India - Earthquake OCHA Situation Report No. 6

Ref: OCHA/GVA - 2001/0023
OCHA Situation Report No. 6
India - Earthquake
2 February 2001

1. The Government of India (GOI) has not made an appeal for international assistance. However, as a matter of policy, assistance offered as a matter of international solidarity in such cases is gratefully accepted.

2. The GOI received offers of assistance from a large number of foreign countries and agencies following the devastating earthquake in Gujarat. The GOI has decided that, while there will be no appeal for seeking assistance, all offers made voluntarily will be gratefully accepted.

Situation and Damage

The search and rescue phase is all but over and attention is shifting to emergency relief activities. Coordination continues to be the critical need in the affected area. To this end and in cooperation with the Indian authorities and the relevant UN agencies, the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination (UNDAC) team has established an On-Site Operations Coordination Centre (OSOCC) in Bhuj.

Intense aftershocks are giving India no respite from the worst earthquake the country has undergone since independence. Local people have been advised not to enter the damaged or poorly built buildings.

Today's GOI report describes the impact of the catastrophe as follows:

The in-country UN Disaster Management Team (UN-DMT) reports that the current issue is how to dispose of thousands of bodies so as to prevent the onset of epidemics. The bodies are being attacked by hundreds of vultures in the Kutch regions especially in the town of Anjaar. Mass cremations are being held but the challenge is to extricate bodies from the rubble, an undertaking which requires masks and special gear.

The initial rapid assessments in the surroundings of Bhuj conducted by the UNDAC team and in-country UN staff members (UNDP and WHO) shows that damage is much more serious in the north and east of Bhuj than in the west. Rantal, Dudhai, Tappo and Anjar, all of which the UN assessment teams visited, have been more severely damaged than Bhuj. Almost all of the houses here have collapsed. The Indian authorities and local NGOs are making medical assistance, shelter, food, clothing and water available.

According to the UK/DFID team, the most pressing problems over the next few weeks will be the supply of clean potable water and public health, particularly disease control. There are already reports of an increase in gastric problems. In addition, psycho-social assistance, including trauma counselling, is an important element in the rehabilitation of the affected population.

National Assistance

On 30 January the Prime Minister constituted an Empowered Group of Ministers headed by Home Minister to monitor the situation in the quake-ravaged Gujarat. The group will have the power to issue appropriate directions on the basis of the reports of the Crisis Management Group. The Empowered Group of Ministers includes the Ministers of Defence, Finance, Railways, Agriculture, Textiles, Power, Communications, Health and Family Welfare and the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.

The relief activities mounted by the Indian authorities are reflected on their Internet Website at http://www.nic.in

The main assistance mobilized to date is as follows:

• 962 medical personnel
• Rescue teams consisting of 22,500 army and para-military personnel, together with 14 sniffer dogs
• 110,000 MT of food grain and sugar
• 169,000 blankets sent, 30,000 more on their way
• 11,110 tents/shelter provided
• 652 doctors and 785 para-medical staff as well as many voluntary medical teams and international teams
• 11.5 tons of medicine along with medical equipment and supplies provided
• 16 debris clearing machines, 3 recovery vehicles, 15 earthmovers and 17 MT of rescue equipment
• Other Indian States are providing Gujarat with relief assistance in cash and kind, including food, blankets, medicine, medical personnel, water, tankers and equipment.
• The State government of Gujarat has launched a multi-faceted relief operation with the support of the armed forces, voluntary agencies and international agencies.

International Assistance

United Nations System

The in-country UN Disaster Management Team (UN-DMT) led by the UN Resident Coordinator has been working closely with Government authorities and has convened emergency meetings on a daily basis to review the situation. In addition to the UN activities indicated in the OCHA Situation Report No.5 issued on 31 January 2001, the following initiatives were reported by the UN-DMT.

15 UNICEF staff members, including experts in health, water and sanitation, nutrition, education and community development areas are working on assessments in the affected area. Additional UNICEF personnel (emergency planning, logisticians and communication experts) are being flown in.

UNICEF will also be working closely with state and national officials to sustain immunisation coverage and provide trauma counselling training.

UNICEF's family survival kits - produced locally in India - cost about $43 a piece and include cooking utensils, blankets, clothing (dhoti, saree, lungi, children's garments, etc.), oral rehydration salts to fight diarrhoea, chlorine tablets to purify water, soaps, buckets, and other hygiene items, candles and kerosene lanterns

A drought mitigation and drought-proofing programme that had been prepared by state authorities, UNICEF and other agencies in response to recent drought in Gujarat will be accelerated as part of the quake relief effort. Safe water and sanitation systems will be essential in the coming days to prevent the spread of disease.

WHO is deploying a couple of logisticians and communication experts to Gujarat.

