Homeless people in shattered towns and villages across Gujarat spent a fourth night in the open, some beside white bundles containing bodies awaiting cremation. Others waited to ensure a proper cremation for dead loved ones still trapped beneath the rubble. British Broadcasting Corp. But Gujarat Home Minister Haren Pandya said the state government still estimated the toll at between 15,000 and 20,000. H.K. Dua, information adviser to Vajpayee, said it was too early to project a final toll but that it would certainly rise. These are just guesses.
Bodies are under the rubble.
Nobody disputes the 20,000 figure. The earthquake struck the prosperous industrial state of Gujarat with brutal speed, flattening whole villages and toppling high rise blocks in cities. Mild tremors shook parts of western India on Monday evening, fuelling the fear factor keeping many survivors out in the open. As day broke on Tuesday in Bhuj, the ancient town near the epicentre of the quake that measured 7.9 on the Richter scale, people wrapped in blankets lay in a park and on street corners. Power had been restored in some parts of town, and rescue teams began another day of searching the rubble.