Indian Defence Minister George Fernandez, who visited the ruins of Bhuj on Monday, said he doubted whether the final death toll would ever be known. There have been fears of potential outbreaks of diseases like typhoid and cholera. Local authorities have been conducting an aggressive campaign of spraying dead bodies with chemicals as they are uncovered in an effort to contain possible epidemics. However, a spokesman for the World Health Organisation, Gregory Hartl, stress that the greatest danger is posed not by corpses but by disruption to clean water supplies. When a person dies the virus cannot survive more than a short time afterwards.
Aid agencies say there are no signs of epidemics developing yet.
At least 30,000 people are estimated to have died in the quake, which measured 7.9 on the Richter scale. Another 55,000 have been injured and about half a million made homeless. Water situation Supplies of fresh water are reported to be sufficient at the moment, either from existing wells in the area or from supplies that are bussed in by the authorities. The worst situation is in Bhuj town itself, where many resident have resorted to washing themselves and their belongings in a lake in the town centre where hygiene levels are deteriorating. The Red Cross is trying to set up a clean water facility at the lakeside and a large water filtration plant with excess capacity at the 350-bed hospital which it is trying to set up in Bhuj.