minister’s Fund
|
All
|
$100,000
|
|
|
USAID/Delhi
|
In-kind commodities
|
Bhuj
|
$387,156
|
|
|
Commercial Aviation
|
Airlift
|
Bhuj
|
$435,000
|
|
|
USAID/OFDA Total
|
$922,156
|
|||
|
USAID/FFP
|
CARE
|
Title II Food Assistance
|
Bhuj
|
$43,000
|
|
CRS
|
Title II Food Assistance
|
Bhuj, Ahmahabad
|
$187,000
|
|
|
USAID/FFP Total
|
$230,000
|
|||
|
Total USG Assistance
|
$1,152,156
|
Public Donation Information
In the interest of effective coordination of public response, USAID encourages the public to contact directly those private voluntary organizations (PVOs) currently working in the region in order to provide monetary donations.
A list of the PVOs may who are responding to the earthquake in India are listed by InterAction, a coalition of voluntary humanitarian and development organizations that work overseas. InterAction can be contacted at 1-202-667-8227 x106, or via the Internet at http://www.interaction.org/. Those interested in providing specific technical relief services or commodities can obtain guidelines for private voluntary organizations through Volunteers in Technical Assistance's (VITA’s) Disaster Information Center at http://www.vita.org.
USAID will not deviate from standard Denton Program procedures for transporting privately-donated relief supplies. USAID will prioritize delivery of essential relief commodities. For more information on the Denton Program, please refer to the USAID website at http://www.usaid.gov/hum_response/pvc/denton.html.
For additional information about the relief effort in India, please refer to the Natural Disasters section of ReliefWeb at http://www.reliefweb.int/
USAID/OFDA fact sheets can be obtained from the USAID web site at http://www.usaid.gov/hum_response/ofda/situation.html