Unfortunately most of the infrastructure of this area no longer exists. In Gujurat alone, the railway authorities are facing 20 million dollars damage for railway buildings alone. In unfamiliar territory, it has been, in the midst of this disaster, an awful lot of leg work day and night. After 7 days we had the air conditioned operating theater and auxiliary units up and running and already have treated 75 patients, some with major operations. The most common injury has been crushed pelvises and broken extremities, broken legs and arms, etc.
Respiratory infections are now a major crisis and infections in general are a tremendous challenge.
We had the western representative of Red Cross visit our installation and participated in our inaugural prayer which was very touching. We also spent time traveling to Bhuj which is 60 km north on a number of occasions attending meetings to co-ordinate our efforts and request equipment and medication and an orthopedic surgeon for the Life Line Express. We have a team of two still there in Gujarat scouting out for phase two of our vision which is to work with outlying villages, bringing shelter, warm clothing, basic medication and first aid, food, and spiritual encouragement to people who haven't received anything, even yet. We gave our personal tent to a family with 3 small daughters, who had nothing at all. Since we have been here we have experienced 250 major after shocks, some up to 5.4 on the Richter scale which have left the population here very traumatized and fearful of going into any building.