WFP is officially in charge of airlifts of relief material on behalf of the UN system and donors who wish to route their relief through UN agencies. WFP operations bases will be set up in Ahmedabad and Bhuj.

The International Network for Capacity Building in Integrated Water Management (CAPNET), a new initiative supported by the Netherlands and implemented by UNDP, will be put into practice in particularly poor areas.

Further information on activities of the in-country UN System see the UN System in India Website at http://www.un.org.in

UNDAC team activities

The UNDAC team has established the OSOCC at Bhuj. The centre is located in a building beside the Indian Disaster Commissioner's Office. The communication lines available so far are via satellite phone at: + 873 762 097 150.

Another UNDAC member provided by the Danish Government arrived in New Delhi today and will assist the UN-DMT there in liaising between the capital and the affected area in order to strengthen the coordination system in response to the disaster.

According to the UNDAC team, the needs identified are for water and sanitation, temporary shelter, food, family emergency packs and technical assistance for the rehabilitation phase and beyond though it is extremely difficult to quantify the full extent of aid at this stage.

Contact details of the UNDAC team are as follows:

UNDAC team leader: Mr. Edward Pearn
E-mail: unmob4@server.unog.ch or undac4@server.unog.ch

Relief activities of the international donor community

International Search and Rescue (SAR) teams have been finalizing their on-site operations and have started to leave the affected areas. The UNDAC team reports that 17 SAR teams made up of 399 rescuers and 26 rescue dogs and equipped with technical and rescue equipment assisted in the search and rescue operation Their entry and capacities were recorded with the help of a database established by the UNDAC team for coordinating on-site operations. Now many airlifts carrying international medical teams as well as relief materials are pouring into Gujarat. The SAR teams and/or medical teams deployed so far were from Austria/Czech Republic, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, Israel, Japan, Poland, the Russian Federation, South Africa, Switzerland, Turkey, and the United Kingdom. Detailed information about international relief activities following the SAR phase will be collected and coordinated by the OSOCC in Bhuj at the field operation level.

In addition, the Governments of Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Luxembourg, Monaco, Nepal, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Oman, the Russian Federation, Singapore, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States as well as ECHO have pledged or provided cash and/or in-kind contributions bilaterally or through NGOs or the UN System.

IFRC launched an Emergency Appeal for assistance on 30 January, seeking CHF 25.6 million (USD 15.6 million) to assist 300,000 beneficiaries for 4 months. So far cash and in-kind contributions worth nearly USD 10 million have been provided towards IFRC initiatives. IFRC has a small team base in Anjar, south east of Bhuj and the emergency response unit (ERU) referral hospital in Bhuj is currently being established. IFRC reports that the most pressing needs are for funds to purchase 5,000 litre capacity collapsible water tanks, plastic sheeting and cholera kits.

Many NGOs are providing emergency relief assistance in various ways. The reports on their activities have been posted on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int or on InterAction Internet Website at http://www.interaction.org

The total amount of contributions/pledges reported to OCHA to date reaches nearly USD 49 million.

3. For coordination purposes, donors are requested to inform OCHA Geneva, as indicated below, on relief missions/pledges/contributions and their corresponding values by item.

4. Any future updates on contributions to this disaster may be found by clicking on Financial Tracking at the top of the page for this disaster on the OCHA Internet Website (http://www.reliefweb.int). Donors are requested to verify this table and inform OCHA Geneva of corrections/additions/values. Donors are encouraged to notify OCHA Geneva of their contributions to this disaster using the OCHA Standardized Contributions Recording Format, available electronically in the above mentioned Financial Tracking Website.

5. OCHA is prepared to serve as channel for cash contributions to be used for immediate relief assistance, in coordination/consultation with relevant organizations in the United Nations system. Funds should be transferred to OCHA account No. CO-590.160.0, Swift code: UBSWCHZ12A at the UBS AG, P.O. Box 2770, CH-1211 Geneva 2, with reference: OCHA - India - Earthquake. OCHA provides donors with written confirmation and pertinent details concerning the utilization of the funds contributed.

6. OCHA is in close contact with the Office of the UN Resident Coordinator in New Delhi and the UNDAC team as well as with the Indian Permanent Mission to the UN at Geneva, and will revert with further information as it becomes available.

7. This situation report, together with further information on ongoing emergencies, is also available on the OCHA Internet Website at http://www.reliefweb.int

Contacts

Telephone: +41-22-917 12 34
Fax: +41-22-917 00 23
E-mail: ochagva@un.org

In case of emergency only: Tel. +41-22-917 20 10

Desk Officers: Mr. R. Mueller / Mr. S. Matsuka
Direct Tel. +41-22-917 31 31 / 40 34

Press contact:

(in GVA) Mr. Donato Kiniger-Passigli, direct Tel. +41-22-917 26 53
(in N.Y.) Ms. Phyllis Lee, direct