Not only was it one of the worst earthquakes in more than 100 years, but the area was unprepared for a catastrophe of this magnitude. Death tolls are estimated at more than 25,000 people and increase daily.
Basic necessities are almost completely inaccessible.
The events in India may seem distant but they have affected many of us personally. The years of absence from the life I lived in India have not left me without memories of my home in Ahmedabad, Gujarat, where the earthquake hit hardest. My family and friends worry and grieve every day, for the state in which we once lived has been reduced to rubble. The tremendous losses in property, resources and human life have ensured that things there will never be the same. It is so devastating to think that the faces of teachers, neighbors, friends and others whom I once saw everyday are now nameless in the crowd, without food and water on the streets, missing, injured, or dead.