For the past two days I have been looking for my father and brother. His father and brothers are buried in the wreckage, while his mother and he survived miraculously. From 20,000 to 35,000, the death toll varies. The city stinks, and the corpses are trapped under mangled iron rods, concrete slabs, dilapidated doors and lost by-lanes. Numerous bulldozers, gas cutters, earth movers and volunteers work through the day to make way into the walled city which has completely collapsed.
Bodies continue to be pulled out every hour.
Bajrang Dal activists, members of local Muslim organisations and other residents help people pull out bodies. Several score children are still buried under the debris in a narrow lane of the walled city. He continues to remain indoors, trying to forget the images of his friend dying next to him. This is the second earthquake to hit the town in 50 years. My father lost his shop to that quake.