Across India, and the world, anxious relatives have been unable to learn the fate of friends and family. Thousands of people have set out from as far away as Calcutta, crossing the country to search for loved ones. It is India's worst modern disaster, a shocking new benchmark in a country racked by recent natural calamities including the 1993 Lattur earthquake that killed more than 8,000 people. The country sits in an area of great tectonic stress, with the Indian Ocean plate pushing the Himalayas a few centimetres higher every year. But the corruption that makes cutting corners on construction projects a routine practice has once again exposed ordinary people to mortal danger.
Good buildings stand beside the rubble of bad ones.
Many buildings, however, have been left uninhabitable and people have been forced to shelter in makeshift dwellings or seek sanctuary in temples. The Prime Minister, Mr Atal Behari Vajpayee, who is due to visit the disaster area today, has promised that India will recover and rebuild.