A poor young widow with a child, living on the fringes of a village, will be given shelter in the village, with caring volunteers on hand to offer support. She will be able to learn how to get the rights to the land that was in her husband's name. She will find out what compensation she is due and what she needs to get it. The general situation after the Gujarat earthquake The most severely affected area stretches about 200km across the Bhuj district, four to five hours drive from Ahamadabad. Here the towns of Bachau and Anjar and their surrounding villages are the most devastated.
Every building is flattened and barely two bricks remain attached.
Factories have been destroyed. The earthquake hit businesses very hard after they had already coped with a cyclone in 1999 and perennial water shortages. If they remain in the state they will probably be lobbying hard for compensation and support. Agriculture has not been affected, but the whole area was already suffering from drought and helping with reconstruction will limit people's time for ploughing. There were surprisingly few deaths, considering the scale of the damage, but more women appear to have been killed because the earthquake struck at nine in the morning when many were in their houses.